Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives

Area Studies and Global Theories

Edited by Peter J. S. Duncan and Elisabeth Schimpfössl

£35.00

ISBN: 9781787353848

Publication: October 14, 2019

Series: FRINGE

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In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. Two years later the Soviet Union disintegrated. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union discredited the idea of socialism for generations to come. It was seen as representing the final and irreversible victory of capitalism. This triumphal dominance was barely challenged until the 2008 financial crisis threw the Western world into a state of turmoil.

Through analysis of post-socialist Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as of the United Kingdom, China and the United States, Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives confronts the difficulty we face in articulating alternatives to capitalism, socialism and threatening populist regimes. Beginning with accounts of the impact of capitalism on countries left behind by the planned economies, the volume moves on to consider how China has become a beacon of dynamic economic growth, aggressively expanding its global influence.

The final section of the volume poses alternatives to the ideological dominance of neoliberalism in the West. Since the 2008 financial crisis, demands for social change have erupted across the world. Exposing the failure of neoliberalism in the United Kingdom and examining recent social movements in Europe and the United States, the closing chapters identify how elements of past ideas are re-emerging, among them Keynesianism and radical socialism. As those chapters indicate, these ideas might well have potential to mobilise support and challenge the dominance of neoliberalism.

Peter J. S. Duncan is Associate Professor of Russian Politics and Society at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Among his six books are The Soviet Union and India (1989); The Road to Post-Communism: Independent Political Movements in the Soviet Union, 1985-1991(co-author, 1992); and Russian Messianism: Third Rome, Revolution, Communism and After (paperback, 2014).

Elisabeth Schimpfössl researches wealth inequality, elite philanthropy as well as questions around self-censorship in Eastern Europe. She is author of Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. She has a doctorate from the University of Manchester and is currently lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

Introduction

Peter J. S. Duncan and Elisabeth Schimpfössl

PART I: Capitalism in Action

Chapter 1: Semi-Dependent Capitalism: Russia

Ruslan Dzarasov

Chapter 2: Diversifying the Super-Rich: Forbes-Listed Russians from a Muslim Background

Catherine Suart

Chapter 3: The Culture of Elite Philanthropy: Russia and the United Kingdom Compared

Tim Monteath and Elisabeth Schimpfössl

Chapter 4: Between the Public and the Private: Socialism, Capitalism and Street Socialization in Georgia

Costanza Curro

PART II: China Today and as a Future Alternative