Democracy and society: an interview with Stanley Hoffmann.
World Policy Journal › Vol. 12 Nbr. 1, March 1995
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Summary
Interview
The end of the Cold War signaled the dominance of liberal capitalism over European communism as a venue for international reform. The acceptance of democratic reform in most countries is based on its general improvement of economic and social conditions. However, this gain remains threatened by advocates of other reform structures. Marxism remains an important ideological and sociological tool for critical analysis, particularly because of continued demarcation according to social and economic class.See the full content of this document
Extract
Democracy and society: an interview with Stanley Hoffmann.
With the end of the Cold War, the collapse of European communism also meant the failure of a historical attempt to change the world. Is the logic of liberal capitalism the only viable alternative then?
I think you're being awfully pessimistic! Changing the world is an enormous job. But there have been a number of attempts to change society. Fortunately, some of them - totalitarianism, for example - have failed or have been fought against and defeated. But the more modest and human attempt that we refer to as "social democracy" has succeeded in a number of countries - including in the United States during the New Deal - in improving the living conditions of the most deprived and integrating many of those who had been excluded from society. While this is significant, these gains are constantly being threatened. Capitalism succeeded because it turned out to be more productive than its rivals - and it is so because it draws upon fundament...See the full content of this document
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