Americans were taught to associate “socialism” with dictatorship and “capitalism” with democracy. Are those days over?
The Importance of the Latest Netflix Dystopia
1983 is an alternative history that bears disturbing resemblance to contemporary politics.
Why the World Is Becoming the Un-Sweden
Convergence theory predicted that the world would become like Swedish social democracy. Why has the opposite happened?
The Fetishism of Economic Growth
The world is “trapped in the fetishism of economic growth,” says Polish sociologist Ryszard Zoltaniecki and must “learn to live with zero” growth.
The Wall
Few images from the last days of the Cold War are as enduring in the West as the fall of the Berlin Wall. But in Central and Eastern Europe, a more complex picture emerges.
Once at the Forefront of Transition to Capitalism, Hungary Slips Back
Because it had already been experimenting with a mixed economy, Hungary’s transition to capitalism was less painful than other East-Central Europe communist states.
Stalin’s Purge Binge
The more party members Stalin killed, the more he thought he had to kill.
Why North Korea Today Is Not East Germany 1989
Policymakers have long predicted that North Korea will go the way of East German Communism. Not so fast.
High Times in Yugoslavia
Meanwhile, Yugloslovia promoted a third path between communism and capitalism: worker self-management and a limited private sector.
Taming the Wild East: Bulgaria
Even during the communist era, Bulgaria was a center for organized crime.