Conference Announcement: Crisis, State and Democracy. Working with Nicos Poulantzas’ theory to confront authoritarian capitalism

The preparations for the

International Poulantzas Conference

Crisis, State and Democracy. Working with Nicos Poulantzas’ theory to confront authoritarian capitalism
are now more or less concluded. It will kA place the 12th and 13th of December in Athens at the Panteion University.Nicos Poulantzas has been one of the most important scholars in the field of theory development in the areas of the state and its development. His contribution linked in a creative way different strands from the Marxist discourse. Being a passionate activist, his contribution is especially meaningful as he aimed on making theoretical reflections relevant for the further development for emancipatory politics. Nevertheless, his work has been underexposed in the context of debates on European (dis-)integration. In the light of the crisis and the process of increasingly authoritarian politics it is even more important to utilise this pool of knowledge, in order to better understand the contradictory character of the process and to elaborate alternatives that opens perspectives towards a radical socialist transformation to a democratic society.So far the information from the transform website where further details can be found.

Dear Mr Juncker … ;-)

History is not a matter of repetition; and it is true that at times there are coalitions that would not haven thought of at other times …

The following may be usefully considered when thinking about EU investment policies today

“Forgive the candour of these remarks. They come from an enthusiastic well-wisher of you and your policies. I accept the view that durable investment must come increasingly under state direction. […] I regard the growth of collective bargaining as essential. I approve minimum wage and hours regulation. I was altogether on your side the other day, when you deprecated a policy of general wage reductions as useless in present circumstances. But I am terrified lest progressive causes in all the democratic countries should suffer injury, because you have taken too lightly the risk to their prestige which would result from a failure measured in terms of immediate prosperity. There need be no failure. But the maintenance of prosperity in the modern world is extremely difficult; and it is so easy to lose precious time.
I am, Mr President
Yours with great respect and faithfulness,
J.M. Keynes

from John Maynard Keynes (1938), “Letter of February 1 to Franklin Delano Roosevelt,” in Collected Works XXI: Activities 1931-1939 (London: Macmillan).

Optimism – Pessimism – Realism

We frequently talk about the glass, wondering if it is half full or half empty … , and easily deny or overlook when it is broken.

Only looking for a new one then will allow us to avail of one that is at least half full and that may be filled up further.

Strengthening the European Social Model by Going Beyond

The following are the notes of the closing remarks during the conference “Rafforzare il Modello Sociale Europeo. Il contributo della Qualità Sociale alla coesione del sistema comunitario”, Venerdì 31 Ottobre 2014 presso la Sala Polifuzionale, Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Rome

********

I want to thank all participants for their contributions – they had been especially in their diversity a major challenge for me to think about the tasks ahead. The actual challenge is – another time – to overcome the contradiction between what we know and what we do. And it is probably correct to say that there is a general good will and acknowledgement of the virtues as we know them already since ancient times. And nevertheless we fail acting accordingly.

I will keep it short and will not develop the long story which we know from Pinocchio:

Pinocchio’s legs were so stiff that he could not move them, and Geppetto held his hand and showed him how to put out one foot after the other.

When his legs were limbered up, Pinocchio started walking by himself and ran all around the room. He came to the open door, and with one leap he was out into the street. Away he flew!

Of course, you may also refer to the work for instance of Max Weber, Niklas Luhmann and many others.

It seems today that we are facing a similar story: Europe had been established as system based on values as – amongst others – peace and justice. And now it seems to go entirely stray, following its own ways.

Already in the mid 1990s a large number of academics called for a focus on social quality as central parameter for future politics. In a declaration in Amsterdam it had been stated in 1997:

Respect for the fundamental human dignity of all citizens requires us to declare that we do not want to see growing numbers of beggars, tramps and homeless in the cities of Europe. Nor can we countenance a Europe with large numbers of unemployed, growing numbers of poor people and those who have only limited access to health care and social services. These and many other negative indicators demonstrate the current inadequacy of Europe to provide social quality for all its citizens. We want, in contrast, a European society that is economically successful, but which, at the same time, promotes social justice and participation for its citizens.

And actually there had been a very positive reception, the then commissioner for employment and social affairs highlighting the importance of focussing on social quality.

The two crucial points claimed had been the need to arrive at a policy design

  • that accepts the complexity and interdependencies of society. This meant to overcome a departmentalised approach, aiming on a new integrity which is not subordinated under rules of a de-socialised model economics
  • that goes beyond standard parameters of measuring economic success in quantitative terms, taking social quality as reference, and looking at peoples real and everyday’s life.

This merged in the claim concerned with politics, i.e. the need to develop policies beyond finding technical and short-term solutions.

I do not want to discuss the Lisbon strategy which stated in 2000

  1. The Union has today set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion

Leaving a structural analysis aside, THIS Europe had not been able to address the crisis, and actually it can be seen as part of a global political arena, leading straight into it, deepening and accelerating it. In actual fact we find today major challenges – most of them well-known and often discussed.

A major reason for the failing of the debates and analysis had been and is that the complexities and interdependencies had not been sufficiently considered: a matter of power, interests and of Pinocchio running his own way, even if they may have – or claim to have – the same vision.

Proposals for alternatives had been made from different sides, too often limited to models and dreams, simply based on abstract values. However, the reality needs to go beyond this. One of the major steps had been shown in November 2013, coming from an angle that had been perhaps unexpected by many, Pope Francis, writing about an economy that kills. More important than this statement had been another sentence in that paragraph, asking

How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.[1]

Indeed,

  • exorbitant growth of capital and productive potentials is going hand in hand with decreasing GDP and an increasing inequality instead of socio-economic security for all
  • growth is translated into production of waste, speculation and privatisation of public goods – which translates into “values” equal “consumables” instead of providing a foundation for social cohesion
  • employment is loosing its productive dimension – and also its function of “making a living”. Precarity is the norm instead of suggesting a new take on socially meaningful activities and cooperation that secures social inclusion
  • migration is not a problem – though it is made being a problem as long as it is an answer to which individuals are forced by the externalisation of costs of production instead of seeing the major potential for social empowerment.

All this can be put into a nutshell – at least people living in Rome will understand immediately and others probably just have to replace the names of places and streets. And it is only a rephrasing of what Francis said:

How is it possible that we ignore the homeless people and “celebrate excessive consumerism”: go to Termini station at 4 o’clock in the morning – and in the afternoon have a look at excessive luxury on the Via dei Condotti and even the Via del Corso.

Indeed, all the answers will remain a torso as long as we do not manage to re-embed all policy areas into one guiding principle, that orient on

the interaction between people (constituted as actors) and their constructed and natural environment. Its subject matter refers to people’s interrelated productive and reproductive relationships.[2]

The objective conditions of making use of the potentials will allow to translate social justice (equity), solidarity, equal valuation and human dignity, the normative factors presented in the framework of social quality, into meaningful parameters of an analytical tool and an instrument to systematically develop alternatives.

Urgently needed is in this light the confrontation of some major flaws of current politics:

Excessive cheap production and low fare trade, being a major feature of quantitative growth strategies are established on the strategies of sheep advertising and “low fair production”.

But we urgently need

  • planning
  • public responsibility
  • solidarity enshrined in rights
  • making people themselves the public

What else remains to be said? Since several years now there is a label on cigarette now: Smoking kills Perhaps we should think about this in connection with the words of Pope Francis and public responsibility.

Demands

EU

The EU has to refocus policies: instead of adjoining welfare policies to a growth oriented strategy of competitiveness, policies have to be focused on the social as people’s interrelated productive and reproductive relationships in everyday’s life as the true aim of policy making.

National Governments

National governments have to commit themselves to the same goal, strongly considering their action as part of their global responsibility.

Municipalities and Regional Bodies

It is necessary to orient local and regional policies on strategies that take overall sustainability into account, and allow for participative approaches that foster the interaction between people (constituted as actors) and their constructed and natural environment.

Trade Unions

It is necessary to develop new understandings of syndicalism, thoroughly analysing the critical developments on labour markets and in society, putting more emphasis on the representation of men and women in atypical employment and the societal contributions made outside of labour markets.

