Efficiency and Justice in the Industrial World: v. 1: The Failure of the Soviet Experiment

by Dusan Pokorny

Overview

In the last years of the Soviet Union, with remarkable suddenness, it became commonplace to observe that what the country needed was a free market, private property and integration into the global economy. But why (aside from the obvious fact that the alternative was failing) should this consciousness dawn in our day? This book argues that the time has come to reflect on what the epochal events of our era are teaching us about larger questions - the relationship between economy and society, culture and market. Dusan Polorny asks precisely these questions, revisiting the ideas of classic and contemporary philosophers in the light of the failure of the Soviet order and the exigencies of post-Soviet transformation. As Pokorny also points out, integration in a post-industrial global economy entails profound changes in the domain of property rights, a redefinition of the relation between equity and efficiency, and a regrounding of national consciousness. The present volume examines the implications of these demands for the post-Soviet societies; another, on the European and North American experiments in economic integration, is in preparation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781315485591
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/04/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	604 KB

About the Author

After the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Dušan Pokorný emigrated to Canada, where he became Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of Toronto. His articles on interactions between philosophic and economic thought have appeared in The Canadian Journal of Economics, History of Political Economy, and The Philosophical Forum. Among the books to which he contributed essays on the development of nations, states, and markets are Democratic Theory and Technological Society (M.E. Sharpe, 1988) and Socialist Dilemmas: East and West (M.E. Sharpe, 1990).

Table of Contents

PREFACE, INTRODUCTION, PART I THE DEEMED CERTITUDES, CHAPTER 1 PROPERTY: THE THEORY, 1.1 The Godly Origins, 1.2 The Father Figure of Hegel, 1.3 Marx: The View, 1.4 Marx: The Project, CHAPTER 2 AN OUTCOME, 2.1 War Communism, 2.2 The New Economic Policy, 2.3 A Socialism of Barracks, 2.4 A Review Aborted, PART I1 THE STAGE OF ISSUES, CHAPTER 3 PROPERTY: THE LABORS OF RETRIEVAL, 3.1 The Incidents of Property, 3.2 The Land Law, 3.3 The Manmade Means of Production, 3.4 A Closure and an Opening, CHAPTER 4 EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY, 4.1 Mainly about Markets, 4.2 Also about Reasons, 4.3 Macro: Networks of Interdependence, 4.4 Micro: Into the Black Box, CHAPTER 5 NATIONS AND REPUBLICS, 5.1 Language: Philosophy and Governance, 5.2 Universality and Particularity, 5.3 The Agenda on the Table, 5.4 Legitimacy As a Problem, PART 111 A HEREAFTER BARELY SHAPED, CHAPTER 6 THE DEMISE OF THE UNION, 6.1 A New Union?, 6.2 The Mounting Tensions, 6.3 The Coup That Failed, 6.4 No Union, CHAPTER 7 AFTERTHOUGHTS, 7.1 Property: Modernity and Its Assumptions, 7.2 The Economic and the Social, 7.3 Economic Ties and National Divisions, 7.4 A Late Caller, NOTES, SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY, NAME INDEX, SUBJECT INDEX

Editorial Reviews

After the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, the author emigrated to Canada, where he became Professor of Economics and Political Science at the U. of Toronto. He has written extensively on interactions between philosophic and economic thought and on the development of nations, states, and markets. As this is volume 1, more volumes seem to be indicated, but their content is not delineated in the preface or introduction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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