An investigation of the constant change of the meaning of democ­racy within the last couple of years in Hungary, discovering the links between the levels of political science, party politics, and political journalism, which suggests that the lions' share of democratisation in East and West is yet to come.

A summary of a book published recently with a penetrating critique of "endism", i.e. the theories about the end of ideology, history, and society. The author suggests that despite political orientation has become more difficult in the recent decades, the recognition of the political element within society is an inevitable condition of any kind of democratic politics. In order to save and develop democracy, the role of the Left must be redefined.

A thorough study of the historical background and pre-conditions of contemporary Islam. It describes the various historic structures, which, mainly in agriculture, has survived centuries and were integ­rated even into the Soviet system. The survival of pre-capitalist ele­ments is also facilitated by the failure of capitalist and socialist mo­dernisation projects.

The United States and Japan can be described through two quite different models of capitalism. These differences can be shown on all levels: from the one of the enterprises through enterprise structuring up to the role played by ministries, as well as from the point of view of economics, politics or culture. The two models are rivaling at the present and there is no evidence available yet to predict which results this competition will lead to.

Historical evidence shows, as early as the case of Mesopotamia, that progressive social formations could take shape in a premature form long before they achieved a historic breakthrough, and conso­lidated excluding the possibility of return to previous forms. The study of antic, feudalistic, and capitalist formations from this point of view allows the author to draw some interesting conclusions about the future of socialism.