*** JACQUES LANGLOIS: Le Libéralisme Totalitaire. Ou de la réduction uniforme et universelle de toute vie sociale à l'économisme et à l'individualisme au nom de la liberté. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris). "Questions contemporaines" series. 2001, 302 pp. ISBN 2-7475-0821-8.
This book does not hide the fact that it's a pamphlet. It has been written by an angry 57 year old, former manager from the French electricity ministry (sous-secrétariat d'Etat français à l'électricité) which is better known these days as EDF. He had a privileged action and monitoring position where the enraged author was able to observe what he describes as "the implementation of every which liberal solution in the company, which is still hypocritically described as an Establishment for carrying out public service obligations and acting for the national community". This shift gave rise to a burst of anger, a thundering "J'accuse" that like Zola's 'J'accuse' wants to be a tool of rebellion and the overall effect is ideas that many would consider disturbing or out of place, but which bear witness to a vision of the world, an understanding of the pressing political and economic issues of the day and the unease of citizens. Some or more of it may be quite explanatory.
It all starts with a radical denunciation. Jacques Langlois lambasts economic liberalism which he describes "as either a science that is independent of any moral or political considerations, or as an economic policy doctrine". Its most zealous servants are "the scientific liberalism despots, worthy of Stalinist or Leninist Marxism", who "impose the dogmas of the Chicago School's librarian free market" and "reduce everything to a so-called rational economic calculation although it's sheer utilitarianism". It has been around for barely two centuries "as the supreme mode of running the economy", and this system of ideas forms the foundation of the capitalist "order" that could not survive without it "because of the injustice and inequality it engenders". Hence "liberalism provides the ideas that legitimise today's financial capitalism" that that author puts in the stocks and which has managed to form "a hegemonic block where political domination, resting any the police and the army, reinforces economic exploitation and gains strength from the ideological hegemony of its economists who justify the established disorder". The writer identifies a "total assimilation of liberal economics and politics with capitalist practice and the ides that back it up", which gives rise to a kind of totalitarianism by stealth. On this basis, he aims to "explain the hidden content of things presented as fact by the spokespersons of liberal ideology" through a "forceful, readable analysis that focuses on the essential facts and gives the politically committed reader a way of interpreting the social, economic and political backdrop to the globalisation that is said to exist and its impact - perverse but profitable to a minority ("mal-bouffe" fast food, destruction of the planet, rising inequality, privatising common resources, etc)".
We'll stop there. The charge sheet is brutal, over-brutal perhaps, but the body of the work gives Langlois an opportunity to flesh out and elaborate on his ideas with a degree of flair and the power of his convictions. The most interesting aspect of it, however, is the link that the author draws up in his conclusions with the problems of modern life. The question is about whether, "potentially at least there are possible alternative ways of organising society". He answers "Yes", meshing "optimism and solidarity". Using a method of analysis recommended by Proudhon, Jacques Langlois sees a "self-aware collective unit coming into being", using varying methods of organisation but coming together in its opposition to the very same enemy, "capitalist neoliberalism". The collective unit is still very multifarious, but is gradually coming together "to form a global awareness of the damage wreaked by capitalism and the need to protect the planet against its abuses". A collective unit that has to take, according to the author, a "federalising socio-economic" form, with as its adversaries "the United States imperium and its Western allies". Against them, the NGOs are beginning to "tire of spending all their time and squandering their resources on correcting the effects of the global disorder connected with the old theory of state supremacy". Even Europe, "reduced to the subsequent acquisition of economic gains and the single currency", has not freed itself of it. But civil society, basically, is on the move. The author feels it is worthy of trust. Irrespective of Laeken.
Michel Theys
*** GREGOIRE JAKHIAN: Les offres publiques d'acquisition. Chronique de jurisprudence 1989-2000. Larcier (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Distribution: Accès+, 4 Fond Jean-Pâques, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve. Tel: (32-10) 482510 - fax: 482519 - E-mail: acces+cde@deboeck.be). "Les Dossiers du Journal des Tribunaux" series, No. 26. 2001, 209 pp, 2,180 BF, 354 FF. ISBN 2-8044-0702-0.
