Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Matzner, Egon

Titel

Pád múru - Socioekonomická interpretácia jeho následkov

Ist Teil von

• Sociológia, 1998 (2), p.165-189

Ort / Verlag

Sociologický ústav - Slovenská akadémia vied

Erscheinungsjahr

1998

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The Fall of the Wall. A socio-economic interpretation of the end of systems competition. 1989 is a year of spectacular macro-events and profound changes in what Karl Popper called the situation logic of individual behaviour. While the presentation of macro-events, from Tienanmen to the fall of the Berlin Wall, attracted great public and intellectual interest, this cannot be said of the changes at the micro-level of decision-making. This is why author takes up that issue. In doing so, he argues that the end of the Cold War, which resulted from the implosion of the Soviet Empire, has brought about a dramatic change in the situational logic of our globe. That this holds true for former communist countries is a truism. But that an upheaval has also occurred in the old Western democracies is not yet fully understood, if at all. Author tries to show that the end of the Cold War has had far-reaching consequences for decisions and actions in all spheres of public and private life in the former "West". This has deep bearing on the prospering or decline of western institutions and policies. As the rules of the game in the "West" are now also accepted by the former "East", the consequence are also felt there, though not as acutely as in the "South" of our globe. Author presents his argument in the three parts. In Chapter 1 he attempts to sketch the post-1989 socio-economic context in the western world. In Chapter 2 factors influencing the prospering or decline of institutions are discussed in newly adapted game-theoretic terms. The hypothesis in ventured that during the Cold War systems rivalry provided the "West" with a strong stimulus for co-operation among countries, and within countries among political parties and interest groups. The overriding objective of co-operation was the pursuit of a public purpose, economic. Economic growth and social welfare, the reduction of unemployment or the provision of skills and higher education. With the end of the Cold War this stimulus has gone. It has so far not been replaced by a new one. Thus the end of the Cold War contributed to thrust reversal, a switch from the dominance of positive-sum games to hat of negative-sum games. As a consequence, Chapter 3 restates the significance of the public purpose and co-operation as a way of achieving it. The staging of co-operation is therefore suggested as the primary objective of politics.