Emanuel Todd: Après l'Empire: Essai sur la décomposition du système américain, Gallimard, Paris 2002

Table of contents

1. Andor László, Farkas Péter, Csáki György : Globalization and its threats (Disorders of the world economy and economic theories)
2. Alan Johnson : Cultural Cold War: Faust, the piper and the tune
3. Szigeti Péter : State socialist experiments – historical lessons
4. Borisz Kagarlickij : What’s left of the Soviet culture?
5. Jeffrey C. Goldfarb : How to be “intelligently” anti-American?
6. Richard de Zoysa, Otto Newman : Globalization and Hollywood
7. Edward W. Said : An alternative view of America
8. Emir Sader : The decisive year of Latin American Left
9. Krausz Tamás : The reason and meaning of the war against Iraq – in six themes
10. Trencsényi László : Is there a leftist alternative in public education?
11. Pirityi Sándor : Extermination and perishing, terrorism and self-sacrifice, deterence and security after the Cold War
12. I. Magyar Szociális Fórum : Final Statement of the 1st Hungarian Social Forum
13. Buzogány Áron : On Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri: Empire
14. John Lea : On István Mészáros: Socialism or Barbarism: From The “American Century” To The Crossroads
15. Christoph Stein, Ulrich Berger : On Emanuel Todd: Après l’Empire: Essai sur la décomposition du système américain

In the edited version of the discussion that has taken place at the Eszmélet Companionship, Péter Farkas presents the main arguments of his new book of the same title (published by Aula, Budapest, 2002) with responses by László Andor and György Csáki.

The article written upon the book of F. S. Saunders analyses the relationship of the CIA and the cultural cold war, pointing out that the value orientation crisis of the Left was not only developed by immanent contradictions. The author also touches upon the contradictions, which particularly characterized the liaison between Stalinism and the contemporary Left.

The consistent, scientific and critical analysis of historical, real state socialism has practically failed to develop. In order to obtain a clear picture, state socialism should be examined in its own age and the historical, economic, legal and political context, in which it existed, which limited its scope. Reform experiments of state socialism, discussions at the time reflected such problems of the age, which are, partly or on the whole, still relevant.