ABSTRACT:
This study is the outcome of empirical research on the development and decay tendencies of the capitalist world economy since the early 1980s and the role that Europe will play in these constellations. Over these years the conclusion was reached that the logic of capitalist world development changes with the ups and downs of longer Kondratieff cycles, and that different periods of hegemony and of world political constellations, connected with these Kondratieff cycles, in turn give rise to different constellations of world economic ascent and decline. Those that hoped that world trade and open financial markets would shift incomes in favor of the poor, must now recognize that - however we look at the figures - there is a tendency towards rising poverty on a global scale, especially after the Asian crash of 1997.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: The theoretical framework: what can policy-makers know about ascent and decline in the world economy; Chapter 3: The international environment is basically unstable. A Survey of the contemporary research methods for the study of international social policy since 1989; Chapter 4: TNC dependence is causing long-term stagnation; Chapter 5: The contradictions of the process of the global environmental destruction, to which Europe as one of the main regions of world industry and traffic, disproportionately contributes; Chapter 6: Gender discrimination and sexism in world capitalism; Chapter 7: Development or decay?; Chapter 8: The instability of the transformation process; Chapter 9: A labor perspective on basic issues of European integration; Chapter 10: Migration and globalization
Synopsis
Presenting empirical research on the development and decay tendencies of the capitalist world economy since 1980, this book emphasizes the role of Europe in its various constellations. Tausch (political science, Innsbruck University) and Herrmann (applied social sciences, University of Cork) argue that the logic of capitalist world development tracks the longer Kondratieff cycles, and that different periods of hegemony give rise to different patterns of economic ascent and decline. With this in mind, they emphasize the rising levels of global poverty.