Grégoire Jakhian is both a lawyer at the Brussels Bar and a lecturer at the Université libre de Bruxelles. In this book he tackles issues such as the law on company takeovers (both friendly and hostile) and in so doing, brings the situation up-to-date (the book was published in May 2000) in a way that that is analytical and critical. The interaction between civil and criminal law is also examined.
(MT)
*** Revue d'économie industrielle. What Policies in Support for R&D ? Techniques et économiques series (3 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 55426130 - E-mail: editecom@starnet.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.editecom.com ). 2001, No. 94, 154 pp. Subscription: EUR 101.99, 669 FF.
Opening with a preface by Commissioner Philippe Busquin, this special issue of the Revue d'économie industrielle focuses entirely on the ways in which the USA and European Union support research and development policy. The methods of support are very different and have, according to the Commissioner in charge of R&D, grown much wider on either side of the Atlantic. Two Commission advisors, Alexis Jacquemin and Lucio Pench, introduce the issues and stress that the necessary reform in our research systems in Europe must be accompanied by changes in the level and orientation of investment, "Change is needed both on an institutional and allocation level if the desired improvement is to be achieved". By studying the situation in the USA from a Union point of view, Alkuin Koelliker (European University Institute of Florence) demonstrates that the USA allocates far more public funding to the private sector for R&D than the European Union does. He also shows how the USA is far more generous than the EU when it comes to State Aids. This is exactly the area explored by Dominique Guellec (OECD) and Bruno van Pottelsbergue de la Potterie (Free University of Brussels) who attempt to quantify the effect of government funding on R&D in seventeen OECD countries over the last twenty years. F. M. Scherer (Harvard University) examines the different components of technology policy that have contributed to the dynamism of the North-American economy - his main argument being that direct State subsidies to industry have only had an extremely minimal impact on the non-military sector of the economy. His colleague, Lewis L. M. Branscomb concentrates on the public-private partnership, set up in the USA by President Bill Clinton with a view to reducing the risks associated with commercial innovation development. Ugur Muldur (European Commission DG Research) reveals that the ineffective allocation of funding is a factor that can explain the poor returns for the European research and innovation system. Applying a comparative analysis, he concludes that the optimisation of the system's organisation can only have a positive affect on technological performance if the number and orientation of European investment in this field is modified.
(MT)
*** JEAN-MARC FAVRET: L'essentiel du contentieux communautaire. Gualino éditeur (31 rue Falguière, F-75741 Paris cedex 15. Tel: (33-1) 56541600 - fax: 56541649 - E-mail: gualino@wanadoo.fr). Collection "Les Carrés". 2001, 128 pp, EUR 10, 65.60 FF. ISBN 2-84200-436-1.
This book is essentially aimed at law students, to whom it offers a clear and rigorous synthesis of Community legal disputes. Master of Conferences in Public Law at the Institute of Political Science in Bordeaux, the author devised it as a useful guide for those who need a knowledge of the composition, organisation and competencies of Community jurisdiction, as well as the different ways of appealing that will probably be implemented. In keeping with the dynamism characteristic of this series, the book is further complemented by a jurisprudence graph.
(LD)
*** SILKE TÖNSHOFF: Die zentralbankpolitische Diskussion des Maastrichter Vertrags in Frankreich, Italien und Deutschland. Eine komparative Analyse. Peter Lang GmbH (15 Jupiterstrasse, Postfach 277, CH-3000 Bern 15). "Europäische Hochschulschriften" series. 2001, 614 pp. ISBN 3-631-37432-1.
