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donate Summary for Blätter 11/2009
Egon Bahr
Barack Obama and the end of the Cold War
With Barack Obama as president, the Cold War has finally come to an end. Simultaneously, the rise of emerging nations changes the global balance of power. Egon Bahr analyses Obama's struggle against the financial crisis and his efforts to build a new global architecture of security. Will Europe prove capable of supporting Obama in this endeavour and thus act as a fifth pole of power, alongside the US, Russia, China and India?
Albert Scharenberg
Obama's first year. The US between reform and propaganda
Internationally, Barack Obama receives wide-spread recognition, culminating with him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At home however, the US president is under tremendous pressure. In the wake of the financial crisis, unemployment numbers are rising rapidly, and the object of much controversy, healthcare reform, may still result in failure. Blätter editor Albert Scharenberg analyses the difficult situation in which the new administration finds itself one year after the election.
Stefan Grönebaum und Stephan Grüger
On the future of the SPD
Gerhard Schröder's SPD, the project of joining neoliberal mainstream, resulted in electoral disaster for the German social democracy. Stefan Grönebaum und Stephan Grüger analyse the dramatic loss of electoral votes for the SPD and advocate for drawing the right conclusion from this free fall, towards a re-democratization of the party.
Hans-Peter Waldrich
From Marx to Kant. Bad Godesberg and "ethical socialism"
This year's 15 November marks the fiftieth anniversary of the "Godesberger Programm", the political programme that lay the groundwork for the SPD moving away from its Marxist roots, towards a leftist catch-all party. Political scientist Hans-Peter Waldrich criticizes the fact that the SPD never actually used the full potential inherent in its Kantian turn, instead changing into an Allerweltspartei (Otto Kirchheimer).
Wolfgang Engler
The earnest lie. From feudalism through socialism to capitalism
The GDR made lying its doctrine. On the background of a ubiquitous system of spies, open discussion was restricted to the private sphere. Wolfgang Engler takes this as his starting point for an inquiry into the history of lying in politics: from absolutism over state socialism to the "structural beguilement of the neoliberal system". He shows that all cultures develop their own specific forms of dishonesty.
Lina Klymenko and Anne-Katrin Lang
Famine or genocide? The "Holodomor" in Ukrainian political memory
In November each year, Ukrainians commemorate the millions of people who died during the famine of 1932/33. Political scientists Lina Klymenko and Anne-Katrin Lang analyse the historical facts of the Holodomor and its classification as a "genocide", common in the Ukraine but scientifically controversial.
Hein Mück
Zimbabwe under Mugabe's stranglehold. A president's fight against his own people
Zimbabwe has been in decay for years. After the economic breakdown, mass exodus followed and state violence against the opposition has reached new levels. Hein Mück, long-serving development worker in Zimbabwe, outlines Robert Mugabe's path from an anti-colonial freedom fighter to a despotic president who currently holds an entire people hostage.
Daniel Leisegang
The future of knowledge. Google Books, Open Access and the information society of tomorrow
We are only at the beginning of an historical change. With our cultural heritage being digitized, access to knowledge undergoes a thorough transformation. Blätter editor Daniel Leisegang takes the ongoing debate on the "Google book settlement" as a starting point to discuss the most urgent questions of our changing information society.
Published 2009-11-05
Original in German
Contributed by Blätter
© Blätter
© Eurozine
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