Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 00:10:10 +0100
From: Jan Straathof <janstr-AT-chan.nl>
Subject: BHA: RE: events, causality and mechanism


Bwanika, Marsh

    "Collectively Rational and Democratic Global  Commonwealth" is
Professor Chase-Dunn's concept describing a better  world-system. Another
reason for needing such a CRDGC arises from the need to  fight racist
structures in the world-system. A CRDGC could implement "global
affirmative action" policies, i.e., policies aimed at fighting structural and
overt racism in the world-system. Anti-racist affirmative action policies
have been effective, for example, in the city of Atlanta/USA. The Atlanta
municipal  government implemented antiracist affirmative action with
success. See, the  study by   Hewitt, Cynthia Lucas: Job Segregation,
Ethnic Hegemony, and Earnings  Inequality  ch. 9 in: David L. Sjoquist,
ed., The Atlanta  Paradox. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2000,
pp.185-216

p.204: the public sector clearly has been the source of the
greatest accumulation of savings among African Americans
which could be invested  in business development 

p204: African American presence as mayors and significant
city administrators was a major factor in increased ability of
African  America-owned businesses to become large enough
no longer to be classified as  primarily self-employment. The
importance of the use of municipal political  power to engender
large-scale stable employment among other American ethnic
groups is well documented

p.210: affirmative action and minority contracting can be
seen as  the most evident change in  the social regulation of
markets. It is in this arena of state power that  dispossessed
majorities (as for instance blacks in Atlanta) can contest the
private control of capital 

P212: Analysis suggests that the black community has utilized
political influence over the structuring of the market in five key
industries  (construction; real estate and finance; transportation
and utilities; education  and social services; and government
employment) to create a sheltered labor market 

P212: These  findings give support to the extension of theory of
ethnic hegemony to consider  political considerations as inextricably
intertwined with economic  processes.    If  it works in Atlanta/USA
for the Afro-American majority, it might work in the  world at large
for the non-white majority; and a Collectively Rational and
Democratic Global Commonwealth could do it, using "Global
Affirmative Action"  policies.

--------------- forwarded message from WSN / G. Kohler ---------------




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