John Bellamy Foster

Tag: Russian

  • Capitalism in Wonderland

    Capitalism in Wonderland

    “Capitalism in Wonderland” [PDF], (coauthored with Richard York and Brett Clark, Foster listed third), Monthly Review vol. 61, no. 1 (May 2009), pp. 1-18. DOI: 10.14452/MR-061-01-2009-05_1

    In a recent essay, “Economics Needs a Scientific Revolution,” in one of the leading scientific journals, Nature, physicist Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, a researcher for an investment management company, asked rhetorically, “What is the flagship achievement of economics?” Bouchaud’s answer: “Only its recurrent inability to predict and avert crises.” Although his discussion is focused on the current worldwide financial crisis, his comment applies equally well to mainstream economic approaches to the environment—where, for example, ancient forests are seen as non-performing assets to be liquidated, and clean air and water are luxury goods for the affluent to purchase at their discretion. The field of economics in the United States has long been dominated by thinkers who unquestioningly accept the capitalist status quo and, accordingly, value the natural world only in terms of how much short-term profit can be generated by its exploitation. As a result, the inability of received economics to cope with or even perceive the global ecological crisis is alarming in its scope and implications.

    Translations:
    • Spanish translation in Herramienta 3 (Argentina, November 2010), http://www.herramienta.com.ar.
    • Chinese translation by Xia Yong, Marxism and Reality (China), no. 5, 2009.
    • Russian translation in Vpered, July 6, 2009, vpered.org.ru.
    • Turkish translation in Monthly Review, Turkish edition, no. 21 (Istanbul: Kalkedon, 2009), pp. 7-25.

     

  • The New Age of Imperialism

    The New Age of Imperialism

    “The New Age of Imperialism,” Monthly Review vol. 55, no. 3 (July 2003), pp. 1-14. DOI: 10.14452/MR-055-03-2003-07_1

    Imperialism is meant to serve the needs of a ruling class much more than a nation. It has nothing to do with democracy. Perhaps for that reason it has often been characterized as a parasitic phenomenon-even by critics as astute as John Hobson in his 1902 classic, Imperialism: A Study. And (rom there it is unfortunately all too easy to slide into the crude notion that imperialist expansion is simply a product of powerful groups of individuals who have hijacked a nation’s foreign policy to serve their own narrow ends.

    Translations:
    • Portuguese translation in Fragmetos de Cultura in Goiânia (Brazil), vol. 13, no. 6 (Nov-December 2003), pp. 1235-53.
    • Spanish translation in Marx Ahora (Havana, Cuba), no. 17 (November 2004)
    • Turkish translation in Cosmo Politik, vol. 6 (Fall 2003), pp. 12-22.
    • Russian translation on www.left.ru

     

  • Imperial America and War

    Imperial America and War

    “Imperial America and War,” Monthly Review vol. 55, no. 1 (May 2003), pp. 1-10. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14452/MR-055-01-2003-05_1

    On November 11, 2000, Richard Haass—a member of the National Security Council and special assistant to the president under the elder Bush, soon to be appointed director of policy planning in the State Department of newly elected President George W. Bush—delivered a paper in Atlanta entitled “Imperial America.” For the United States to succeed at its objective of global preeminence, he declared, it would be necessary for Americans to “re-conceive their role from a traditional nation-state to an imperial power.” Haass eschewed the term “imperialist” in describing America’s role, preferring “imperial,” since the former connoted “exploitation, normally for commercial ends,” and “territorial control.”

    Reprints:
    • Reprinted in Pratyush Chandra, Anuradha Ghosh and Ravi Kumar, The Politics of Imperialism and Counterstrategies. Delhi: Aakar Books, 2004, pp. 25-36.
    Translations:
    • French translation published in À L’ Encontre, no.12 (2003), pp. 35-39;
    • Spanish translation published in Monthly Review—Selecciones en castellano, no. 1 (May 2004).
    • Russian translation on www.left.ru.
    • German translation in AG Friedenforschung, http://www.unikassel.de/fb5/frieden/regionen/USA/foster.html.

     

  • Imperialism and ‘Empire’

    Imperialism and ‘Empire’

    “Imperialism and ‘Empire,” Monthly Review, vol. 53, no. 7, pp. 1-9. (December, 2001) DOI: 10.14452/MR-053-07-2001-11_1

    Only a little more than a month ago at this writing, before September 11, the mass revolt against capitalist globalization that began in Seattle in November 1999 and that was still gathering force as recently as Genoa in July 2001 was exposing the contradictions of the system in a way not seen for many years. Yet the peculiar nature of this revolt was such that the concept of imperialism had been all but effaced, even within the left, by the concept of globalization, suggesting that some of the worst forms of international exploitation and rivalry had somehow abated.

    Translations:

     

  • Marx’s Ecology

    Marx’s Ecology

    Buy at Monthly Review Press

    “Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature,” (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2000), 310 pp.

    Marx, it is often assumed, cared only about industrial growth and the development of economic forces. John Bellamy Foster examines Marx’s neglected writings on capitalist agriculture and soil ecology, philosophical naturalism, and evolutionary theory. He shows that Marx, known as a powerful critic of capitalist society, was also deeply concerned with the changing human relationship to nature.

    Marx’s Ecology covers many other thinkers, including Epicurus, Charles Darwin, Thomas Malthus, Ludwig Feuerbach, P. J. Proudhon, and William Paley.

    By reconstructing a materialist conception of nature and society, Marx’s Ecology challenges the spiritualism prevalent in the modern Green movement, pointing toward a method that offers more lasting and sustainable solutions to the ecological crisis.

     Awards:
    • Winner of the Best book award granted the Marxist Sociological Section, American Sociological Association, 2000

    Editions:

    • Portuguese language edition, (Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2005).
    • Korean language edition (Seoul: In-Gan-Sa-Rang Publishing Company, 2007).
    • Japanese language edition, (Tokyo: Kobushi Forum/Sakai Agency, 2004), translated by Keiko Watanabe.
    • Persian edition, containing a new “Preface to the Persian Language Edition,” (Tehran Digar Publishing House, 2004)—translator Akbar Masoumbeigi.
    • Turkish language edition, (Ankara: EPOS, 2001)–contains new “Preface to the Turkish Edition” by the author.
    • Indian edition, (KharagpurI, India:Cornerstone Books, 2001).
    • Chinese language edition (Beijing: High Education Press, 2006).
    • Finnish language edition, Publishing Company TA, 2001.
    • Spanish language edition, Ediciones de Intervencion Cultural/El Viejo Topo, 2004.
    • Indonesian language edition, translated by Pius Ginting (Jakarta: Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia, 2013).
    Translations:
    • Russsin-language translation by Yrii Trofimenko in process.
    • German-language translation (Hamburg: Laika Verlag, 2012), translators Alp Kayserilioglu and Max Zirngast.