Articles by James Petras

Plan Colombia - the continuation of the US policy of intervention in Latin America - seeks to eradicate the drugs, trade and eliminate the guerrilla factions who thrive on it, but in essence, it is aimed at reconsolidating American power in the region. The plan, however, remains plagued by inconsistencies and doublespeak, and could in the long run rebound on US strategic plans for the region.

A new sense of imperial arrogance encourages Washington to intervene militarily in Europe; to redefine national boundaries; to extend and deepen its military alliances across Europe; to challenge European trading patterns and regulations; and to impose its own interpretation of free trade according to its own interests. In this light, Washington's NATO war in Yugoslavia can only be understood as part of a general expansion of US power.

AT the end of the 1980s, US policy-makers announced that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of its eastern European sphere of influence had ushered in a 'New World Order' or what some Washington ideologues described as a unipolar' world. Today, however, the victors in the cold war are being forced to grapple with the consequences of their success: the resurgence and intensification of inter- capitalist rivalries political, military and economic. Large-scale investments, aid and exports enabled a re-unified Germany to quickly establish itself as the dominant capitalist power in eastern and central Europe. Not least, Bonn took over as Russia's major foreign creditor. Meanwhile, France revived an issue of long-standing political and military friction with the US, pressing ahead with efforts to create a European security system independent, and at the expense, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) where its influence would predo- minate. The proliferation of regional blocs and agreements (NAFTA, Maastricht, ASEAN, etc) reflected efforts by the leading capitalist countries to consolidate power centres that would enable them to reach out into the larger world economy.

Volunteerism: The Great Deception James Petras Volunteerism, being enthusiastically promoted by the Clinton administration, does not have even the remotest possibility of dealing with America's growing social problems. It only serves as a useful ideological weapon to change the nature of the political debate - from the state's responsibility for its citizens to the private initiatives of the poor.

Neo-Liberalism and Daily Life James Petras Steve Vieux Data on the effects of unemployment, underemployment and low-paid employment in the US reveal a strong tendency for the downwardly mobile to direct their anger inward, to become depressed, hostile towards their family and to withdraw from neighbours, friends and former colleagues. This behaviour is aided by the major political parties, the mass media and academic publicists who point to the inevitability of 'globalisation', the virtues of 'market competitiveness and need' for labour flexibility which presents the problem of the individual victim as the product of impersotuil forces beyond her/his control.