No other political document in recent years has given rise to so many publications than the Maastricht Treaty and the creation of a European central banking system. What was lacking, however, was a systematic and comparative analysis of the most important economic and political arguments put forward in the countries where the treaty has had an impact. This book focuses on three of them: France; Germany and Italy, which have all had very different experiences since the period when the idea of a European central bank was first mooted and indeed, since it has come into being. Silke Tönshoff shows us the lie of the land, retracing the "denationalisation" of the national currency in three Member States that could not have been any more different from one another. The end result is quite astonishing, as Professor Friedrich Geigant points out in the preface. In Germany, "legal swords were crossed" with "strong emotions at the good standing of the Deutsche-Mark", but in the end, " the inevitable was done". In France, it is "the spirit of national momentum in which construction takes place, but the Deutsche-Mark had been declared more dangerous than the Euro and the lesser evils were adopted from them all". Italy founded its currency on the wars of liberation "Italia farà da sé" and made the best of a bad job.
(CB)
*** MASSIMO TIVEGNA, GRAZIA CHIOFI: News e dinamica die tassi di cambio. Newsmetrics: une banca dati per lo studio delle relazioni tra eventi economico-politici, clima die mercati finanziari e dinamica die tassi di cambio. Il Mulino (Bologna. Internet: http: //http://www.mulino.it ). "CEIS-Tor Vergata" series. 2000, 259 pp, EUR 19.63, 38,000 lira. ISBN 88-15-08076-7.
This book aims to explain, econometrically, how economic, financial, monetary and fiscal information impacts on the exchange rates. The most important information is compiled and input into a "Newsmetrics" data base, which is a kind of info' "Richter Scale". The authors focus their studies on the period April 1994 to the end of 1997 and describe the behaviour of three exchange rates: Lira/DM, DM/Dollar and the Yen/Dollar. Divided into three main parts, this investigation is accompanied by a CD-ROM and first of all examines the daily events impacting on the markets. It provides an econometric analysis of their significance for the exchange rates, as well as a critical and a "micro-historical" reconstruction of the 1994-1997 period. The writers also devote three chapters to the criteria used in the compiling of "Newsmetric" information. In their conclusion, they draw up a quantitative category of predictable and unpredictable events, as well as a framework for an information decoding model that they hope they will be able to use for defining and working out market reactions and their subsequent polarisation.
(CB)
*** BERND LÜTHJE (Ed.): Verbandsbericht 2000/2001. Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands (17 Lennéstrasse, 10785 Berlin, Postfach 110272, D-10832 Berlin. Tel: (49-30) 8192-0 - fax: 8192-222 - E-mail: postmaster@voeb.de - Internet: http://www.voeb.de ). 2001, 326 pp. ISBN 3-927466-65-4.
The Association of Public Sector Banks in Germany represents the interests of 57 German financial institutions, including the Landesbanken, well-known by the Competition services of the European Commission. The main subjects tackled in its 2000/2001 annual report include the impact of enlargement on the Union's regional policy in Germany, the introduction of the EUR and the new Bâle Agreement on banking capital (Bâle II). One of the articles defends the position of the public sector banks against the criticisms of it by the Commission and asserts that the German public banking system provides a guarantee for productive competition in the interest of consumers. The Association and the public sector banks, which form a part of it, are shown in different organigrammes, together with their complete addresses and useful statistics. A condensed version of the report has also been published in English under the name of, "Association of German Public Sector Banks, Annual report 2000/2001".
(PB)
*** MALDOROR DAVIER: Réussir sa start-up …après la start-up mania. Dunod (Paris. Internet: http: //http://www.dunod.com ). "Entrepreneurs" series. 2001, 275 pp, EUR 22.21, 896 BF. ISBN 2-10-005375-2.
What constitutes the New Economy? What is a business model? How can you draw up a convincing business plan? How to find investors and funding? These are some of the questions the chartered accountant and auditor who wrote this guide tackles. It was devised to help future entrepreneurs: experienced managers; recent graduates or researchers, avoid potential difficulties and find the keys to success.