Civil Society

The role of civil society is to provide a glue between the different levels and realms of society and to link particularistic interests into the wider context of an overall sustainable society

Academic World

Interdisciplinary orientation cannot be a catchword alone but has to be implemented and a permanent guideline of academic world – be it in teaching or research. For this the academic world has to be open for heterodox approaches, a truly open debate and a non-competitive working climate that is rooted in discourse and exchange.

Our Commitment

We as European Observatory on Social Quality commit ourselves

  • to further elaborate the theory and practice,
  • to contribute with concrete analysis of living conditions and daily life in a comprehensive understanding
  • to develop a network of and link between academics, politicians and civil society
  • to provide services that foster the overall aim of moving towards a society that is based in the orientation on overall sustainability and social cohesion.

The goal then will not be paradise – but a proper use of the resources we have.

 

[1]            Pope Francis, 2013: Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium of the Holy Father Francis to the Bishops, Clergy, consecrated persons and the Lay Faithful on the proclamation of the gospel in today’s world; Città del Vaticano; Libreria Editrice Vaticana; http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html – 28/10/14

[2] van der Maesen, Laurent J.G./Walker, Alan, 2012: Social Quality and Sustainability; in: Van der Maesen, Laurent J.G./Walker, Alan (eds.): Social Quality. From Theory to Indicators: Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; 250-274; here: 260

Reality – perversion, reversion, revision 

The discussion on privatisation, retrenchment, alteration, economisation, marketisation etc. is not new – nor is it a matter that can be easily access when looking at the figures. Actually we find contradicting figures, and it is frequently emphasised that the problem is not “less spending” but diverted spending.

Looking at the figures, and concisely analysing them as matter of facts and trends, is surely of utmost importance, finally we are talking about the future, and that means not least that we are talking about out children.

Apropos children: European societies claim, though in different ways, to be especially child friendly: indeed, nostri carini bambini; Children, our future; and even the notion that we only borrowed the world from them …
Here, social care and social security is also a crucially important issue. And as much as the state is still often represented in the figure of Leviathan, the Vater Staat (state as father), Uncle Sam, the personification of a sovereign that actually can only claim his sovereignty from the people as legal sovereigns, there is of course also a mother to all of this, and of course: the caring part, looking after the children and not only considering the blunt material aspects but reaching out with her TLC – the tender loving care.
Part of it is in Finland the Edelliset äitiyspakkaukset, i.e. Maternity Package. It is part of the Finish policy, nowadays seen as part of the national culture and surely there are many things that can be discussed (including the fact that the 2014 package contains condoms which may be misunderstood in this context). More serious, the point that it had been known for a ling time as MATERNITY package, instead of being seen as package for the children or Parental Package …
Now to globalisation: This package had never been free. Actually (terms and conditions apply) people could chose this package or a cash payment of 140 Euro, and trusting the figures, approximately 95 % chose the good value for money instead of the money pure – as said: there is the “cultural dimension” to it.
Anyway, that it is much appreciated can also be seen in the initiative by three young fathers: namely Anssi, dad of Otso, Anton, dad of Thilde and Max and Heikki, dad of Ronja and Joel.
Oh yes, we see, Finish men can also develop this TLC-attitudem, act as “mother state” to its citizens. And they offer it globally:

GET YOURS FOR $459 (limited time pre-order offer)

Much can be said – among the many things ultimately: there is a serpent creeping around Europe, filling every pore with he toxic venom of consumerism, commodification of everything … — and it will only be stopped by reviving the specter that had been haunting Europe in the middle of the middle of the 1800s.

mutation effects of globalisation?

Have a look at this, the nice and vivid young people, enjoying life and living …, shown in this SKYPE ad, I recently received – and then make a rough count of country/region of origin.

I do not really know the target group of this ad in terms of country or region – but I remember that on a recent visit to China I had been somewhat surprised when looking at the large poster ads: many, especially female “exhibits” looked very “Western”.
Nothing wrong with looking Western or looking Eastern, still remarkable how globalisation apparently changes even how we look and who we are (supposed to be) , isn’t it?

Die Soziale Mobilmachung Europas

Peter Herrmann[i]

Die Soziale Mobilmachung Europas

Notizen im Zusammenhang mit einem Beitrag aus der Antikriegskonferenz in Berlin, 3.-5. Oktober 2014

„Es gibt viele Arten zu töten. Man kann einem ein Messer in den Bauch stechen, einem das Brot entziehen, einen von einer Krankheit nicht heilen, einen in eine schlechte Wohnung stecken, einen durch Arbeit zu Tode schinden, einen zum Suizid treiben, einen in den Krieg führen usw. Nur weniges davon ist in unserem Staat verboten.“[1]

Einführung und Grundführung

Krieg und Nichtkrieg – darum geht es ja bei einer Initiative wie der hiesigen – war und ist immer eine Frage um Grenzen. Und es erscheint es als eine Frage von physischen Grenzen zwischen Staaten bzw. Nationen. Zu sagen, es handele sich um eine Frage von Staatsgrenzen, richtet schnell den Blick auf einen Ausdruck, der verschiedentlich den Staatsbegriff in metaphorischer Weise verwendet und damit – wohl ungewollt – den Blick auf einen wesentlichen Teil des Problems richtet: die Rede ist vom Staat im Staate.

Dieser Begriff findet sich vor allem in zwei wichtigen Verwendungen. Zum einen als Bezeichnung für eine „konspirative Herrschaftsorganisation“, die die innere Ordnung sichert und dabei in eigenartiger Weise die beiden Dimensionen, die Gramsci für Hegemonie benennt, zusammenbindet: Nicht zuletzt geht es um das Militär als Staat im Staate. Zum anderen geht es um eine mögliche Gegenmacht: nicht zuletzt war die frühere Sozialdemokratie mit dem umfassenden Netz von der Wiege bis zur Bahre auch als Staat im Staate klassifiziert – das war freilich pejorativ gemeint. Ob es sich dabei um eine Art innere Emigration handelte, um die Kopie von Herrschaftsstrukturen oder anderes handelte, muss hier nicht interessieren. Wichtig ist, dass auf diese Weise die Klassenstrukturen als Kern des Problems genannt sind. Denn immer, wenn es um militärische Auseinandersetzungen ging und geht, steht die Soziale Frage mehr oder weniger direkt im Begründungszusammenhang.

So oder so, diese kurze Diskussion zeigt, dass es im Kern eben nicht um einen kapitalistischen Staat als einen homogenen Block geht, der einen ebenso homogenen Block entgegensteht. Ich schlage folgende Gliederung für die weitere Analyse vor:

  • Die Kernkräfte des mehr oder weniger direkt gewaltorientierten Herrschaftsapparates
  • Die eher globalistisch orientierten Hegemonialkräfte
  • Die formierten Gegenkräfte
  • Die – scheinbar – Passiven

Die Metapher vom Staat im Staate soll im Folgenden nicht weiter verfolgt werden. Nun ist auch nicht jede „soziale Ungerechtigkeit“ gleich eine Kriegserklärung. Wohl aber lässt sich derzeit davon sprechen, dass die alte soziale Frage heute genau diesen Zusammenhang wieder Bedeutung gewinnt: Es geht um die Neudefinition der entscheidenden Grenzen. Wichtig ist daher, die komplizierte Überschneidung verschiedener Interessensphären auch in räumlicher Hinsicht:

  • Traditionale Nationalstaatlichkeit
  • „Regionale Staatlichkeit“ – hier und gegenwärtig insbesondere die EU
  • Die subnationale Regionalebene, die wieder verstärkte Bedeutung gewinnt und dabei nicht zuletzt eine neue Form von Antimilitarismus begründet – Schottland ist als jüngstes Beispiel hier zu nennen
  • Eine virtuelle Globalität – trotz des virtuellen Charakters haben wir es dabei aber mit sehr realen Ansätzen zu tun:
    • dem globalen Kapitalismus, der real, aber zugleich in diffusen Formen auftritt
    • der globalen Anti- und Alter-Globalisierungsbewegung mit ihren äußerst heterogenen Formen der Erscheinung und Äußerung.

All dies ist nun vor dem Hintergrund zweier weiterer Momente zu sehen, die die Neuordnung der Welt bestimmen – es handelt sich im Grunde um die zwei Seiten einer Medaille:

  • Die radikale Herausbildung einer neuen Stufe der Produktivkraftentwicklung
  • Die auf eine neue Stufe gehobene Akkumulation durch Enteignung.

