Judith Dellheim: Reflections from the Perspective of Socio-Ecologic Transformation

In the beginning I have to come back to the quartet of the 4+2 connection. Globally, energy related activities produce around 63% of climate-damaging emissions and around 77% of all CO2 emissions. Around 28% of climate-damaging emissions and 36% of CO2 emissions stem from electricity generation and heating. Transport accounts for around one quarter of climate-damaging emissions. The transport sphere depends on oil for 96% of its energy; oil is responsible for over 95% of the emissions caused by transport. More

Judith Dellheim: Some Reflections on Societal and Capital Structures, and on Production Pattern

My aim is to show how the capitalist oligarchies have dealt with the crisis and how they use the crisis in order to strengthen their position in global competition, to strengthen their role in the globalization process. This is connected with financialisation and consequently with further oligarchisation. And, this, again, is connected with the development of the production and social structures. The strongest become stronger. More

Kees van der Pijl: 1984 All Over Again. The Snowden NSA Revelations in Perspective

In the discussion concerning the Snowden NSA revelations many have referred to Orwell’s 1984. This paper highlights that Orwell identified two components–total surveillance and permanent war. The paper then looks at the actual year 1984 and argues that in that year was significant after all because both elements of today’s War on Terror (surveillance and war) were being prepared. One was the Washington conference on the War on Terror, the third in a series initiated from Israel; the other, the preparation of a Continuity of Government (COG) programme by the Reagan administration, more

Patrick Bond: South Africa’s Multiple Resource Curses, the Metalworkers’ Break and Community Uprisings

The title of the following post may surprise. Why should a text from South Africa be put on this blog? The explanation is the asked by us questions: Why is the left in the EU, in Europe so weak? How could we become stronger? Bonds article helps us to discuss this issue productively. It starts from the opposite question: why could a left-emancipatory force become strong? The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa finished the tolereance of neoliberal development and split away  from the ANC. More

Stefanie Hürtgen: Some Reflections on Transnational Corporations and Labour in Europe

Since the beginning of the debate about Europeanization and Globalization we experience an overweight of analyses in Political Economy and about transnational corporations in particular, without paying the same categorical attention to understand processes and dynamic’s on the side of labour. Concerning Europe, some authors even state that we experience the development of a transnational European capitalist class. More