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
