The East German Revolution of 1989

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by the University of ManchesterThis thesis analyzes the causes and processes of the East German revolution of 1989. The first half explains the demise of the USSR and its East European allies in terms of their insertion into a changing global environment. A Marxist explanation is given of the economic and social decay of East European ‘Communism’ in general and of East Germany in particular. The latter state was characterized by two fundamental contradictions. The first was between its economic nationalist form and the developing internationalization of the world economy. The second was between the attractive power of the economically superior West and the GDR’s dependence upon the USSR. East Germany’s rulers, despite being uniquely grateful for Moscow’s ‘bear hug’, were also tempted to embrace the West. The East German economy became ever more entangled with and dependent upon Western businesses and states. Albeit to a lesser extent than their counterparts in Poland and Hungary, East Germany’s rulers found themselves seduced by the superior technologies, commodities, and economic structures of the West. They were torn between loyalty to orthodox Communism and to Moscow, and a tacit awareness of Western economic superiority. This contradiction was compounded when, under Gorbachev, the Kremlin ceased to be identified with Communist orthodoxy. The second half of the thesis is devoted to the revolution itself. The interaction between the regime’s reaction to the developing crisis and the mobilization of protest is examined. Among the questions addressed are why the SED was unable to prevent mass emigration and why the security forces were unable to crush the protests. In the context of a narrative of the protest movement three aspects are given particular attention. The first is the transformation of society. Over the course of some five months of weekly demonstrations in which millions participated, political institutions were transformed as well as other core features of social and political behaviour. Secondly, the importance of conscious deliberation, debate and strategy is emphasized. Detailed consideration is made of how people became conscious of the developing national crisis, how they scented the opportunity to protest, and how they acted to effect political change. Thirdly, the question of why a divergence developed between the ‘Citizens’ Movement’ and the rest of the movement is addressed. In particular the radicalization of the mass movement is examined, as are the strategies of the Citizens Movement and of the regime. Finally, the history of the overthrow of the forces of the old regime is narrated, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall.This study was funded by the ESRC

Duplos movimentos e forças pendulares: perspectivas polanyianas sobre a era neoliberal

In the neoliberal era, Karl Polanyi’s notion of the ‘double movement’ has been widely deployed by social scientists as a critique of the prevailing order and a predictor of its demise. This article presents the double movement theorem, drawing upon Polanyi’s published and unpublished writings. It explores parallels between his explanation of the advent of the nineteenth-century free-market regime in Britain and recent Polanyian accounts of the rise of neoliberalism. Following an analysis of the ‘pendular’ refunctioning of Polanyi’s thesis, it closes by asking whether the recent global financial crisis heralds a pendulum swing from neoliberalism (or ‘market fundamentalism’) towards a form of socially coordinated capitalism, or towards ‘more of the same’. As of 2011, it appears that neoliberal policy and ideology remain hegemonic, not in reinvigorated form but as an ‘undead’ policy regime, one that has spawned a burgeoning literature on ‘zombie capitalism’ and ‘zombie neoliberalism’.Key words: Karl Polanyi, neoliberalism, double movement, financial crisis, zombie.Na era neoliberal, a noção de Karl Polanyi sobre o “duplo movimento” tem sido muito utilizada por cientistas sociais como uma crítica à ordem vigente e como prenúncio do seu desaparecimento. Este artigo apresenta o teorema do duplo movimento, tomando por base textos publicados e não publicados de Polanyi. Explora paralelos entre a explicação dele sobre o advento do regime de livre mercado novecentista na Grã-Bretanha e os recentes estudos polanyianos sobre a ascensão do neoliberalismo. Após uma análise da refuncionalização “pendular” da tese de Polanyi, o artigo conclui perguntando se a recente crise financeira global sinaliza um movimento pendular que parte do neoliberalismo (ou “fundamentalismo de mercado”) em direção a uma forma de capitalismo socialmente coordenado, ou em direção a “mais do mesmo”. A partir de 2011, parece que as políticas e a ideologia neoliberais continuam hegemônicas, mas não de forma revigorada, e sim como um regime político “mortovivo”, que gerou uma florescente literatura sobre “capitalismo zumbi” e  “neoliberalismo zumbi”.Palavras-chave: Karl Polanyi, neoliberalismo, duplo movimento, crise financeira, zumbi.Na era neoliberal, a noção de Karl Polanyi sobre o “duplo movimento” tem sido muito utilizada por cientistas sociais como uma crítica à ordem vigente e como prenúncio do seu desaparecimento. Este artigo apresenta o teorema do duplo movimento, tomando por base textos publicados e não publicados de Polanyi. Explora paralelos entre a explicação dele sobre o advento do regime de livre mercado novecentista na Grã-Bretanha e os recentes estudos polanyianos sobre a ascensão do neoliberalismo. Após uma análise da refuncionalização “pendular” da tese de Polanyi, o artigo conclui perguntando se a recente crise financeira global sinaliza um movimento pendular que parte do neoliberalismo (ou “fundamentalismo de mercado”) em direção a uma forma de capitalismo socialmente coordenado, ou em direção a “mais do mesmo”. A partir de 2011, parece que as políticas e a ideologia neoliberais continuam hegemônicas, mas não de forma revigorada, e sim como um regime político “mortovivo”, que gerou uma florescente literatura sobre “capitalismo zumbi” e  “neoliberalismo zumbi”.Palavras-chave: Karl Polanyi, neoliberalismo, duplo movimento, crise financeira, zumbi

