Contents N° 11 - April 2001

 

 

 

 

  • La montagne et la liberté, ou Pourquoi les civilisations ne savent pas grimper
    by James C. Scott
    Hills and freedom, or Why civilizations can’t climb hills
    In Southeast Asian societies, a cultural and political gap separates the so-called “hill tribes” from people living in the valleys, even though one can easily demonstrate the constant exchanges that have taken place between these two peoples over centuries.  These exchanges result from two logics. The first, centripetal, stems from the fact that the valley kingdoms seek to populate their territories through the acquisition of slaves (wars are fought to capture people more than territory). The second, centrifugal, owes to the fact that the plains populations, often pushed by the rapacity of functionaries or colonizers, sought refuge in the hills. If civilizations do not know how to climb, this is not only, as Braudel remarked, because geography complicates the task; it is also because people “climb” hills in order to escape them.
  • Pour une organisation mondiale du commerce
    by Patrick Allard
    For a worldwide organization of trade
    The crises of 1997-1998 have subtly undermined the foundations of the global system of exchange by reactivating individual states’ preoccupations with economic security. The WTO’s responses are marked by fragility. Moreover, the failure of the Seattle conference increased distrust of free exchange in both public opinion and among leaders of various countries. The latter often reacted frenetically by signing a torrent of preferential regional agreements, often containing absurd clauses, the proliferation of which seems hardly apt to promote the progression of free trade on a global scale.  Indeed, this splintering of the world trade landscape could even negatively affect political relations between states.

 

 

Économie politique du fédéralisme
edited by Bruno Théret

  • Fédéralisme, stabilisation monétaire et démocratisation au Brésil
    by Lourdes Sola and Eduardo Kugelmas
    Federalism, monetary stabilization and democratization in Brazil
    The democratic transition in Brazil has been followed by rampant inflation, the causes of which are not only economic in nature. The federal structure of the country and the fact that democratization, which began at the level of the federated states, was slow to reach the center were also important factors. For a long time, the various states made great gains from their relative autonomy, which was most important with respect to monetary policy due to the absence of a truly centralized monetary authority.  Likewise, stabilization, which involved the concentration of monetary power in the central bank, succeeded largely for political reasons: exasperated with hyperinflation, the voters were no longer swayed by populism; and, astutely, President Cardoso made use of the electoral calendar to bring the state governments into line.
  • La solidarité sociale dans le pacte fédéral canadien. Histoire d’une crise et de son dénouement
    by Bruno Théret
    The Welfare State in the Canadian federal pact. The history of a crisis and its conclusion
    In 1994-1995, the Canadian federal government engaged in profound liberalization reforms of its social programs, claiming this as a necessary adaptation to globalization.  Both the vehemence and the form of the federated provinces’ reaction, which had recourse or threatened recourse to inter-provincialism, demonstrated that a central nerve of the federal pact had been struck. However, the emergence of a “social union” of Anglophone provinces also gave new impetus to the development of an asymmetric multinational federalism in Canada. But the crisis, which had unsettled the federal pact in ways that surpass the longstanding protestations of Quebec, was finally resolved in a way that showed that the Canadian federalism endowed its welfare state with a strong capacity for resistance to Americanization.
  • Différenciation régionale et fédéralisme budgétaire en Russie
    by Jacques Sapir
    Regional differentiation and budgetary federalism in Russia
    From 1992 to 1998, Russia underwent a process of regional economic differentiation that proved to be a real danger, threatening disintegration. The main cause of this was the policy of state retreat practiced by the central authorities (following the counsel of Western creditors) which undermined the legitimacy of centralized public action. The 1998 crisis was beneficial insofar as it brought this catastrophic course to light, and brought forth that the question of transfers and central public expenditures are at the heart of the national pact. The state began spending (although modestly) once again and honoring its financial engagements. The necessary re-centralization is under way. The reforms introduced by Putin are in keeping with this line of action, even though resistance is considerable.
  • Du « gouvernement économique » au gouvernement tout court. Vers un fédéralisme à l’européenne
    par Robert Boyer et Mario Dehove
    From “economic government” to simply government. Towards European federalism
    The idea of endowing the European Union with an economic government is justified now that the Union’s duties are less directed at coordination at the legislative level (the functioning of the single market) than at the executive level (the definition of economic policy).  But a “need for government” is also evident in other domains of European integration (social, military, domestic security), which is expressed by the chaotic blossoming of procedures and ad hoc informal organizations. In reality, the question faced by the Union is simply that of government. Can one hope that the present dynamic will spontaneously converge towards a coherent institutional apparatus? Or must the Union be given, once and for all, a center of public action that no single state has yet been able to do without, whose form would be compatible with its unprecedented political structure?