Beyond US Hegemony?: Assessing the Prospects for a Multipolar World

Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 8
Being clear about the nature of capitalism and imperialism......Page 9
Is there a desirable form of globalization?......Page 12
1. The triad: America, Europe and Japan – united or fragmented?......Page 15
The project of the American ruling class......Page 16
The shifting sands of the European project......Page 21
The clash of political cultures......Page 24
And Japan?......Page 29
China’s rise: revolution or opening to the world?......Page 32
Market socialism: transition, or short-cut to capitalism?......Page 35
So, what is to be done?......Page 46
An uncertain future......Page 53
3. Russia out of the tunnel?......Page 56
Basic characteristics of the Soviet system......Page 57
New forms of capitalism in Russia......Page 61
Is there a worthwhile alternative in Russia today?......Page 71
The colonial inheritance......Page 76
Success and limitations of the populist national project......Page 79
The liberal and culturalist drift......Page 84
The long and difficult march of alternative globalization......Page 86
5. Can solidarity be rebuilt among the countries of the South?......Page 91
A critical balance sheet of the ‘Bandung era’, 1955-75......Page 92
The roots of Africa’s exclusion......Page 99
Is South Africa the weak link in the system?......Page 102
Can the slide of the Arab world be reversed?......Page 105
Latin America and the Caribbean in a tricontinental perspective......Page 110
The East as a new South?......Page 112
A new basis for solidarity among the peoples of the South......Page 113
Managing national sovereignty within the UN framework......Page 119
A balance sheet of UN activity between 1945 and 1980......Page 122
Conflict and overlap between economic and political management......Page 126
The empire of chaos: sovereignty, social justice and development go by the board......Page 128
The alternative: constructing social justice, international justice and a new popular sovereignty......Page 133
Proposals for a renaissance of the UN......Page 138
A plan for action......Page 151
The difficulties of constructing a multipolar world......Page 153
Can Washington’s military project be thwarted?......Page 155
Thinking long-term......Page 158
Four conditions to be satisfied......Page 164
The great strength of the global ‘movement’......Page 167
Appendix I. Multipolarity in the twentieth century......Page 172
The drama of the great revolutions......Page 173
The weight of imperialism, the permanent stage of the global expansion of capitalism......Page 174
Defence of the post-revolutionary states central to the vanguard’s strategic choices......Page 175
Nation-building and/or socialist construction in the radical countries of the periphery......Page 177
Opening debate on the long transition to world socialism......Page 179
On the nature of actually existing capitalism......Page 182
On the transformation of contemporary capitalism and the critique of mainstream discourse......Page 183
On contradictions within the contemporary triad......Page 185
On the socialist perspective and the critique of ‘actually existing socialisms’......Page 186
On the global insertion of the various regions of ‘the South’......Page 188
On present conflicts and thegeometry of possible alliances......Page 190
Index......Page 192