Recent Research, New Results and Discussion

Abstract

My empirical results on a world level will now be presented in the following order: first, I shall deal with the determinants of economic growth and — related — income distribution. I shall then move on to a discussion of the determinants of basic human needs (life expectancy and employment). Political violence and political instability will also figure on the agenda for this chapter, and I shall look into the implications of a socio-liberal development theory regarding the analysis of debt and social decay. The correct analysis of the forces shaping capitalist ascent and decline in the world system becomes all the more important since Eastern Europe and the former USSR have become the testing ground for all kinds of political and economic strategies, and a thorough knowledge of its determinants can help to shorten the necessary search time for new democratic models.