Dies sind allgemeine Bestimmungen, die einen Rahmen abstecken, gegen den eine Bestimmung und Analyse verschiedener Politikmomente möglich ist. Es wird vor diesem Hintergrund auch möglich, die Widersprüchlichkeit zu erfassen, und ebenso die tatsächliche Gefahr der gegenwärtigen „inneren Mobilmachung“ bzw. „inneren Aufrüstung“ zu erkennen – Dabei ist eine Art Paradox festzustellen: die Aufrüstung hängt von einer pervertierten Abrüstung der Arbeitskräfte bzw. Ware Arbeitskraft ab. Der „Staat über dem Staat“, von dem Liebknecht gesprochen hat, hat eben auch eine andere Seite: die (un-)soziale Unterfütterung, die das Militär, der Militarismus und allgemein die Bereitschaft, Gewalt als eine inadäquate Antwort auf politische Fragen anzuerkennen, gesellschaftsfähig zu machen.

Zwei Seiten einer solchen Mobilmachung sind zu unterscheiden: die generelle Verunsicherung, mit der Entfachung eines „Kampfbewusstseins des Jeder-gegen-Jeden“. Zum anderen die Fortsetzung des Überwachen, Kontrollieren und Intervenieren, wie von Volker Eick vorgestellt.

Jugendarbeitslosigkeit

Meines Erachtens greift es zu kurz, wenn wir immer wieder allgemein von Neoliberalismus sprechen – insbesondere der Blick auf das Problem der sog. Arbeitsmarktpolitik sollte uns weiter aufhorchen lassen – wir müssen es ernster nehmen, wenn von einem fundamentalen Umbau gesprochen wird. Die Zahlen sind allemal erschreckend. Dies bezieht sich auf die absolute Höhe, aber auch die zunehmende Anzahl von Nicht-Standardisierten Arbeitsverhältnissen.

Ein kleiner Überblick in Zahlen:

The figures are alarming. Some 5.2 million young people are out of work in the EU today. The youth unemployment rate, which stood at 23.5% in 2013, is thus over twice as high as that for people of working age in general. A staggering 7.5 million of people aged 15-24 are not in employment, education or training (NEET). One third of young unemployed have been jobless for more than a year. Even when they find a job, young people often find themselves trapped at the precarious end of the labour market: 42.7 % were on temporary contracts in 2013 compared with 13.8 % of the over- all population of working age.[2]

Speziell mit Blick auf befristete Arbeitsverhältnisse ergibt sich folgendes Bild:

Over the three years 2009–2012, the proportion of young people in work with temporary contracts of employment rose in 20 of the 28 countries. The increase was particularly large in a number of countries which were most affected by the crisis – in Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and Italy. The proportion of young people employed in temporary jobs as opposed to permanent ones was larger in 2012 than in 2007 in all but nine countries, despite the initial reduction in the number of fixed-term contract jobs in many cases in the recession years.[3]

Dabei fällt neben der schlicht erschreckenden Höhe auf, dass es nun zunehmend auch die sog. bildungsnahen Schichten sind, für die die im Marktselbstlauf versprochene rosige Zukunft eine Illusion ist. Dies wird verschieden interpretiert – und nicht zuletzt von einem zunehmend verängstigten Mittelstand als Gefahr angesehen. Aber genau hier liegt eines der großen Probleme. Es handelt sich in gewisser Weise um eine Normalisierung des Kapitalismus: zeitweilige Privilegien sind nun unter Druck geraten. Die für viele schwer akzeptierbare Crux ist eben, dass vermeintliche Normalitäten nun durch tatsächliche Normalitäten eingeholt werden. Daher ist das Nachtrauern um eine verlorene Mittelstandsvergangenheit selbst schon eine Art akzeptierte Kriegsvorbereitung: die Kriegsbegeisterten waren ja vor allem immer diejenigen, die den inneren System-Krieg verloren haben.

Nun ist es freilich doch ein wenig komplizierter: Hinter dem Verlust von Privilegien stehen zwei Faktoren: zum einen waren diese durch einen zeitweisen Überschuss möglich – das nicht auf Deutschland begrenzte Nachkriegswunder ist nun auf den Boden der weniger wunderbaren Alltagsrealität zurückgekehrt. Zum anderen haben sich aber die Bedingungen des Kapitalismus selbst mehr oder weniger grundsätzlich gewandelt; vor allem der Wandel der Produktivkräfte und Produktionsweise – in engem Zusammenhang mit einer spezifischen Ausprägung von Globalisierung – sind hier zu nennen.

Die spezifische Ausprägung der Globalisierung ist ein zweiter wesentlicher Punkt: Schaut man sich die Zahlen zur Jugendarbeitslosigkeit genauer an, so fällt eine enorme regionale Disparität auf. Wichtig ist, dies als eine neue Definition von Peripherie und Semi-Peripherie zu sehen.

Fasst man beides zusammen, kann es auf einen einfachen Nenner gebracht werden:

Auf dem Altar der inneren und äußeren Neuordnung der Welt werden bestimmte Gruppen und bestimmte Regionen zur Opferschlachtbank geführt. Eine entscheidende neuere Entwicklung ist, dass diese Opfer zunehmend auch von der „alten Mitte“ gefordert werden. – Damit sind zwei weitere Fronten errichtet.

Rassismus

Die EU-Politik ist in dieser Hinsicht „erfolgreich“: Betrachtet man die Politik, die mit Blick auf Rassismus relevant ist, so ist sie zunächst als Fortsetzung der Festungspolitik zu sehen. Begleitet wird dies von verschiedenen weichen Maßnahmen, die eher appellativen Charakter haben.

Ein zweiter Punkt besteht in der Entsolidarisierung – unabhängig von den Details: Ein Land wie Italien steht dabei allein vor einem massiven Problem: ein Problem, weil Einwanderung „einfach passiert“, ein Problem auch, weil eine globale Entwicklung nationalisiert wird: ein Nationalstaat soll allein eine Antwort finden.

Einige wenige Zahlen zu der L’emergenza, der „Notlage“, wie es il sole 24 ore bezeichnet

1.889 Morti e dispersi

Stima Onu di morti e dispersi in mare per raggiungere l’Europa da gennaio 2014

108.172 Sbarchi in Italia

Stima Onu degli arrivi via mare sulle

coste italiane da gennaio 2014

453 Scafisti arrestati

Dati del Viminale, da ottobre 2013

ad agosto 2014[4]

Der Streit um FRONTEX-plus und die Gegenüberstellung dieser neuen EU-Initiative gegen die italienische Initiative Mare Nostrum erscheint dabei zynisch:

E il ministro dell’Interno, Angelino Alfano trona a parlare di Frontex plus che partirà dal primo novembre: a quel punto «chiederemo al governo di chiudere l’operazione Mare Nostrum».[5]

Aber dann finden sich auch Hinweise, dass es eben nicht um einen Ersatz gehen könne, dass es ein Ergänzungsprogramm sei etc. – dies wird dann als Beschwerde vorgebracht, oder aber als resignierte Feststellung. Allemal muss bedacht werden:

De plus, si Frontex doit prendre le relais, son mandat doit être clarifié. Parce que pour l’instant il s’agit d’une agence spécialisée dans le contrôle et la dissuasion des migrants.[6]

Teil einer EUropäischen Lösung wäre in der tatsächlichen Implementierung der Dublin-Regelungen zu sehen:

La solution c’est que les états européens qui ne sont pas sur la frontière méditerranéenne acceptent de partager la prise en charge de ces personnes. Certaines dispositions de Dublin III sont inexploitées ou mal interprétées. Le règlement permet de transférer des personnes vers des états où elles auraient des attaches familiales, linguistiques ou culturelles.[7]

– Freilich, dass man nun als Linker eine Einlösung einer letztlich konservativen Regelung fordern muss, zeigt, wie degeneriert die Situation bereits ist. Ein Punkt, der in diesem Zusammenhang auch Erwähnung finden sollte ist in der Klassifizierung der Scafisti, der Menschenhändler bzw. Fluchthelfer zu sehen.[8] Außerdem ist FRONTEX und sind die verschiedenen Regelungen vor allem immer in dem Doppelcharakter zu sehen, dass sie einerseits strikt der Sicherung der Sicherung der äußeren Grenzen dienen, andererseits gewisse humanitäre Momente beinhalten.