In search of Karl Polanyi’s international relations theory

Karl Polanyi is principally known as an economic historian and a theorist of international political economy. His theses are commonly encountered in debates concerning globalisation, regionalism, regulation and deregulation, and neoliberalism. But the standard depiction of his ideas is based upon a highly restricted corpus of his work: essentially, his published writings, in English, from the 1940s and 1950s. Drawing upon a broader range of Polanyi’s work in Hungarian, German, and English, this article examines his less well-known analyses of international politics and world order. It sketches the main lineaments of Polanyi’s international thought from the 1910s until the mid-1940s, charting his evolution from Wilsonian liberal, via debates within British pacifism, towards a position close to E. H. Carr’s realism. It reconstructs the dialectic of universalism and regionalism in Polanyi’s prospectus for postwar international order, with a focus upon his theory of ‘tame empires’ and its extension by neo-Polanyian theorists of the ‘new regionalism’ and European integration. It explores the tensions and contradictions in Polanyi’s analysis, and, finally, it hypothesises that the failure of his postwar predictions provides a clue as to why his research on international relations dried up in the 1950s

Multiple choice questions to combat plagiarism and encourage conceptual learning

Academic dishonesty (i.e., plagiarism or cheating in plain English) discredits and compromises the validity of University qualifications. All the effort an academic puts into the construction, administration and delivery of their courses is undermined if students are cheating. There are a number of studies describing methods for detecting plagiarism in written assignments. For example, there is software which can detect high levels of similarity between students’ work (Moeck 2002; Hamilton 2003), and there has been a special interest in identifying Internet-related cheating (Young 2001), commercial ghost-writing (Hammer 1976) and in alerting academics to other forms of electronically based plagiarism (McMurtry 2001; Heberling 2002). At first glance, these issues seem less relevant to our large Biochemistry and Molecular Biology classes (which have enrolments of between 200-700 students) because our assessment is based on laboratory work (including individualised practical skills tests) and end-of-semester examinations. However, not only is it clear that a great deal of cheating can occur in the examination room (especially when large numbers of multiple choice questions are employed), our experiences have also made us realise that the detection of cheating causes tremendous stress of itself. Thus the central theme of this paper is that it is a waste of time to employ sophisticated plagiarism detection solutions for in-semester written work if those assignments contribute relatively little to the final mark (as would be the case if the bulk of the final assessment is an easily corrupted multiple choice examination). Additionally, we believe that it is better to make multiple choice examinations that cannot be plagiarised than to burden oneself with the problem of dealing with suspected plagiarism. To this end we have developed examination solutions that prevent cheating and which, as a by-product, allows for flexibility in question design that facilitates the grading of individual options within multiple choice questions

Why do Students Still Bother Coming to Lectures, When Everything is Available Online?

Web-based lecture technologies (WBLTs), which deliver recorded lectures and notes online, are increasingly common. However, there is concern that they may reduce lecture attendance. Since we did not observe a significant drop in attendance following the introduction of WBLTs in the School of Molecular Bioscience at the University of Sydney, we surveyed 563 students to discover why they attended lectures despite the availability of copious online materials. 82 % of responding students reported they always or mostly attend lectures and 74% expressed a negative emotion when asked how they would feel if lectures were abolished. Free-form comments indicated that students attend lectures for reasons either positive about lectures or negative about WBLTs. Students feel that lectures provide a disciplined learning environment where they can concentrate in a scholarly community. Lectures intrinsically contribute to the ‘university experience’ and the social aspect is also important. Some students are motivated to attend through habit, guilt or by financial concerns. Negative comments highlighted perceptions that WBLTs do not fully capture lecture content, can be inefficient and unreliable, and predispose students to procrastination. The majority of students use WBLTs in addition to attending lectures and perceive distinct roles for each mode. Most students who did not attend lectures claimed they were unable to for logistical reasons, although some cited inconvenience, overcrowding or peer-distraction. Students also make strategic decisions to prioritise competing commitments. Only a minority of students prefer WBLTs to attendance. These students prefer the ability to work at a time, place and pace of their choosing. This study supports the contention that WBLTs alone do not reduce lecture attendance, and highlights features of lectures which can be improved to increase attendance and student engagement