[PEN-L:143] Russia and Regulation

[Gregory Schwartz <grishas@xxxxxxxx>]

Flawed Capitalism Requires Regulation, State Role, Jospin Says

Paris, Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Responsible government and effective
regulation
must play a role in the world economy next century to counterbalance the

effects of unbridled capitalism, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin
said.

``Capitalism is its own worst enemy,'' Jospin said in an editorial
appearing
in French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur tomorrow. ``The crises we have
witnessed teach us three things: capitalism remains unstable, the
economy is
political and the global economy calls for regulation.''....

Citing the economic and political problems that have struck Russia,
Jospin
said modern market-driven economies need ``rules, solid institutions,
stability and organization'' from the state. He criticized the way in
which
emerging economies such as Russia's have been made to undergo a ``forced

march'' towards liberalization from centrally-planned systems without a
sufficient transition period.

Jospin said the Western world must share part of the blame in ``imposing
on
some countries a model which is quite alien to it.''

The prime minister also urged better cooperation between governments to
develop common policies and to find solutions to shared problems. Jospin

called on fellow members of the International Monetary Fund to give the
body
and its 24-member Interim Committee the means to act as a sort of
``political
government'' to oversee regulation in world markets.

``The current crisis shows us quite clearly and brutally that the market
must
have rules, which run big risks if under- estimated,'' he wrote.

--
Gregory Schwartz
Department of Political Science
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, Ontario
M3J 1P3
Canada

Tel: (416) 736-5265
Fax: (416) 736-5686
Web: http://www.yorku.ca/dept/polisci