Abstract Late socialist countries are transforming faster than ever. Across China, Laos and Vietnam, where market economies coexist with political rhetoric the Communist party state’s rule, sweeping processes of change open up new vistas imaginaries future alongside uncertainty anxiety. These three very few living examples that combine capitalist economics state politics. Consequently, societal...

In German history, nationalism is the key to understanding the people and their history. The problem is that many see German nationalism as the events leading up to and following National Socialism, or Nazism. Others ignore the other major events in Germany’s history or see them as insignificant in comparison. It is true that Hitler and the Nazis were a major component in German history and it ...

It has become evident that many former EastGermans have a strong anxiety regarding a shift to a free market system. The nature of the anxiety has been analyzed in various ways and at various levels. At a superficial level, the anxiety is considered to stem from the disorientation in an unfamiliar system. At a second level, the anxiety is attributed to loss of the previous ego identity: the indi...

In a series of recent writings we have sought to re-open a debate over the economics of socialism. We have argued that the collapse of the Soviet system does not necessitate the conclusion that all forms of socialist economy are doomed to inefficiency. Updating and extending a line of reasoning found in Lange (1967) and Johansen (1977),1 we have claimed that modern information technology permit...