Articles by Sudhir Sen

There, as in all other capitalist countries, in the name of the public good and capitalist efficiency, bankruptcy laws provide for the insolvency of private enterprises, private individuals, public institutions, regional and local governments (New York City nearly went bankrupt), and even banks themselves. Both debtors and creditors are afforded the protection of their most essential interests by law and court, which (as under Chapter 11 of the United States bankruptcy code) also seek to enable the enterprises, institutions and individuals to make structural adjustments to re-establish themselves as going entities by freeing them from unbearable burdens. (New York City, the Chrysler Corporation, Rolls Royce, AEG Tele- funken, etc. and the Continental Illinois Bank and Trust Company among many others were all enabled again to set their houses in order). Why should this same legal practice in the public interest be denied to effectively insolvent 'sovereign

strife among sociologists, exploited further by the 'cadre promotion politics' whereby many promising sociologists were compelled to leave the Institute of Socio-Economic Problems of the Academy of Sciences, USSR and work at 'peripheral' levels elsewhere. She also laments the 'virtual disappearance' of the Leningrad Sociological School which in the late 1960s and 1970s carried out pioneering research in critical areas like dissatisfaction and alienation among workers, occupational preferences of the youth, etc.

UNITED STATES Death of Monetarism Sudhir Sen FOR more than a year monetarism was in its last gasp. Its worried protagonists did their best to keep it alive with frequent application of oxygen, but to no avail. This week it died a quiet death. No official obituary notice has been served; this would be too much to expect from those who, for almost seven years, had hugged it, albeit with varying degrees of warmth, as the ultimate truth

doctors become retailers to prescribe a particular proprietary brand. As was acknow- leded by these professionals themselves in the seminar, most of the medical students are inadequately trained in the clinical application of drug knowledge. When the typical physician enters private practice, knowingly or unknowingly he becomes the key figure in the drug marketing strategy. He comes to place increasing reliance on the promotional materials distributed by drug manufacturers. It needs to be emphasised and realised that doctors have the absolute power to determine the sales of ethical drugs and if our wishes are expressed on their prescription pads they will have a great impact. Apart from the doctors, the people's science movement can play a major role in creating consumer awareness provided they operate at grassroot levels. Their campaigns needs to be issued-oriented and should operate at different levels to tackle the drug issue. The production of alternative information, dissemenation of this information and mobilising people for agitational action can be such levels.

Lameduck President after Landslide Victory Sudhir Sen MORE than 150 years have passed since Alexis de Tbqueville, in his classic work on Democracy in America, made some unforgettable comments on the presidential election in America: As the election draws near, the activity of intrigue and the agitation of the populace increase; the citizens are divided into hostile camps, each of which assumes the name of the favourite candidate, the whole nation glows with feverish excitement; the election is the daily theme of the public papers, the subject of private conversation, the end of every thought and every action, the sole interest of the present. So was it also in 1984. For months, all eyes were focused on the election, the rivalry among the candidates-