As to Lebed, I am not convinced that he is a bed person for Russia. He is authoritarian for sure, but in a mess this may be needed. How far he goes in this is another matter.
As to protectionism leading to chauvinism, I definitely think the IMF politics has prepared for this version of protectionism. There are two types of nationalism in this respect, I think, defensive and chauvinistic. Russia certainly needs the first type.
Arno
-----Original Message----- From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com] On Behalf Of James Devine Sent: Saturday, September 26, 1998 11:40 PM To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: RE: Friedrich List & the US-German relation
I wrote:
>BTW, a protectionist/autarkic strategy sort of makes sense for Russia:
>first we have to make our domestic economy actually work; then we can deal
>with international trade. Of course, I'm afraid that that type of autarky
>would be linked to the worst kind of national chauvanism.
Arno asks: >Why Jim?? Not necessarily?
I don't quite understand this. I guess it means that I see the worst kind of national chauvanism as necessarily linked to the protectionist path. I didn't say "necessarily." (I never do.) But I would say "very likely": the folks who replace Yeltsin are likely to be Lebed or Lebed-like people, who mobilize their nation in some kind of Slavic nationalism. (Probably Zhirnovsky (sp?) will not be involved, since he's a clown. That doesn't mean that someone more scary than he might take over.)
If Russia weren't in such crisis, a moderate, less obnoxious, kind of national protectionism might prevail.
If the political balance were different, i.e., if there were a mass movement of the workers and other oppressed groups, restriction on trade might be part of a socialist strategy.
But as usual, I am not an expert on Russia. Nor do I play one on TV.
BTW, Arno, please make it clear what passages are _yours_ and what passages belong to the person(s) you are commenting on.
Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html