February 1998

The recent protests in France come as no surprise. For the Jospin government has focused on the convergence criteria for the euro and neglected the needs of the three million unemployed and millions more struggling to get by on the bare minimum.
This year, as every year, the World Economic Forum gathered in Davos (Switzerland) bringing together “world leaders” - in the form of financiers, bankers, representatives of big business, top politicians - and sitting them down with the heads of the (...)

The month of Ramadan was marked by a further escalation of violence in Algeria, with serial massacres ravaging villages in the west of the country in the Islamist heartland. To try to understand what lies behind these dreadful events, we need first to examine the country’s power structure. In this article, Lahouari Addi analyses the role of the army and its dominant role in the Algerian state.

It is now more than seven months since the financial meltdown that began in Thailand with the collapse of the local currency. Although incapable of predicting the crisis, the International Monetary Fund has again been entrusted with the task of calming troubled waters. So far, it has had a qualified success, given that, despite unprecedented financial mobilisation, the monetary situation remains unstable and may have been made worse by President Clinton’s current difficulties which have led to a weakness in the dollar. From now on, the much-vaunted Asian tiger economies, and South Korea in particular, will be subject to structural adjustment plans similar to those for the poorest African countries. These will almost certainly bring in their wake massive job losses, company closures and increased poverty. Widespread social unrest is predictable, with political instability already affecting Indonesia in particular (see article on Indonesia in this dossier). The current financial chaos is merely the most eye-catching aspect of a fundamental crisis of overproduction, now linked to global deflation and austerity policies which suppress demand. If the risk of recession is to be averted, the world’s leading economies will have to boost consumption and, flying in the face of orthodox monetary policy, increase the purchasing power of the poorest citizens.

The problems of Southeast Asia’s economies were seen as glitches along the road — that is, until last November when South Korea, on the verge of default, applied to the IMF for help. The IMF has responded by transposing the remedies it knows and has already used in Latin America to the vastly different Asian context. A heavy-handed reshaping of Southeast Asia is under way.

Internet addresses and information on world economic organisations.

The rice harvest has failed and, at the start of the year, the rupiah collapsed. This has led to a social and political crisis. General Suharto, standing for a seventh term as president, has had to agree to IMF reforms, but there have been riots in Java and the opposition is calling for him to go.

The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) proposes to grant inalienable rights to multinational corporations at the expense of national governments, which would find themselves forced to defend their own laws in court and pay compensation for any infringement of the proposed treaty. Those negotiating it in the OECD have kept very quiet. But late in the day, the public and their representatives may be beginning to wake up to a new threat.

On 12 January a fourth Basque local councillor was murdered by ETA. After hundreds of killings, ETA now seems to be targeting members of the People’s Party, which is part of the Madrid government, as well as waging a campaign of violence against the governing party in the Basque Autonomous Community. Barbara Loyer explains the meaning of this, giving a rare insight into the little-known origins of Basque nationalism.

Wherever industry buys up land as dumps for its waste, it is putting the most vulnerable at risk. In the United States, this has provoked an unexpected response. Different groups - Blacks, Indians, environmentalists and others - have got together in the name of “environmental justice” to fight for their right to live free of pollution.

Uganda is often cited as one of Africa’s rare success stories. Yoweri Museveni may have seized power in 1986 in the traditional manner, but he has guided Uganda to an unusual degree of economic progress and political stability. The country also has a key role in the continent’s new geopolitics, but the unrest that surrounds it does not make for domestic tranquillity.

The West is constantly torn between the need to intervene in fratricidal conflicts, like those in Algeria, Burundi or Afghanistan, and the real risks for its own soldiers. One of the new approaches being looked at is “conflict prevention”. But serious questions have first to be addressed. How can we identify wars in the making? What are the criteria for intervention: likely success, numbers of victims or just visibility on the evening news? And should we try to stop “just” wars?

A space platform consisting of a drone for launching weapons systems, a hypersonic attack aircraft, cruise missiles and vehicles for launching or repairing satellites or acting against enemy bases in space. Science fiction? No. This is all part of the United States’ arms programme. The aim: to remain the only superpower and to be able to win simultaneously, without losses, two conflicts on a par with the Gulf war. They must prepare for wars where the distinction will become blurred between soldier and civilian, or riot and insurrection

A space platform consisting of a drone for launching weapons systems, a hypersonic attack aircraft, cruise missiles and vehicles for launching or repairing satellites or acting against enemy bases in space. Science fiction? No. This is all part of the United States’ arms programme. The aim: to remain the only superpower and to be able to win simultaneously, without losses, two conflicts on a par with the Gulf war. They must prepare for wars where the distinction will become blurred between soldier and civilian, or riot and insurrection

The hardline policies adopted by Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, determined to block the Oslo accords or void them of all meaning, have already caused the resignation of his foreign minister, David Levy. He is now being forced to rely ever more closely on his coalition partners of the religious right. They, in turn, have seized the opportunity to increase their hold on the state — to the dismay of the majority of Israelis.

As a result of his intransigence, Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu is having to rely more closely than ever on his coalition partners of the religious right, who are trying hard to increase their hold on the state. This is causing resentment among Israelis at large, most of whom fiercely resent the power of the Orthodox establishment and its control over their daily lives — to the point where the divide between the secular majority and the religious minority is assuming the proportions of a “war of cultures”.