By Jean Bethke Elshtain
From the 1993 Massey Lecture.
Even as Russia and the opposite former Soviet republics fight to redefine themselves in democratic phrases, our personal democracy if faltering, now not flourishing. We confront each other as aggrieved teams instead of as unfastened voters. Cynicism, boredom, apathy, depression, violence-these became coin of the civic realm. they're darkish indicators of the days and a caution that democracy is probably not as much as the duty of fulfilling the yearnings it unleashes-yearnings for freedom, equity, and equality. during this well timed, thought-provoking e-book, certainly one of America's major political philosophers and public intellectuals questions no matter if democracy will turn out sufficiently powerful and resilient to outlive the century. starting with a listing of our discontents, Jean Bethke Elshtain asks what has long past unsuitable and why. She attracts on examples from the United States and different elements of the area as she explores the politics of race, ethnicity, and gender identity-controversial, and crucial, political problems with our day. Insisting that there's a lot to cherish in our democratic traditions, she concludes that democracy contains an enduring conflict among conservatism and revolutionary switch. Elshtain distinguishes her personal place from these of either the Left and the ideal, demonstrating why she has been known as certainly one of our best and self sustaining civic thinkers. Responding to critics of democracy, old and glossy, Elshtain urges us to have the braveness of our so much actual democratic convictions. we want, she insists, either wish and a feeling of truth. Writing her e-book for voters, no longer specialists, Elshtain goals to open up a discussion and to maneuver us past sterile sectarian disputes. Democracy on Trial will generate vast debate and controversy.
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Papandreou getroffenen Maßnahmen zum Trotz. Griechenland kam an die Schwelle des Staatsbankrotts, und war – um ehrlich zu sein – in der Sache eigentlich bereits pleite. In der gesamten Eurozone begann eine Phase der Instabilität. Immer neue Konferenzen und Gipfeltreffen in kurzer Folge wurden mit dem Ziel veranstaltet, den Euro zu stabilisieren, der mittlerweile ernsthaft vom Staatsbankrott Griechenlands bedroht wurde. Zusammen mit dem Euro waren auch einige europäische Banken in Gefahr, in erster Linie französische und deutsche, welche mit den griechischen Banken auch den Löwenanteil an griechischen Staatsanleihen hielten.
4 Griechenland bildet das schwächste Glied in der europäischen Wirtschaft, dennoch weist es in den Basisgrößen keine auffälligen Abweichungen von den übrigen Ländern auf. Der einzige Unterschied, der auch die dauerhafte Hauptschwäche der griechischen Ökonomie ausmacht, ist das disproportional große Defizit in der Handelsbilanz. Quelle: Eurostat, *Schätzungen In dieser hier abgebildeten Tafel sehen wir die griechischen Staatsschulden im Vergleich zum Durchschnitt der Staatsschulden in der Eurozone.
Es ist fast unmöglich, nahezu zehn Prozentpunkte des BIP aufzuholen, insbesondere in einer Phase anämischen Wachstums. Es handelt sich also nicht um Kürzungspolitik, sondern um einen schwerwiegenden chirurgischen Eingriff. Das Paradoxe ist, dass die Operation zur Eurorettung zu einem Zeitpunkt vorgenommen wird, als die Vereinigten Staaten und China mit der Abwertung ihrer Währungen eine Konjunkturerholung zu initiieren versuchen. Angela Merkel hat es als ›beschämend‹ bezeichnet, dass ›Banken, die uns schon an den Rand gebracht haben, auch noch einen Anteil an der Fälschung der Haushalts- und Finanzstatistiken in Griechenland haben‹.
