
Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives
Area Studies and Global Theories
Peter J. S. Duncan (Editor), Elisabeth Schimpfössl (Editor)
Series: FRINGE
In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. Two years later the Soviet Union disintegrated. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union discredited the idea of socialism for generations to come. It was seen as representing the final and irreversible victory of capitalism. This triumphant dominance was barely challenged until the 2008 financial crisis threw the Western world into a state of turmoil.
Through analysis of post-socialist Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as of the United Kingdom, China and the United States, Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives confronts the difficulty we face in articulating alternatives to capitalism, socialism and threatening populist regimes. Beginning with accounts of the impact of capitalism on countries left behind by the planned economies, the volume moves on to consider how China has become a beacon of dynamic economic growth, aggressively expanding its global influence.
The final section of the volume poses alternatives to the ideological dominance of neoliberalism in the West. Since the 2008 financial crisis, demands for social change have erupted across the world. Exposing the failure of neoliberalism in the United Kingdom and examining recent social movements in Europe and the United States, the closing chapters identify how elements of past ideas are re-emerging, among them Keynesianism and radical socialism. As those chapters indicate, these ideas might well have potential to mobilise support and challenge the dominance of neoliberalism.
Introduction
Peter J. S. Duncan and Elisabeth Schimpfössl
PART I: Capitalism in Action
Chapter 1: Semi-Dependent Capitalism: Russia
Ruslan Dzarasov
Chapter 2: Diversifying the Super-Rich: Forbes-Listed Russians from a Muslim Background
Catherine Suart
Chapter 3: The Culture of Elite Philanthropy: Russia and the United Kingdom Compared
Tim Monteath and Elisabeth Schimpfössl
Chapter 4: Between the Public and the Private: Socialism, Capitalism and Street Socialization in Georgia
Costanza Curro
PART II: China Today and as a Future Alternative
Chapter 5: Making it in China: The Determinants of Economic Success in a Socialist Market System
Ion Marandici
Chapter 6: The Revival of Marxism in China: Could it Herald a Communist Reformation?
Heiko Khoo
Chapter 7: China’s Emerging Liberal Partnership Order and Russian and US Responses: Evidence from the Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia
Peter Braga and Stephen G. F. Hall
PART III: Alternatives in the West
Chapter 8: Neo-Liberalism, Keynesianism and the Current Crisis
Geoffrey Hosking
Chapter 9: Political Alternatives on the Western Left: Podemos, Syriza, Sanders and Corbyn
Peter J.S. Duncan
Conclusion
Peter J.S. Duncan and Elisabeth Schimpfössl
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781787353824
Number of pages: 252
Number of illustrations: 3
Publication date: 14 October 2019
PDF ISBN: 9781787353824
EPUB ISBN: 9781787353855
Hardback ISBN: 9781787353848
Paperback ISBN: 9781787353831
Peter J. S. Duncan (Editor)
Peter J. S. Duncan is Associate Professor of Russian Politics and Society at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Among his six books are The Soviet Union and India (1989); The Road to Post-Communism: Independent Political Movements in the Soviet Union, 1985-1991(co-author, 1992); and Russian Messianism: Third Rome, Revolution, Communism and After (paperback, 2014).
Elisabeth Schimpfössl (Editor)
Elisabeth Schimpfössl researches wealth inequality, elite philanthropy as well as questions around self-censorship in Eastern Europe. She is author of Rich Russians: From Oligarchs to Bourgeoisie, published by Oxford University Press in 2018. She has a doctorate from the University of Manchester and is currently lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
Related titles

The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy
Vadim Radaev, Zoya Kotelnikova,
07 July 2022

Urban Informality and the Built Environment
Nerea Amorós Elorduy, Nikhilesh Sinha, Colin Marx,
12 March 2024

The Responsibility of Intellectuals
Nicholas Allott, Chris Knight, Neil Smith, Noam Chomsky,
03 September 2019
Sign up to our newsletter
Don't miss out!
Subscribe to the UCL Press newsletter for the latest open access books,
journal CfPs, news and views from our authors and much more!