The well-known historian analyses the nature of the political turns of 1956 and 1989 and concludes that there is a sharp controversion between their character.

The article discusses the role of policy in society in general and states that policy is present in the general public with a much greater weight than its actual role would hint despite the fact that the changes of society are more decisive than the changes in policy. The authors give a short analysis of the role of policy in history and try to determine what role policy would play in the shaping intellectual method of production.

Partly in the light of reactions in the French press, the author analyses the factors which played a role in the development why the United States had entered the military scene in the Gulf war (why was the timing optimal to realise its interests), and what factors determined the dual nature of Europe's reaction: its detachment from the American standpoint on the one hand and entering the war on the other. He notes that the left wing, due to the contradictory lines, could not give an appropriate response to the Gulf war which also proves that the left needs new points of orientation, new theoretical platforms in order to remain among the important forces of the world.