Brenner debate? (fwd)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
          Visiting Professor  of  International Relations       
University of Miami           &         Florida International University  

380 Giralda Ave. Apt 704                Tel: 1-305-648 1906
Miami - Coral Gables FL                 Fax: 1-305-648 0149
USA  33134                              e-mail:agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca 

Personal/Professional Home Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/

My NATO/Kosovo Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/nato_kosovo/   
    

My professional/personal conclusion is the same as Pogo's - 
            We have met the enemy, and it is US 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2000 19:31:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Gunder Frank <agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca>
To: H-NET List for World History <H-WORLD@h-net.msu.edu>
Subject: Brenner debate?

I read on H-world with astounding amazement:

As Grigera shows, Brenner has launched a debate which many will surely
join.  Several issues of academic journals whose canvas is global have
engaged Brenner's new thesis.  The debate is of enormous contemporary
policy significance.

Indeed my amazement at the above mentioned novelty and debate was even
geater than that at reading my good old personal friend Bob's article/book
in the first place,  since in it I found only what I myself had already 
written in  1975-1978 and published in CRISIS: IN THE WORLD ECONOMY  and
CRISIS: IN THE THIRD WORLD [New York:Holmes & Meier, London: Heineman
1980/81, approx 700 pp in all]. Moreover I followed it up in 1985-86
with an article about the length of Bob's, which NO one in the US or UK
was willing to publish, so that it appeared in bits and pieces and under
various titles as "Is the Reagan Recovery Real or the Calm Before
the Storm?" [correct answer is the storm of course] published in India
and Yugoslavia, "The Next Recession Threatens Deflationary Depression"
also in Yugoslavia, and "The Perils of Economic Ramboism:The Next
Recession Threatens Deflation and Depression" published in New York, New
York,  United States of America by the Union for Radical Political
Economics in its THE IMPERILED ECONOMY:LEFT PERSPECTIVES ON
MACROECONOMICS [1987], where alas my piece offered the only
perspective on the real coming of real  DEFLATION [you can and do now buy
up Russian raw materials and nuclear scientists for 99 cents] and 
DEPRESSION [no worse in Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and
now parts of Asia than ever in the 1930s]. That 1985/86 piece also
contemplated the regionalization of the world into three
American, European and Asian "blocks."

Not only did my 1978 analysis predict why the 1979-82 recession would come
but also why the inevitable policy responses would make it and the 
following [Reagan] "recovery" worse. Moreover, my 1985-86 piece did the
same again for the recession that would arrive in 1989 and last in 
the West till 1992 and in Eastern Europe till today. Indeed of course
although hardly anybody East or West wishes to observe, the very
"Revolution of 1989" and the breakup of the Soviet Union, not to mention
the literally devastating consequences, were themselves the direct
consequences of the 1989-1992 recession in the West [see my "What Went
Wrong in the "socialist " Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, published
several times and places]. 

And unlike Bob, I already incorporarted all this in my world economic
analysis  in the 1970s [Long Live Transideological Enterprise: The
Socialist Countries in the Capitalist International Division of Labor}, the 
1980s [The European Challenge,a US/UK 1983 book] whch predicted, no matter
ideology, East West European integration with the East depedent on the 
West no, and the 1990s six months before the wall came down the
"enlargement" of Europe, and before the Soviet Union broke up that it 
would  -- but all this based on an analysis of the WORLD historical
economic factors the at work. 

So what is the connection with world history?
THAT is the connection. We must study WORLD history - and the REAL motor 
forces within it - to understand what happens in any part of it... and
why. Alas, even the new  Bob still refrains from doing THAT, even though
the old Bob received my 1970s WORLD economic stuff when I was his
houseguest in 1981 and my 1985/86 article when I visited him in 1986.
If he had ever paid attention, perhaps the closing section in this latest
piece would not be as weak as it unfortunately is.

respectfully submitted
gunder frank
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                     ANDRE GUNDER FRANK
          Visiting Professor  of  International Relations       
University of Miami           &         Florida International University  

380 Giralda Ave. Apt 704                Tel: 1-305-648 1906
Miami - Coral Gables FL                 Fax: 1-305-648 0149
USA  33134                              e-mail:agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca 

Personal/Professional Home Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/

My NATO/Kosovo Page> http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank/nato_kosovo/   
    

My professional/personal conclusion is the same as Pogo's - 
            We have met the enemy, and it is US 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~