This book is the result of a research sub-topic, titled as "The Relations of the Two Systems and China's Foreign Strategies in the Process of Globalization in the Post-Cold War Era." The main research project topic was "International Political Economy and China's Diplomatic Strategies in the Era of Globalization" (Project 211) undertaken by Renmin University of China. This Research had started in 2003 with group members from World Socialism Research Institute, School of International Studies under Renmin University of China. Globalism is a new objective trend motivated by capitalism and poses important and new challenges to both capitalism and socialism since its vigorous development in 1990s. Its content, modes, prospects and relation to capitalism and socialism has been a major pressing and controversial issue debated between and among socialist movements. It demands a creative renewal of ideas and the socialist mode of development and also prepares new conditions in which socialism can flourish. The last two decades of the 20th century recorded dramatic and radical changes in capitalism, the world political configuration and especially the world socialist and left movement. As the main part of the world socialist movement, the countries struggling for the cause of a socialist and communist future fell into grave setbacks and diverse forms of crises and many of them could not cure the deeply rooted problems posed in their development and construction efforts. One major root of the problem had been the relationship of socialist construction to existing capitalism and its realistic capabilities. Some countries through trial, error and tortuous efforts opened a brand new mode of socialist construction and a new type of engagement with external capitalism contrasting the previous mode of socialist construction. This transformation-with variations in time, pace and other characteristics-was generally carried out gradually and cautiously. This was called reform and opening up in China, Vietnam and Cuba. As compared to the previous mode-under their sovereignty-they have been allowing a certain degree of external capitalism in their territories and have adjusted the ideological and political superstructure to the whole new mode of socialist construction and reform. The socialist and left movement in the rest of the world had greatly reflected developments in the socialist countries since the establishment of the first socialist power in 1917. And since diverse modes of socialist movements have continued to co-exist in the world socialist movement-most of the time-unable to bridge the differences and severe conflicts. Even socialist countries have had severe ideological, national and international disputes. After the collapse of Soviet Union and many other socialist countries in Eastern Europe, nearly all schools of world socialist movements and thoughts suffered an unprecedented setback or difficulties and have paid with high losses. Many socialist parties and left movements were dissolved and some were unable to resist capitalist arrogance arising after the "victory" of capitalism won without battle. The shiny aspect of capitalist development had seemed unmatchable and ideas about its demise had lost its relevance. Thanks to intrinsic development of motive forces inherent in socialist reality and its subjects, things have started to change and signs of recovery, rectification, re-exploration, reform and revival have soon started to emerge and even recorded some important achievements in many parts of the world. Many important schools including (social) democratic socialism, autonomous socialism-Trotskyism, new-left, green-left, post-Marxist left, Western and Eastern communism and critical-Western Marxist thought have scored certain remarkable achievements.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Is it possible for the Third World to escape from the constraints imposed by the world's economic system? What room for manoeuvre do these states have, and are they condemned to dependence? These are some of the questions Samir Amin confronts in Delinking. He argues that Third World countries cannot hope to raise living standards if they continue to adjust their development strategies in line with the trends set by a fundamentally unequal global capitalist system over which they have no control. The only alternative, he maintains, is for Third World societies to 'delink' from the logic of the global system - each country submitting its external economic relations to the logic of domestic development priorities, which in turn requires a broad coalition of popular forces in control of the state. Delinking, he shows, is not about absolute autarchy, but a neutralizing of the effects of external economic interactions on internal choices.

In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. Two years later the Soviet Union disintegrated. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union discredited the idea of socialism for generations to come. It was seen as representing the final and irreversible victory of capitalism. This triumphal dominance was barely challenged until the 2008 financial crisis threw the Western world into a state of turmoil. Through analysis of post-socialist Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as of the United Kingdom, China and the United States, Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives confronts the difficulty we face in articulating alternatives to capitalism, socialism and threatening populist regimes. Beginning with accounts of the impact of capitalism on countries left behind by the planned economies, the volume moves on to consider how China has become a beacon of dynamic economic growth, aggressively expanding its global influence. The final section of the volume poses alternatives to the ideological dominance of neoliberalism in the West. Since the 2008 financial crisis, demands for social change have erupted across the world. Exposing the failure of neoliberalism in the United Kingdom and examining recent social movements in Europe and the United States, the closing chapters identify how elements of past ideas are re-emerging, among them Keynesianism and radical socialism. As those chapters indicate, these ideas might well have potential to mobilise support and challenge the dominance of neoliberalism.

For the first time in history, the globe is dominated by one economic system. Capitalism prevails because it delivers prosperity and meets desires for autonomy. But it also is unstable and morally defective. Surveying the varieties and futures of capitalism, Branko Milanovic offers creative solutions to improve a system that isn’t going anywhere.

This is the first book to specify the type of economic system that has arisen in Central Asia, replacing the simplistic ideas of "petro-state" or "resource dependent." The book presents three types of state capitalism now established in the former Soviet Union states of Eurasia — crony, dual-sector, and predatory capitalism. It provides first-hand research based on extensive interviewing in the native languages in five of the six. From the political economic perspective, it surveys the source of resources for these authoritarian regimes, their decision-making, and the disposition of government funds, including corruption.

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