Dabei ist ein weiterer Punkt zu berücksichtigen: Tatsächlich wird ein bemerkenswerter Teil der Wirtschaft, nicht zuletzt der Einzelhandel, von Migrant(Inn)en getragen. Es entsteht eine seltsame – und allemal gefährliche – Gemengelage von mafiösen Abhängigkeiten, Abhängigkeiten von Billigprodukten und teils Konfrontationen zwischen „Wir“ und „Ihr“: Wir erscheinen nun abhängig von den anderen, die, anders als wir, ihr Glück machen. Wahrheit spielt dabei keine Rolle. Und so kann die verlorene wirkliche Solidarität ersetzt werden durch eine Scheinsolidarität gegen die MigrantInnen.

Das Gewalt insgesamt bisher nur eine relativ geringe Rolle spielt, haben wir der permanenten, teils in den Köpfen selbst stattfindenden (Selbst-)Überwachung zu verdanken (siehe den Beitrag von Eick). Diese Selbstüberwachung nimmt dabei nicht zuletzt die Form der vollkommenen Individualisierung an, die sich als Neudefinition des Sozialen ausdrückt. Und es ist der Tatsache geschuldet, dass ein Grossteil der Gewalt an die Außengrenzen verlagert ist. – Und wie der Beitrag von Susann Witt-Stahl gezeigt hat, auch in ein Außen des Selbst: Computer-Spiele töten nicht unbedingt, aber wenn das Leben selbst gleichsam zum Computerspiel verkommt, wird das Töten gleichsam zum Spiel.

Modernisierter Arbeitsdienst

Von einem modernisierten Arbeitsdienst zu sprechen, weist auf unterschiedliche Dimensionen:

(i) Konzepte der sogenannten Aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik haben vielfach den Charakter struktureller Gewalt. Die Lebenssicherung erfordert zu einem Grossteil Selbstverleugnung. Diese entsteht nicht zuletzt durch die Verbindung mit einer Sozialpädagogisierung und einer Art von Therapeutisierung von Maßnahmen. Verschiedentlich wird von der Unmöglichkeit von empowerment gesprochen, weil das Konzept eine strukturelle Ungleichverteilung von Macht voraussetzt. Dies kann man selten so deutlich sehen, wie in diesem Zusammenhang: betroffene werden zunächst einmal zumindest psychologisch entmündigt, um sie dann zu „ermächtigen“ – Councelling wird dabei explizit in den Maßnahmekatalog einbezogen.

(ii) Der Aspekt des „Modernen“ bei diesem Mechanismus verdient hervorgehoben zu werden. Entscheidend ist nicht so sehr, dass es um neue Formen geht, sondern dass diese neuen Formen in ausgearbeiteter Weise auf den Grundmechanismus des selbstverantwortlichen und selbst-schuldigen Individuums aufbauen. Der autoritäre Charakter ist gerade auf einer Art selbst-beschuldigendem Individualismus aufgebaut, der dann in pervertierter Form in Resignation oder Gewaltbereitschaft auftritt. Wir sollten nicht unterschätzen, welche Rolle Resignation und in der Folge Duldung im Zusammenhang mit Militarismus spielt. Solidarität ist nicht nur unerwünscht – und teils verboten (s. etwa das Verbot von Gewerkschaften ….); Solidarität ist zunächst auch kontraproduktiv, gleichsam unmenschlich, denn menschlich, so wie es die Moderne sieht, ist der eigene Zwecke verfolgende, individualistisch bzw. egoistisch handelnde Mensch. Und hier treffen dann die Worte Karl Jaspers:

Gleichgültigkeit ist die mildeste Form der Intoleranz

und damit eines der Saatbetten für Militarismus. Wenn Horst Köhler dann sagte,

[e]s wird wieder sozusagen Todesfälle geben. Nicht nur bei Soldaten (…) man muss auch um diesen Preis sozusagen am Ende Interessen wahren.

sollte deutlich werden, dass Militarismus, Krieg gleichsam zum Kulturgut aufsteigt, auch wenn wir es scheinbar mit „weichen Formen“ in der Gesellschaftsentwicklung zu tu haben: governance, Rechte des Individuums etc.

Wenn ich früher gesagt habe, das Soziale wird neu definiert, so ist es genau dies:

  • Das Prekariat wird geschön-deutscht als Ich-AG vorgestellt: Dabei geht es nicht nur um die Individualisierung, sondern zugleich um die Degradierung der Person, die nun eine Art Institution ist und sich selbst instrumentalisiert – die Zuspitzung und Verallgemeinerung des Entfremdungszusammenhanges: man ist außer der Arbeit bei sich.
  • „Soziale Versorgung“ – in den verschiedenen Formen – erscheint in der neuen Definition als Frage des Tausches von sich rational verhaltenden Wirtschaftssubjekten; neben den vielen anderen Punkten ist hier zu fragen, ob man denn wirklich so naiv sein kann, und Arbeitsunwilligkeit als allgemeine Verhaltensregel zu sehen.
  • Bereitschaft zur Selbstzerstörung bzw. Selbstverleugnung wird als selbstverständlich vorausgesetzt. Ein makabres Beispiel besteht darin, alleinstehende ErzieherInnen (Eltern) vor die „Wahl“ zu stellen: Arbeit um den Preis der Vernachlässigung der Kinder oder Sorge für die Kinder um den Preis der materiellen Destitution.
  • Die „Schuldfrage“ wird in all diesen Fällen in gleicher Weise gestellt und gleich beantwortet: Die Ich-AG wird zum Ich-Soldaten; jeder kämpft gegen sich und gegen alle – und wenn nicht Resignation obsiegt, so ist der äußere Feind willkommen.
  • Es findet sich eine Zuspitzung und Verallgemeinerung des Entfremdungszusammenhanges: man ist außer der Arbeit bei sich. Nun muss aber auch das genaue Gegenteil festgestellt werden: die Arbeit wird für einige auch zu einem Feld der Selbstverwirklichung: Politik existiert nicht mehr, Engagement ist – freiwillig oder unfreiwillig – auf Selbstverwirklichung reduziert, und findet als solche nicht zuletzt eine pervertierte Form einer sogenannten Infantilisierung:

Infantilization in this instrumentalist form signals the abandonment of Western civilization’s understanding (not necessarily shared by earlier cultures) of childhood as precious legacy, and children – not yet capable of autonomy or self-defense – as ends in themselves whose happiness and well-being are the ultimate object of the public good. Thus our democracy is little by little corrupted, our republican realm of public goods and public citizens is gradually privatized, and the capitalist economy, once intended to serve democracy and the republican commonwealth alike, is bent and soon likely to be broken.[9]

Freilich ist in diesem Zusammengag einmal mehr an die Gefahren der Debatten um Gemeinschaft und romantizistische Vorstellungen zu erinnern.

Allemal, es bleibt nicht einmal das „Gott für uns alle“, sondern der Boden ist für den Ruf nach dem starken Staat bereitet – der sich ja tatsächlich als stark darstellt. Und – dies scheint fast ebenso gefährlich – er stellt sich als technisches Instrument dar, welches eben doch noch einen Rest an Sicherheit zu geben vermag. – Dass dieser starke Staat dann als eine Art Privatstaat, mit privatisierten Sicherheitskräften, selbsternannten Industriebaronen, Fürsten und Königen daherkommt, kommt durchaus der neuen Gemengelage zugute.

Freilich, dies ist der allgemeine und dominierende Trend der immer noch auf Lissabon 2000 ausgerichteten Politik. Es gibt dann aber auch konkrete Bereiche, die teilweise ein wenig neben der Hauptstrategie stehen und leider schwer in eine linke positive Gesamtstrategie zu überführen sind

  • Einige durchaus positive Momente des Investment in Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs).
  • sowie Teile der Social investment strategy
  • die Durchsetzung von Minimum Wage Regelungen
  • Einige Entwicklungen auch im Care sector

Für eine Gesamtanalyse und ebenso mit Blick auf die Entwicklung von Gegenstrategien muss auf die genuine Integration von Akkumulationsregime, Regulierungsweise, Lebensregime und Lebensweise und entsprechende Desintegrationstendezen geschaut werden. Ein Blick auf die Entwicklungen in den ALBA-Staaten mag hier interessanter sein, als auf Russland oder China zu setzen.