(MT)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (The Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985, Luxembourg) has published the following documents:
*** Newsletter. DG Agriculture (Tel: (32-2) 2953240 - fax: 2957540 - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/index.htm). October 2001, No. 38..
This newsletter provides an insight into the implementation of the Rural Development Programmes 2000-2006. The Commission adopted the last two of the sixty-eight programmes presented by the Member States in October. Programme implementation is emphasised and another article deals with the public's lack of confidence in the Common Agricultural Policy.
*** Cordis Focus.Technology opportunities today. DG Enterprise (Fax: (352) 430132084 - E-mail: innovation@cec.eu.int - Internet: http://www.cordis.lu/marketplace <http: //http://www.cordis.lu/marketplace> ). November 2001, 40 pp.
This special edition provides the reader with the results of the different R&D projects: biology and medicine, energy, the environment, information and industrial technology are some of the sectors reviewed. In conclusion, all these sectors are extremely rich in potential.
*** Actualité des Services Publics en Europe. Lettre des entreprises européennes de réseaux. ASPE Europe (36 rue de Laborde, F-75008 Paris. Fax: (33-1) 43876891 - E-mail: aspe@club-internet.fr). November 2001, 16 pp. Subscription: EUR 490.
To summarise: the debate on rail transport once again in the wake of the "Gotthard accident", "Guaranteeing a reliable and quality electricity market", "One Sky" and "Open Sky" agreements are not compatible, "Towards a sustainable aviation industry", "Division on the Thresholds of the Public Procurement Contracts", "Climate Change: Brussels Puts Forward some Different Measures with a View to Rio+10", "Brussels Identifies around a Hundred Obstacles to Trade with the USA", The IATA Lifts Tariffs on Freight in EEA", "Funding Galileo" and a chapter on "Energy Policy", which MEPs want to add to the treaties.
*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (1 av. Edouard-Belin, F-92500 Rueil-Malmaison, RCS Nanterre. Tel: (33-1) 41299623 - fax: 41299670 - Internet: http://www.liaisons-sociales.com ). 15 - 28 November 2001, No. 43, 11 pp. Subscription: 3,200 FF.
This publication provides an account of a study day in which the European University of Work laid the first stone in the definition of companies' social responsibilities - a rather ambiguous concept for the moment, at least until the outside world sees that words are matched by deeds. Other subjects in brief: proposals that will put a framework on cross-border restructuring, "Law on Mass Redundancies: There is no French Exception", Harmonisation from above, New Legislation on Employee Representation in Germany etc.
*** Notabene. Lettre d'information de l'Observatoire social européen. (13 rue Paul Emile Janson, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5371971 - fax: 5392808 - E-mail: info@ose.be - Internet: http: http://www.ose.be ). November 2001, No. 123, 20 pp. Yearly subscription: EUR 19.83, 800 BF.
This issue of the bimonthly of the Observatoire social européen aims to assess quality indicators in employment and discuss issues that include, "International Work Standards: the Double Life of the European Union", "Companies' Social Responsibilities: Some Notable Absences", "European Fiscal Policy: the Return of Nations?", "Governance: the basis to the debate" etc.
National Newsletters in Brief
*** La Lettre de la DIV. An information monthly, No. 71, October/November 2001. The DIV or "Délégation interministérielle à la ville" gives an account of the French government's initiatives to increase the scope of the urban regeneration plan in rundown areas, priorities of the 2001 budget, Daily Life and the National Victim Support Campaign. *** Newspot. September/October 2001, Ankara. - Interesting points in brief: The US operation in Afghanistan, the 7th International of Istanbul, a cultural display that this year focuses on contemporary art. *** La Lettre de la FIDH. November 2001, No. 52, Brussels. In this issue of the " new" letter of the International League for Human Rights: action by the International Coalition for "peace, human development and democracy", expresses its anxiety about freedom of the press and the danger of Macedonia becoming like Northern Ireland etc.