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Abstract
In this major new work - the result of a lifetime of intellectual engagement - one of the developing world's most famous thinkers reflects on the times we live in. He argues that US hegemony has reached a dangerous new level under George Bush Jr, and that the US President's hubristic militarism will both lead to a never-ending cycle of wars and block all hopes of social and democratic progress, not just in developing countries, but in the North as well.
Samir Amin also rejects the highly ideological notion that the current form of neoliberal capitalism - 'really existing capitalism' in which imperialism is an integral and permanent part - is an inevitable future for humanity, or in fact socially or politically tolerable. At the same time, he is not opposed to globalization as such; indeed he believes the whole world today is irrevocably connected, and that solidarity in diversity is the key to the struggle for a better world.
In the body of the book, Amin provides a perspicacious analysis of tendencies within the rich countries - the US, Europe and Japan; the rising powers - China and India; the likely future trajectory of post-Soviet Russia; and the developing world. The central question he pursues is whether there are other hegemonic blocs that may emerge in time to circumscribe American power, and constrain free market capitalism and force it to adjust to demands other than its narrow central economic logic.
This important and thought-provoking book identifies the key global campaigns Samir feels progressives should launch around the world. 'Another world is possible.' But, he warns, the diverse citizens' movements loosely gathered together in the World Social Forum must bite the political bullet and recognise that they can only transform the world if they seek political power.
Samir Amin is Director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, Senegal; and a co-founder of the World Forum for Alternatives.
'...is assuredly not lacking in ambition. This would only be a beginning however.'
Frank Lee, Chartist
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contents | v | ||
| Introduction | 1 | ||
| Being clear about the nature of capitalism and imperialism | 2 | ||
| Is there a desirable form of globalization? | 5 | ||
| 1. The triad: America, Europe and Japan – united or fragmented? | 8 | ||
| The project of the American ruling class | 9 | ||
| The shifting sands of the European project | 14 | ||
| The clash of political cultures | 17 | ||
| And Japan? | 22 | ||
| 2. Does the rise of China challenge the imperialist order? | 25 | ||
| China’s rise: revolution or opening to the world? | 25 | ||
| Market socialism: transition, or short-cut to capitalism? | 28 | ||
| So, what is to be done? | 39 | ||
| An uncertain future | 46 | ||
| 3. Russia out of the tunnel? | 49 | ||
| Basic characteristics of the Soviet system | 50 | ||
| New forms of capitalism in Russia | 54 | ||
| Is there a worthwhile alternative in Russia today? | 64 | ||
| 4. India, a great power? | 69 | ||
| The colonial inheritance | 69 | ||
| Success and limitations of the populist national project | 72 | ||
| The liberal and culturalist drift | 77 | ||
| The long and difficult march of alternative globalization | 79 | ||
| 5. Can solidarity be rebuilt among the countries of the South? | 84 | ||
| A critical balance sheet of the ‘Bandung era’, 1955-75 | 85 | ||
| The roots of Africa’s exclusion | 92 | ||
| Is South Africa the weak link in the system? | 95 | ||
| Can the slide of the Arab world be reversed? | 98 | ||
| Latin America and the Caribbean in a tricontinental perspective | 103 | ||
| The East as a new South? | 105 | ||
| A new basis for solidarity among the peoples of the South | 106 | ||
| 6. Reform of the UN as a part of multipolar globalization | 112 | ||
| Managing national sovereignty within the UN framework | 112 | ||
| A balance sheet of UN activity between 1945 and 1980 | 115 | ||
| Conflict and overlap between economic and political management | 119 | ||
| The empire of chaos: sovereignty, social justice and development go by the board | 121 | ||
| The alternative: constructing social justice, international justice and a new popular sovereignty | 126 | ||
| Proposals for a renaissance of the UN | 131 | ||
| A plan for action | 144 | ||
| 7. Conclusions | 146 | ||
| The difficulties of constructing a multipolar world | 146 | ||
| Can Washington’s military project be thwarted? | 148 | ||
| Thinking long-term | 151 | ||
| Four conditions to be satisfied | 157 | ||
| The great strength of the global ‘movement’ | 160 | ||
| Appendix I. Multipolarity in the twentieth century | 165 | ||
| The drama of the great revolutions | 166 | ||
| The weight of imperialism, the permanent stage of the global expansion of capitalism | 167 | ||
| Defence of the post-revolutionary states central to the vanguard’s strategic choices | 168 | ||
| Nation-building and/or socialist construction in the radical countries of the periphery | 170 | ||
| Opening debate on the long transition to world socialism | 172 | ||
| Appendix II. Further reading | 175 | ||
| On the nature of actually existing capitalism | 175 | ||
| On the transformation of contemporary capitalism and the critique of mainstream discourse | 176 | ||
| On contradictions within the contemporary triad | 178 | ||
| On the socialist perspective and the critique of ‘actually existing socialisms’ | 179 | ||
| On the global insertion of the various regions of ‘the South’ | 181 | ||
| On present conflicts and thegeometry of possible alliances | 183 | ||
| Index | 185 |