Zusammenschau

Am 1.10. 2014: Treffen von Bürgermeistern EUropäischer Großstädte in Rom – es war nicht ganz leicht, die verschiedenen Sicherheitsstufen zu überwinden, mit etwas Beherrschung der italienischen Schauspielschule gelingt es aber.

Leichtherzige Reden, Versprechungen und allgemeine Selbstverpflichtungen, nicht zuletzt darauf, sich für die „Erhaltung der Rolle der Städte einzusetzen“.

So warmherzig der Empfang dann doch nach Überwindung der Sicherheitskontrollen war, so kalt ist er dann beim Heraustreten:

Ein Plakat zeigt Schiffbrüchige, mit anklagendem Blick:

Nel vi Municipio. Non vogliamo morire di accoglienza. Stop immigrazione. Basta schiavitù.

In unserem Rathaus. Wir wollen nicht am Empfang sterben. Stop Einwanderung. Beendet Sklaverei.

Gezeichnet vom Capogruppo Forza Italia = der Gruppenführer.

Und ob direkt oder indirekt, bewusst oder unbewusst, was dieser Gruppenführer „schützen“ will, ist eben diese Grundorientierung der freien und gleichen Marktkapitalismus:

Western Europe, with 6.4 percent of the population, controls almost 29 percent of expenditures … On the other hand, sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly 11 percent of the population, controls only 1.2 percent of consumer expenditures.[10]

Und weiter – auch wenn es sich um USNA-Zahlen handelt und der Autor meint, in Europa sei die Welt noch in Ordnung, muss ein solcher Optimismus wohl angezweifelt werden:

… the advertising industry in the United States alone spent over $ 230 billion in 2001, which much as $ 40 billion aimed at children (up from $ 2.2 billion in 1968 and $ 4.2 billion in 1984)[11]

Es ist interessant, in diesem Zusammenhang auf zwei Grundrechte zu verweisen, die in den USNA bestehen: der Privat-Besitz von Waffen, und ebenso das Recht eines jeden Menschen, eine Bank zu gründen.

Es ist schwer, einzelne Momente von einander zu trennen. Und es ist sicherlich gefährlich, ein Schwarz-Weiß-Bild zu denken. Aber es ist ebenso gefährlich, die Tendenzen zu übersehen, die ganz fundamental das Sozial-, Denk- und Verhaltensmodell einer individualistischen Marktgesellschaft definieren. Ein kürzlich wieder aufgetauchter Plan kann dies verdeutlichen – wiederum hinkt Europa dabei den USNA hinterher. Es geht um das eigentlich alte System: der Lebensmittelkarten bzw. Sachleistungen, die nun auch im nördlichen Inselreich Europas wieder eingeführt werden sollen. Das Stichwort lautet EBT – Electronic Benefit Transfer.

Nochmals: es ist eine Zuspitzung der Politikorientierung durch ein Paradox: diejenigen, die den Krieg Aller gegen Alle verloren haben, werden vollends ausgegrenzt, entmündigt: was früher der Entzug der Bürgerrechte für Kriminelle war, ist heute eine Quasi-Kriminalisierung derjenigen, die mit den Bedingungen des Konsumentenkrieges nicht mithalten konnten. Und die entzogenen Rechte sind nun nicht die Wahlrechte o.ä., sondern die Rechte der freien Konsumentscheidung. Es scheint nur einen Weg zurück zugeben: Sich auf das Schlachtfeld zu begeben. Es ist bezeichnend, dass etwa bei den Französischen NationalistInnen um Le Pen nun auch vermehrt junge Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund auftauchen: If you cannot beat them, join them. And in order to join them you have to beat yourself – and „the other“.

Darin ist neben anderen Faktoren sicher auch ein Moment der Schwäche von sozialen Bewegungen zu sehen.

Schließlich: wenn sich der derzeitige Papst kritisch und mit eindeutigen und scharfen einmischt, ist dies zu begrüßen. Es ist wichtig, die sich warnende Stimme wahrzunehmen, die sagt, dass dieser Kapitalismus tötet. Aber es muss klar darauf hingewiesen werden, dass es nicht nur dieser Kapitalismus ist. Es ist Kapitalismus im allgemeinen.[12]

***********

Wird es Wahrheit, oder ist es schon Wahrheit, was für H.G. Wells noch eine vermeidbare Zukunft erschien?

And very vaguely there came a suggestion towards the solution of the economic problem that had puzzled me.

‘Here was the new view. Plainly, this second species of Man was subterranean. There were three circumstances in particular which made me think that its rare emergence above ground was the outcome of a long-continued underground habit. In the first place, there was the bleached look common in most animals that live largely in the dark—the white fish of the Kentucky caves, for instance. Then, those large eyes, with that capacity for reflecting light, are common features of nocturnal things—witness the owl and the cat. And last of all, that evident confusion in the sunshine, that hasty yet fumbling awkward flight towards dark shadow, and that peculiar carriage of the head while in the light—all reinforced the theory of an extreme sensitiveness of the retina.

‘Beneath my feet, then, the earth must be tunnelled enormously, and these tunnellings were the habitat of the new race. The presence of ventilating shafts and wells along the hill slopes—everywhere, in fact, except along the river valley—showed how universal were its ramifications. What so natural, then, as to assume that it was in this artificial Underworld that such work as was necessary to the comfort of the daylight race was done? The notion was so plausible that I at once accepted it, and went on to assume the how of this splitting of the human species. I dare say you will anticipate the shape of my theory; though, for myself, I very soon felt that it fell far short of the truth.

‘At first, proceeding from the problems of our own age, it seemed clear as daylight to me that the gradual widening of the present merely temporary and social difference between the Capitalist and the Labourer, was the key to the whole position.[13]

(Wells, H.G., 1898: The Time Machine)

***********

[1]            (Brecht: Me-Ti. Buch der Wendungen)

[2]            Social Europe guide 8: 27

[3]

[4]            Romano, Beda, 28.08.2014: Operazione Ue nel Mediterraneo; in: Il sole 24 ore; Giovedì; 02 Ottobre 2014; Aggiornato alle 22:15; http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2014-08-28/operazione-ue-mediterraneo-063729.shtml?uuid=ABP9V5nB – 2.10.2014

[5]            Il Sole 24 ore, 16.09.2014: Oltre 800 morti in tre giorni nel Mediterraneo; in: Il Sole 24 ore – Giovedì, 02 Ottobre 2014, Aggiornato alle 22:15; 2.10.2014

[6]            Dubost, Jean-François/ Emilien Urbach, 30. September 2014: Contrôle aux frontières, l’Europe doit changer de cap; in: L’Humanité; http://www.humanite.fr/controle-aux-frontieres-leurope-doit-changer-de-cap-553449?IdTis=XTC-FT08-AJDSFY-DD-8INP-DGZP

[7]            ibid.

[8]            Siehe in diesem Zusammenhang: Nagler, Axel, 2014: Lob der Schleuser: WER MENSCHEN IN NOT HILFT, IST KEIN VERBRECHER; in: RAV: Infobrief 109, 2014: http://www.rav.de/publikationen/infobriefe/infobrief-109-2014/lob-der-schleuser/?PHPSESSID=1b4e09a2df070ef6f6def049b967aac9 – Für den Hinweis danke ich Volker Eick

[9]            Barber, Benjamin R., 2007: Consumed. How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole; New York/London: W.W. Norton: 20

[10]            ibid.: 10

[11]            ibid.

[12]            Siehe in diesem Zusammenhang Herrmann, Peter, forthcoming: Vatican Spring? (working title); in: Tausch, Arno (ed.): The Pope – How Many Divisions Does he have?; forthcoming (in Spanish language)

[13]            Wells, H.G., 1898: The Time Machine

[i]            Dr. phil (Bremen, FRG). Studies in Sociology (Bielefeld, FRG), Economics (Hamburg, FRG), Political Science (Leipzig, GDR) and Social Policy and Philosophy (Bremen, FRG).

