Jan Toporowski: Fascist Spectre Looms over Stagnant Europe

A spectre is haunting Europe: the spectre of fascism, born of economic Stagnation and the very apparent ability of democratic governments to eliminate mass employment.

There are two main reasons for the alarming prospect: First, Exchange rate stability has come to be regarded as a precondition for European economic and monetarian union. More

Johannes Jäger: The European Periphery and Latin American Experiences and Perspectives. Some Remarks on Peripherialization in Europe

In general, peripheral countries have been affected much more strongly by the crisis than those considered central. This has increased the visibility of asymmetries and dependency within Europe, and hence processes of peripherialization. Experiences of the Latin American periphery and theoretical approaches produced in that context therefore provide a useful framework of analysis for the analysis of European peripheries. In addition, in order to deal with the different types of peripheral development and asymmetries within Europe, the regulation approach represents a complementary theoretical framework. Weiterlesen

Fotis Mavromatidis and Jeremy Leaman: German Influence in the Western Balkans: Hegemony by Design or by Default?

The politico-economic relationship between Germany and the Balkan states was, from the end of the nineteenth century, one of unequal interdependence. The strategic value of the Balkan states for an export-dependent and resourcedependent industrial state like Germany was manifest in the Berlin–Bagdhad railway project, two world wars and the close relationship with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The region’s value to Germany’s economic and political elites has been manifest more recently in the wake of Yugoslavia’s disintegration More

 

Jorge Garcia-Arias, Eduardo Fernandez-Huerga, Ana Salvador: European Periphery Crises, International Financial Markets, and Democracy: Moving Towards a Globalized Neofeudalism?

This paper analyzes the origin and causes of the recent economic and financial crises, mainly for the countries located in the periphery of the European Union (EU), as well as their evolution and transformation into social, political, and institutional crises.
After explaining the differential impact of the crises on EU member economies mand critically analysing the unsuccessful orthodox neoclassical policies more

Workshop Organisers: „Wrap Up“

1. A short introduction

We have used and use our international RLF Conference on Rosa Luxemburgs “Accumulation of Capital” http://kapacc.blog.rosalux.de/2013/05/19/100th-anniversary-of-the-accumulation-of-capital-a-contribution-to-an-economic-explanation-of-imperialism-a-century-old-work-remains-current-provocative-and-eminal/ for the preparation process of the 4th EU experts’ discussion. More

Again on “Core” and “Periphery”

The current post should show that the terms “core” and “periphery” have to be regarded in relation to an “imperial division of labour”. The term has been specifically introduced and elaborated by the Hungarian historian Ivan Berend. We have taken it from his book “History Derailed. Central and Eastern Europe in the Long Nineteenth Century” (2003), which we make use of, including quotes from it. More

Workshop Organizers: On the Dominant Role of Germany in the EU

This is the third of the three announced posts; it is on the dominant role of Germany in the European Union. The reason for this is easy: In the discussion on austerity policy and the “anti-crisis-policy” within the EU the extraordinarily destructive role played by Germany is, in fact, referred to and focused upon. This is certainly very understandable, but it is not sufficient. More

Workshop Organizers: About Structural Similarities in the Development of former European Colonies, CEE Countries and “Euro-Crisis-Countries”

In our previous “ papers from the organizers” we have highlighted the term and the issue of “regions”, and have explained some additional terms and their connections. Furthermore, we have promised to discuss the structural similarities referred to in the title. The following discussion paper is another draft for further debate – it continues the previous paper sand remains a rough sketch for the time being. More

Workshop Organizers: Some Elementary Remarks and Suggestions

Starting by reminding you on our „First Thoughts“ from December 2013 we should like to repeat (or to explain) the following points:

1. The workshop in October 2014 will be the fourth in a series of EU experts’ discussions oriented towards elaborating political-economic analyzes which can help us to understand current societal reality More

Ivan Berend: Globalization and its Impact on Core-Periphery Relations

Globalization is probably the most often used term in social sciences nowadays. Several colleagues, however, maintain that there is nothing new in globalization. The entire early modern and modern history were periods of permanent development of globalization, especially after the discoveries, building colonial empires, later railroads, and establishing laissez-fair system an the international gold standard. The world, no doubt about it, became more international, if you want global all the time. More