Krieg! AIDS! Katastrophen! - Berliner Institut für kritische Theorie eV

Summaries
Andrzej Malkiewicz und Jerzy Palys: Passages and Pitfalls in the Construction of
Capitalism in Poland
U sing Poland as a case study, the authors examine the various stages and consequences of
»shock therapy«, the monetarist formula for the transition to capitalism. They demonstrate that
Poland has been forced to accept a transformation into a Third World economy.
Yuri Krasin: After the Failure of »Shock Therapy« in Russia
The author, director of a Gorbachev Foundation research program in Moscow, gives an account
of the eeonomic policies of the Gajdar government. He shows that »shock therapy« in
Russia was half-hearted, applied without the monetarist condition of »hard« currency. He
argues for the regulation of eeonomic and social policies during the transition to a »mixed«
market economy.
Joachim Hirsch: International Regulation
Given the failure of the two main theories of development, modernization and dependency
theories, the author sketches out an alternative cancept for the analysis of global capitalism that
is based on the »Theory of Regulation«. To do this, the author applies the regulation approach
to a level beyond the limits ofthe nation-state. The development ofworld capitalism is examined
in the wake of the »Fordism«-crisis of the mid '70s, characterized by the decline of US
hegemony and the strong differentiation among the »newly industrializing countries«. A central
thesis is that international relationships of dominance and dependency are not fixed by
means of a structural economic logic, but essentially by social power relations and institutional
political forms particular to the individual countries. The processes of democratization in the
countries of the periphery are, therefore, of central importance; they are also characterized by
special contradictions.
Paul M. Sweezy and Harry Magdoff: On Understanding the History of Capitalism
The authors examine the historical development of capitalism to explain the causes of the current
recession. Their main thesis is that the basic problem of a mature capitalist society is the
absence of a strong and reliable demand for capital.
Ingrid ArbeitIang: How Iiberating was the »Supportive Development« of Women in the
GDR?
Proceeding from an analysis of the legal and socio-economic regulations of the employment
policies of the GDR, the author reveals structural discriminatory mechanisms that harmed
women in the workplace. The on-going market economic transformation in the new east German
states has negative consequences for women, in part because this transformation has been
based on the patriarchal structures that were dominant in the GDR.
Thomas Weber: Unhappy Angels - Heiner Müller and WaIter Benjamin
Comparative readings of three metaphors as signatures of distinct epochs: Walter Benjamin's
»Engel der Geschichte« (1940) for the fascist epoch of capitalism, Heiner Müller's »Der
Glücklose Engek (1958) for GDR-socialism after Stalin's death, and Müller's »Glückloser
Engel 2« (1991) for the post-communist situation after the fall of the Wall.
Jost Hermand: Questions to Heiner Müller's Autobiography
The author identifies three contradictory text strategies in the autobiography of the East German
writer Heiner Müller: an »existential« one, in which Müller attempts to display himself
as an author untouched by historical and political events; second, a struggle for a »better, more
radical socialism«; and finally an "assassinationistic anarchism« in which he seeks 10 confront
the horrors of the world with the methods of horror.
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DAS ARGUMENT 19811993 ©