Since 2013 he is senior academic at the Osservatorio Europeo Sulla Qualità Sociale, a research unit at EURISPES in Rome, Italy. He is also adjunct professor at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Department of Social Sciences (Kuopio, Finland), honorary associate professor at Corvinus University in Budapest, Faculty of Economics, Department of World Economy and visiting scholar at National University of Ireland Maynooth.

He had been teaching at several Third Level Institutions across the EU and beyond; and had been correspondent to the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law/Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy (Munich, Germany). He holds position as for instance that of a senior advisor to the European Foundation on Social Quality (The Hague, Netherlands), member of the Advisory Board of EURISPES – Istituto di Studi Politici, Economici e Sociali, Rome, member of the Scientific Board and its coordination committee of ATTAC – Association pour la taxation des transactions financières pour l’aide aux citoyens, Associate Member of the Eurasian Center for Big History and System Forecasting, Lomonosow Moscow State University, Russia.. He held various positions as visiting professor at different universities. He also had been research fellow at National Taiwan University, Taipei; The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia; Visiting Scholar at Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi (ODTU), Ankara, Turkey; Visiting Scholar at the Max-Planck-Institut für Sozialrecht und Sozialpolitik, Munich, Germany.

He started his work in researching European Social Policy and in particular the role of NGOs. His main interest shifted over the last years towards developing the Social Quality Approach further, looking in particular into the meaning of economic questions and questions of law. He linked this with questions on the development of state analysis and the question of social services. On both topics he published widely.

Member of several editorial boards; editor of the book series Applied Social Studies – Recent Developments, International and Comparative Perspectives (New York, USA) and Studies in Comparative Pedagogies and International Social Work and Social Policy (Bremen, Germany); peer-reviewing for several journals in the social area and book series.

Talking about Precarity …

Precarity: It is surely in important issue, even if nobody is really sure what it is. There are so many definitions: different in the orientation, different in the reasoning, different in the emphasis and weighing of some aspects and not least different in the exact “mapping” of a complex field, as there are people and groups talking about it.

This is not the most important, though the most secure conclusion from the two meetings over the last week: the one in Berlin, the other in Moscow.

*********

And in some way a side event seemed to mark the corner stone for the debate: a white swan and a black swan, fighting against each other, each of them flaunting and maintaining its own beauty and each of them hardly acknowledging the other – the question is the old one: to be or not to be. The answer is the old one too: there is only space for one or the other. In Swan Lake finally indeed the one only, and it is “the good” in the sense of the white swan, importantly overcoming deception.

*********

Talking about moral is then pointing into the direction that may explain to some extent the underlying problemtique hindering some more radical take on the issue: moral, at least in the post-enlightenment thinking, is “structurally individualist”. After humankind took responsibility from the shoulders of gods, accepting humans’ own responsibility, the problem of definition remained in the vein of a reductionist understanding: not the one god but the one person had to decide. Being seemingly general, social,in fact moral had been welded to the idea of individuals’ ratio, decisively expressed in Kant’s definition of the categorical imperative, and formulated much further in the exploration of law. In his Metaphysics we read in the Introduction into the Doctrine of Right:

Inbegriff der Bedingungen, unter denen die Willkür des einen mit der Willkür des anderen bei einem allgemeinen Gesetz der Freiheit vereinigt werden kann.[1]

And we also read:

Man nennt die bloße Übereinstimmung oder Nichtübereinstimmung einer Handlung mit dem Gesetze ohne Rücksicht auf die Triebfeder derselben die Legalität (Gesetzmäßigkeit), diejenige aber, in welcher die Idee der Pflicht aus dem Gesetze zugleich die Triebfeder der Handlung ist, die Moralität (Sittlichkeit) derselben.[2]

All these systems are in actual fact “just” and “legitimate” at least in their own terms, not least as they defined themselves the criteria on the basis of which they allow to be assessed. Here is in my view as well the source for both, the fundamental difficulty of social science to detect the mechanisms behind the processes of valuation and the lack of piety when it comes to “living” certain values. I explored this in a different context, writing

Usual approaches to social policy are characterised by taking some kind of problem as given – so the original idea had been to talk about precarity and poverty. Of course, we can well take at least poverty as a problem and social policy challenge – with precarity it looks a little bit different as it is seemingly a new issue and as such actually not yet defined as policy issue. In any case, there is the danger that we simply replicate structures without considering the underlying societal structures and patterns – this means not least replication without understanding what the actual problem is. In other words, in many cases “looking at the seemingly obvious” means looking for policies of system maintenance.[3]

And one neglected, though hugely important fact is the fundamental continuity and change of the role of the individual – here in particular of interest in the more recent history, namely the two last stages confronted with the question of rightfulness and legitimacy. We can follow Franz Borkenau who highlights the important role played by the individual during the Renaissance and also later in capitalism. It is not that the one era had been more individualist than the other. Important is that

[e]goism of the isolated individual is fundamental for Renaissance AND Reformation. The first sees it in the context of harmonious beauty; not because the life of the time and social stratum had been filled by such beauty – on the contrary –, but because it strives towards a life as landowning money-lenders, following the ideal a balanced aestheticism, standing against the life of ordinary people. Calvinists are nothing else than egoistic individuals, but THEY are, consciously against the ideal or the Renaissance, a life of irrational effort. The financial bourgeoisie profits from this degradation of feudalism; therefore it has to idealise this world.[4]

*********

Coming back to the question of precarity, we can say that a more fundamental and radical understanding can be elaborated if we forget for a moment precarity as point of departure, at least precarity as matter of changing patterns of employment and subsequent patterns of life and living, social structuration and etc.

Let us first ask in what society we are living in. And in order to do that, let us now continue by going another detour, and look at the previous large-scale transformation of society: the overcoming feudalism, and the emergence of capitalism.[5] By and large we can say that feudalism had been characterised by

  • oppression and
  • personal dependence (patronage, clientelism …).

On the other hand, capitalism – or we may better speak of the bourgeois-citizens formation – had been characterised by the claims of

  • freedom of citizens (citoyen & bourgeois) and
  • regulation (the contractual systems determining the relations between rational individuals).

Both, feudalism and capitalism had been “systems”, i.e. complex relational entities. And they had been social entities,

understood as interaction between people and their constructed and natural environment. Its subject matter refers to people’s interrelated productive and reproductive relationships.[6]

More in terms of political economy as social science this is not least concerned with defining the relationship between production, consumption, distribution and exchange.[7]

Looking now at capitalism – fundamentally defined by wage labour as norm(ality) – we can see up to recently, i.e. when looking at “developed capitalism”, the following characteristics:

  • mass production
  • mass consumption
  • nation state
  • colonialism and imperialism as two complementing “external relationships”
  • system competition
  • formal democracy
  • family

All these, in there interplay, merge to the overall alienation – the famous expression, that

the fact that labor is external to the worker, i.e., it does not belong to his intrinsic nature; that in his work, therefore, he does not affirm himself but denies himself, does not feel content but unhappy, does not develop freely his physical and mental energy but mortifies his body and ruins his mind. The worker therefore only feels himself outside his work, and in his work feels outside himself. He feels at home when he is not working, and when he is working he does not feel at home[8]

gains a meaning that goes much beyond the sphere of the process of work, also characterising the political sphere, underlying consumerism, coining parts of private life etc.

However, looking at the current era, the 7 factors mentioned as characterising the capitalist system changed in one way or another – and in some more or less fundamental way – only short remarks have to do suffice.[9]

1) Mass Production

At least we have to see that mass production changed its face by continuing on a level that changed in two respects: one point in question is the degree of rationalisation and automatisation that characterises many areas (notwithstanding the fact that simple repetitive work is still undertaken as manual labour); another point is about the “variability of products” – though being produced as mass products, we find in many areas possibilities that within this framework the production can answer “individual wants” of customers.

