The decisive event of the late twentieth century has been the collapse of communism and the perceived triumph of capitalism. Written by authors from the First, former Second, and Third Worlds, this book reveals the characteristics and flaws of the late capitalist order. The authors explore the societal polarisation produced by globalization, the crisis of Western ideology, and the soft financial underbelly of globalization that could well bring us to an economic collapse. The perspective of this provocative book goes beyond those of the traditional left and the relativist, anti-historical...

In this radical and controversial overview of the post-communist world, Boris Kagarlitsky argues that the very success of neo-liberal capitalism has made traditional socialism all the more necessary and feasible. Kagarlitsky argues that leftists exaggerate the importance of the 'objective' aspects of the 'new reality' -- globalisation -- and the weakening of the state, while underestimating the importance of the hegemony of neo-liberalism. As long as neo-liberalism retains its ideological hegemony, despite its economic failure, the consequence is a 'new barbarism' -- already a reality in...

In this book Boris Kagarlitsky offers a trenchant analysis of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the transformation of a section of the old nomenklatura into a new possessing and ruling elite. Kagarlitsky shows that Western commentators have been misled by the street theatre of events like the bungled coup of August 1991 into supposing that a fundamental break has been made with the confused politics and economics of the late Soviet period. He analyses the ill-considered and self-interested attempts made by the nomenklatura to privatize assets and inaugurate a free-market economy, finding...