Külpolitika - A Magyar Külügyi Intézet elméleti-politikai folyóirata - 1979 (6. évfolyam)
1979 / 2. szám - KÖNYVEKRŐL - Hinton, Harold C.: Bevezetés a kínai politikába
Pal Nemes: The international situation at present The major trends of international affairs have remained unchanged over the past four years but the impetus of detente has slackened. The unfavourable turn taken by the foreign policy of the United States and intrigues designed to undermine peace on the part of the Chinese leaders must be held responsible. Extremist circles in the US endeavour to change the military balance of power, trying to ensure Western superiority. Human rights were used as an excuse to initiate a comprehensive campaign against the socialist countries. Their hope is to create an opposition within the socialist countries which will sympathize with bourgeois systems. Economic contacts are also subverted into instruments of pressure. The Chinese card proved an important part of the American game. In spite of the machinations of the imperialists the shift in power relations in favour of socialism continues irresistibly. The international communist movement waxes in strength, as does the national, liberation movement, and the camp of socialist and other progressive countries that are fighting for peace is growing. Neither politics nor arms can hold up permanently unavoidable progressive processes that have the force of laws of social change. Attempts designed to interfere in the domestic affairs of the socialist countries came to nought. Experience has shown that open or indirect support for the aggressive great power policy of the Chinese leaders is a risky business. The Hungarian People’s Republic continues to fight resolutely for the consolidation of peace and security and the strengthening of the positions of progress and socialism. It is working for the implementation of proposals made by the socialist countries in the interests of disarmament, and of cooperation that serves peace and security. Contacts with capitalist countries are being furthered on the basis of peaceful coexistence, while resolutely rejecting designs which the leading circles of certain capitalist countries are entertaining which are meant to soften up the socialist system. Considerable attention is devoted to relations with developing countries. The complexities of the international situation demand that cooperation with the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries be even closer. Life itself demands that the socialist countries should potentiate their economic, political and cultural cooperation, eliminating friction which might arise between them from time to time. The sound international position of Hungary, and the reputation the country’s home and foreign policies enjoy, offer new scope which must be exploited to the maximum in the interests of more effectively pushing the national interests of the Hungarian people and the international interests of socialism. Tstván Dobozi: The new international economic order and conflicts centred on the distribution of raw materials Recent years have seen forceful endeavours to regulate raw material markets. The question is not whether or not such markets should be regulated since most of them have not been subject to the free play of market forces for some time. One should ask rather who regulates these markets, for what purpose, and in whose interests. Mostly the idea is to subdue short-term fluctuations, long-term structural problems generally remain unaffected. Thanks to the deliberate efforts of the developing countries the comprehensive regulation of international commodity markets and the demand for a new international economic order have become intertwined to such a degree that one could easily imagine that the latter is only directed towards obtaining the former. No doubt minerals and fuels offer the best bargaining positions to the developing countries, therefore an approach to a new economic order from that angle appears to be tactically sound. There is a danger however that concentrating on them may lead to the production and marketing of raw materials being overvalued as part of the developmental process. Both endeavours manifest themselves fundamentally as a struggle over distribution. An equilibrium of interests is therefore difficult to produce. The stabilization of raw material markets need/ not, however, lead to a large-scale, world wide and uncontrollable regrouping of resources before both exporting and importing countries can feel its beneficial effects. A comprehensive programme of regulation worked out by UNCTAD and energetically supported by the developing countries is worthy of note. Implementation has however been delayed. For tactical reasons the group of 77 has however intruded politics to such a degree that a less ambitious and interventionist compromise agreement cannot be expected earlier than in the early eighties. There is need for a comprehensive regulation of international commodity markets. Structural experiments must transcend direct market processes, the approach within the developing countries must increasingly be in the context of strategies of economic growth. A structural approach on the world economic level may well demand something similar. A more regular rhythm of world economic growth and a lower world wide rate of inflation might well be the best regulatory mechanism. The world economy is no decision taking unit, and cyclical instability is almost a natural law of capitalist production. The world economic conditions of an effective regulation of commodity markets must therefore have their source in developments on the national economic level. It remains an open question to what extent VII