2) Mass Consumption

Here we face the manifest contradiction between consumerism on the one hand and the increasing individualised consumer emerging from here. Though being manifest, the individualisation undermines the conscious tackling of the contradiction. – Looking at mass production and mass consumption together, one of the paradoxes is the fact that the chain between consumer/customer and product is lengthened to an extent that it  escapes completely control (evidenced for instance by the length of transport; the virtualisation of ordering, production, and even consumption …) but with this the direct control is also increasing (evidenced for instance by the access of customers being able to individually “assemble” their products by defining the specification when buying a computer).

3) Nation State

The nation state, without loosing it’s meaning, is at least torn between two forms of “regionalisation”. Taking the EU as example, we see on the one hand the aggregation of national powers and on the other hand movements of reclaiming power of sub-national regions (Scotland, Basque Country etc.). It is an ongoing question where this leaves the nation state. Equally important is the question which role the state actually has in the overall political processes and in the tensional field between the firm constitutional settings of the “state of law” (with its meaning for citizen’s rights but also with the right of the state as sovereign over citizens, territory and the social processes[10]) and private instances taking over sovereign functions. Not least, the systems of ”social support” and welfare provisions are hugely undermined in their traditional functioning.

4) Colonialism and Imperialism as two Complementing “External Relationships”

Though imperialism does in many respects regain force, it takes at the same time new forms, not least as the “one empire” does not exist anymore – and it does not yet exist.[11]

5) System Competition

The “blocks” – be it as contest of socialism and capitalism, be it as “developing” and “developed” countries – do not exist anymore as matters of a simple confrontation.

6) Formal Democracy

Though there is no clear line, moreover as little as concepts are clearly defined, we find from different angles claims into directions that are increasingly contesting the monopoly of formal democracy: catchwords as governance, direct democracy, area-related democracy (be it local, be it concerned with specific fields or issues: in the workplace, environmental democracy …) etc. . Important is also that the acceptance of such claims is more and more general, the alternative emerging as mainstream.

7) Family

Notwithstanding the ongoing meaning of “family” there are different moments pointing into the direction of dissolutions: this may be indicated by the increasing number of singles, lone parents, different forms of cohabitation; and this can also be indicated by “family” as stable relationship of a couple (with or without children) taking different forms (in the extreme the commuting marriage, i.e. partners living in different continents and seeing in regular intervals in different places). Again, this has huge implications for the systems of welfare and social support.

Taking all this together, means that we find a different relationing of production, consumption, distribution and exchange. The emphasis of financialisation as major characteristic of current capitalism falls short of capturing the change in a holistic way: we have to consider both, the mode of production and the increasing meaning of consumption and exchange, developing some dominance over production and distribution; and in addition we have to develop an understanding of the interplay between them.

Also alienation takes a new form: the known pattern of the worker feeling

at home when he is not working, and when he is working he does not feel at home,[12]

is now replaced by the market citizen who feels at home when he left the dwelling and being settled in the dwelling, does not feel at home.

*********

One of the decisive overall results of the process has to be seen in the fact of a ne accumulation regime that is surely still based in production; however, it is at the very same time increasingly “annexed” as profitability is further detached from the production of use value. As much as it had been always the case that capitalism prioritised exchange value, use value only being a necessary though not sufficient condition as much we face now a shift characterised by use value itself now being changed: many commodities are themselves increasingly “intermediaries”.

Another decisive moment can be seen in the fact of an increasing meaning of consumption as mechanism of socialisation (thought the opposite is equally true). For allowing an understanding we may first refer to the fact that classically the realisation of “value” is only happening ex ante, on the market: a product (commodity) has to be sold and only then the invested labour is acknowledged. It requires the sale of the result of labour that acknowledges the value, i.e. the socially defined useful labour.[13] But here exchange of commodities, the determination of “value” (i.e. the value of the invested work) and use value (as matter of consumption) are immediately interwoven. Looking at the current era we find a shift where this chain cannot be taken for granted as hegemonic pattern. The (surely questionable) supply-demand relationship as mechanism of “determining value” is now in some way turned around: demand is defining and determining in some way demand;[14] and production is also increasingly defining and determining production.[15]

This will not be further explored. Still one important issue has to be raised – at least as outline for further questioning the society in which we are (going to) live. As a general outline of historical development we may refer to the following stages

  • equality and subordination under nature
  • power and exclusion in slave societies
  • privilege
  • property
  • sovereignty[16]

By and large this is at this stage an open field, allowing development into different directions. But as much as economic processes are defined by political decisions and struggles between different social interests, the opportunity for a fundamental change, going beyond the borders of an accumulation regime founded in commodity production in the strict sense.

*********

Not yet a week passed by, standing at the Paul’s Cathedral in Frankfurt/M., discussing labour market issues, green growth and regional labour market monitoring the question is of course obvious: Are we facing a new “Westphalian Peace”, different forms of nation states emerging as it happened in Muenster and Osnabrueck in 1648; is the current situation simply about a new structure of political governance of a small elite as the citoyens that gathered in 1849 as first publicly and freely-elected German legislative institution, backing the final breakthrough of capitalism; or is there an opportunity to make people’s sovereignty in a fundamental sense possible, allowing everybody as social being to control the conditions of production and reproduction of everyday’s life?
*********

May be the deliberations during the EUROMEMO-workshop, starting on Thursday in Rome, could shed some more light on relevant issues, overcoming the call for a radical change of economic processes in favour of a radical change of the economy.

*********************************

[1] Epitome of the conditions, under which one’s arbitrariness can be united in a general law of freedom with the arbitrariness of somebody else.

[2] The pure compliance or non-compliance between an act and the law, without considering its incitement, is called legality (Legalitaet [Gesetzmaessigkeit]); but that, where the idea of the obligation of the law is also the incitement of the act, is called its morality (Sittlichkeit).

[3] Herrmann, Peter, 2014: Social Policy – Production rather than Distribution; Bremen/Oxford: EHV

[4] Borkenau, Franz, 1932: Der Uebergang von Feudalen zum buegerlichen Weltbild. Studien zur Geschichte der Philosophie der Manufakturperiode; Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1971: 160

[5] This implies that we are currently witnessing a fundamental shift, a revolutionary development – if we can and have to speak of overcoming capitalism is difficult to say – perhaps the difficulty is here that the terms capitalism and socialism are somewhat misleading (I am well aware of the fact that this is a statement that can easily be misinterpreted).

[6] van der Maesen, Laurent J.G./Walker, Alan, 2012: Social Quality and Sustainability; in: van der Maesen, Laurent J.G./Walker, Alan [eds.]: Social Quality. From Theory to Indicators: Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: 250-274, here: 260

[7] see the elaboration in Marx, Karl, 1857: Outline of the Critique of Political Economy (Grundrisse) There we read (passim)

(1) Immediate identity: Production is consumption, consumption is production. Consumptive production. Productive consumption. …

(2) [In the sense] that one appears as a means for the other, is mediated by the other: this is expressed as their mutual dependence; a movement which relates them to one another, makes them appear indispensable to one another, but still leaves them external to each other. …

(3) … also, each of them, apart from being immediately the other, and apart from mediating the other, in addition to this creates the other in completing itself, and creates itself as the other. Consumption accomplishes the act of production only in completing the product as product by dissolving it, by consuming its independently material form, by raising the inclination developed in the first act of production, through the need for repetition, to its finished form; it is thus not only the concluding act in which the product becomes product, but also that in which the producer becomes producer. On the other side, production produces consumption by creating the specific manner of consumption; and, further, by creating the stimulus of consumption, the ability to consume, as a need.

 

[8]            Marx, Karl, 1844: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

[9] This can be contested. However, any contestation should consider two points: (i) looking at the persistence and renaissance of some principles and processes (some trends to very conservative family interpretations among young people, the emphasis of claiming formal democracy, indeed the mass consumption in form of consumerism etc.) is probably not least a confirmation of the thesis of their dissolution, motivating people to look for alleged securities of “known” patterns; (ii) the suggested changes are not least understood as trends of which the coming into practice cannot be anything else than a matter of contradictory processes.

[10] This is about politics and policies of social order and also the control of the national economy as “ideal total capitalist”.

[11]            Further discussion is needed of the proposal by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2000): Empire; Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press

[12]            Marx, Karl, 1844: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

[13]            See Marx’ presentation n the first chapter of the first volume of Capital.

[14] for instance the demand of “cheap services” increases the demand of additional services – low fare flights increasing the transport from and to airports, in general and to airports that are distant from well connected centres

[15] for instance the “interplay” between chip production and software production in the IT-industry

[16] In part with reference to a letter written by Polanyi to Robert Schlesinger, quoted in Polanyi-Levitt, 2006: Tracing Karl Polanyi’s Institutional Political Economy to its Central European Source; in: Polanyi-Levitt, Kari/McRobbie, Kenneth [eds.]: Karl Polanyi in Vienna: The Contemporary Significance of The Great Transformation; Montreal et altera: Black Rose Books: 378-391: here: 381; see also already: Herrmann, Peter, forthcoming: Justice as a Question of Politics – Justice as a Question of Economics; in: Laurinkari, Juhani/Tarvainen, Merja (eds.): N.N.

 

Varieties of capitalism – impressions of an eternal tourist

Rome – Berlin
Long queues – visitors waiting for access to a building
One building? Of course not – how could it be so when talking about two different cities.
Still, one common feature:
They are waiting to access the cupola: of the basilica in Rome, of the Reichstag in Berlin
Faith and democracy??

Faith versus democracy??

One point is striking: not so much that there are only few religious people wearing a habit in Berlin. But surely that there so many police(wo)men, security guards … wearing ordinary working uniforms instead of the fancy gala uniforms they wear back home.
Very much the same though: the huge amount of people sleeping rough next to the train station … and for them it is surely not a major difference that in the one country it is Caritas, in the other the Bahnhofmission that looks after them, the one with sleeping bags the other with a soup kitchen …

…. Variety of capitalism …

 

Europe – Yesterday we stood at the abyss

but now we are moving forward.

Europe is coming to an end …

… at least with the ideas of the new President of the Commisszion.

Now, the summer break is surely ended by now and it is time to look at the awaking world. By now the president of the European Commission is in office. But when looking back, seeing his statement to the European Parliament, then still being candidate for President of the Commission and listening to it is both discouraging. A somewhat boring statement, showing only in few passages some colour, meaning engagement – but this had been not least on occasions where a clear analytical perspective would have been most needed.

Though late, a brief statement on the statement may still be appropriate:

It is amazing in which way, to which extent such candidate, talking to the parliament, i.e. to (the representatives of) the people, can approach burning questions, not least the loss of legitimacy, can argue highly reflexive. Reflexive here is just a nice way, avoiding the use of the term inward looking. Even if he rightly addresses the question of legitimacy (and the lack of it), and in particular the role of the parliament, but also the character of the Commission etc., he overlooked that all this: the institutions and the relationship between them is only about “instruments” to pursue the will of the people or the general will. At least it should be so.

The will of the people or the general will are then in some way addressed later. Leaving the show-off effect out of consideration (Oui, M. Junker, qui est une grande performance: auch ich spreche ein wenig Deutsch, ma la questione è uno dei contenuti; en dit is niet een kwestie van lippendienst, sinó d’abordar realment les qüestions pertinents – sure, limited correctedness and I ask the native speaeker for apologies), it is interesting to see the change to the German language at exactly that point, and even saying it is about changing to the language of the champion. Primus inter pares? Or what is a champion in a Europe of equals.

It is then somewhat worrying – though not surprising – that all this is exactly about those issues as the “Olympic team” (this alludes to the term that had been used a more or less ling time ago when in Germany employability had been closely inked to exactly this point: the orientation on employees as “teams, ready to take part in Olympic games” (“olympiareife Mannschaften”).

Yes, there are without any doubt some valuable points mentioned – the importance of welfare policies that are guaranteeing some minimum standards …

But the overall gist remains sad and saddening. Einstein once stated

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

In clearer language: it is foolish to address the problems we have by making what caused them to instruments to overcome them. However, looking from a point of true political economy at Juncker’s proposals they are just such instruments of foolishness: growth, growth, growth — the outline given for justifying that it will be green viz. sustainable growth, is highly questionable. It had been the orientation on growth as development that sees other than GDP-development only as adjunct, as quasi-automatic, subsequent moves. Growth, even if green, will not stop its destructive force if it is seen as structurally disjoined from sound societal policies.

By the way, Mr Juncker, this had been a major problem standing for a long time always at all those laudable attempts: from Adam Smith’s Moral Sentiments (written before he thought about the Wealth of the Nations) to the surely honest (though in many respect naïve) debates in the circle around Walter Eucken, Franz Böhm, Alexander Rüstow und Wilhelm Röpke etc. (yes, Erhard and Mueller-Armack had been somewhat populist followers of much greater thinkers).

I am not sure if I succeeded, but at least I tried on different occasions to point out that we need an integrated approach, recently for instance in the opening speech, addressing the conference Justice and Solidarity: The European Utopia in a Globalising Era (organised by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts & University of Eastern Finland, in Kuopio – 2./3. September)) and also in a contribution on the “Vatican Spring”, which will soon be published in a book titled “El Papa – ¿Cuántas divisiones tiene?”Sondeo global del catolicismo mundial según el “World Values Survey” y el “European Social Survey” [(Ed. Arno Tausch); The Centro Argentino de Estudios Internacionales, CAEI, Buenos Aires, Study on Global Roman Catholicism].

There is also something that had been discussed recently in Lindau – on the occasion of a meeting of laureates of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (the so-called Nobel Prize for Economics) – there attac (Association pour la taxation des transactions financières et pour l’action citoyenne) organised a symposium, urging for a move to a different approach. But even some of the laureates had not been too happy with how things work in the growth economy, being especially critical about the austerity policy. James Mirrleess contended that the German chancellor has the wrong advisors. So, yes, may the future president of the Commission then join them.

Well, then to a metaphor that is really pointing on the dramatic dimension of the current situation: the “29th member state”. Yes, there is a major problem: what we discussed (we, i.e. in the political debates in the institutionalised Europe) in the 1970s ff. as poverty and social inclusion reached a level and even more so a quality that deserves some more reflection. And the metaphor of a 29th member state is usefully highlighting the dramatic character. But there remains a … but …

I am not switching to Greek, Irish, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish language, the language of “the losers”. And even if it is indeed laudable that Greece had been rescued, as pointed out in the statement, it had not been really about repairing a plane while in the air. It had been more about crashing the plane, then collecting the valuable parts from the ground while leaving the corpses there, may be giving them a friendly blessing.

The fundamental question is if we should simply look for ways to “enlarge” the Union by including this “29th member state”, or if we have to look more closely into building a new Union – one which does not allow for such exclusion at first instance.

These will also be issues that will be discussed on the 17th ff. of September in Moscow (http://www.vcug.ru/conference/conference_eng/) (see also the debate in the recent publication: Herrmann, Peter/Bobkov, Viacheslav/Csoba, Judit: Labour Market and Precarity of Employment: Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Data from Hungary and Russia; Vienna: WVFS; 2014.

It may be worthwhile to look at the end of these brief reflections at a short contribution of the Social Platform, European NGOs gathered to lobby the European institutions, being quite optimist, contending the tension:

I can already hear some of you saying “that does not answer the immediate challenges” or “this is not what the President Elect of the Commission put on the table in July”. And I would say “actually its does”

In the following we read then

The social shield we are calling for includes The President Elect’s proposal to “put in place a minimum wage, and a guaranteed minimum income.” But it brings much more into debate with the financing of social services and the availability of unemployment benefits. The access to quality services we promote could be challenged by the negotiations on the transatlantic trade agreement (TTIP) that the new commission will finalise. The directive blocked by the EU countries to remove discrimination in access to service is another instrument to reach our broader objective. There are bigger challenges in the EU that need broader instruments.

But at the end, al these points are still very much about rebuilding the existing state, actually enforcing it by providing a shield, however forgetting that it is about the need of a real vision, and such real vision has to be one that is seriously taking up the challenge of a fundamental change. In other words:

Looking at the bigger picture will help us with a new EU route

is one way of seeing it.

The other is about the old questions we know from Alice and the Cat.

‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

‘I don’t much care where–’ said Alice.

‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

‘–so long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation.

‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.’

In other words: there is the danger of looking for better ways of dealing with the existing faulty systems instead of looking for better systems. May be the cat was right:

‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.

‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.’

‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice.

‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’