There are various reasons why an author may wish to return, not to the ‘classic’ he wrote thirty years ago (this is a widely practised and accepted form of narcissism), but to a book he has only recently published. One such reason could be that he suffers from an acute case of what the French call esprit de l'escalier (spirit of the staircase) — thinking of the brilliant remark one might have made during the conversation only as one walks down the staircase after leaving the party. Another possibility is that the book was attacked and that some new ideas occurred to the author as he replied to his detractors. Also, upon reflecting on his book, the author may discover some connecting link between it and his earlier writings which he feels he would like to explore. While we are working on a new book we are often providentially protected by the illusion that we are engaged on an entirely novel and original enterprise. We may need this feeling to set out at all. Only after we are finished do we recognize that an argument we have put forth is closely related to points which we have made long ago or which, alternatively, stand in some tension to it.

THE TRANSITION FROM COMMUNIST TOTALITARIANISM TO a democratic socio-political organization and to a market economy system depends on several economic factors (capital, technology, skilled labour force, competent management) and also on political and cultural elements. The political speeches, whether delivered by government or opposition in Romania, underline almost exclusively the financial, technological or political aspects, neglecting quite completely the psycho-sociological dimension of this transitory period. The fact that the economic reforms somehow failed is only partly due to the lack of economic resources or to organizational setbacks. These are, of course, significant and undeniable reasons, but there is one more explanation rather forgotten, and that is the attitude of the Romanian population itself towards economic, social and political changes.

ONE OF THE MOST NOTICED FEATURES OF OUR TIME IS that global problems are increasing at a faster rate than the evolution of the political capacities to manage them. This is not a new observation, or even a new condition. It has long been part of a pessimistic assessment of the prospects for modern industrial technological civilization that can be traced back to its origins, but has been particularly strong throughout the twentieth century. H. G. Wells's famous comment that ‘human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe’ is even more apposite to the contemporary mood than it was when first written. The spectre of communism no longer haunts Europe, but other spectres now haunt the global civilization which developed out of Europe. Some of the key trends of this global civilization threaten at best an era of mounting disorder and chaos in the world system, at worst the survival of the human species itself. The problems are increasing far faster than the ability to find solutions for them.

IN MODERN ITALIAN, ‘POLITICAL CLASS’ IS A CONCEPT quite distinct from that of a ruling class. The notion of political class applies to a million people who are in full-time politics. The cream of these professional politicians is part of the ruling class: a term which applies to the people who effectively run the country working in business, finance, administration, politics, and so on.

In Italy the history of the changing importance of the political class has always been connected with the weakness of the ruling class, which was evident from the beginning of unification. Italy became a nation-state in 1861, largely thanks to the action of a tiny group of patriots consisting of ambitious aristocrats and romantic intellectuals. While in the same period the Prussian monarchy gave strong leadership to the process of unification in Germany, the Piedmont monarchy led the Italian process of national unification under the discreet partnership, open protection, or direct involvement of other major European states. From 1861 to the present time in Italian history many observers have pointed to the weakness of the ruling class and the interference of foreign powers.

THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM HAS COINCIDED WITH A crisis of capitalism. At the very time when discredited Marxist dogmas have been abandoned and the former Communist countries are seeking to privatize their industries and replace planning with the market, the capitalist economies have again displayed their traditional weaknesses. For inequality has widened, and large numbers of people are still said to be in poverty notwithstanding the fact that expenditure on the welfare state in its various forms absorbs much the larger part of public expenditure. Increasing scepticism about the welfare state has been accompanied by a loss of faith in macro-economic policy. Not only has mass unemployment returned on a scale that would once have been thought inconceivable but it appears to be assumed, with gloomy resignation, that the number without work, even if reduced by a cyclical recovery, will remain high for an indefinite period ahead. In these respects, the rich West presents a discouraging prospect to the aspiring East.

THE WEST GERMAN STATE HAS FACED TWO DAUNTING challenges brought about by the movement of refugees into its territory since the end of the Second World War. The first occurred immediately after the end of the war and involved the resettlement of ten million refugees of German nationality expelled from East European countries and 3.5 million evacuees from Soviet-controlled East Germany. It was a challenge that was met with dramatic success. With the help of a number of governmental programmes, and a rapidly expanding economy, these refugees were fully integrated into West German society in the two decades after 1945. Indeed, by the end of the 1960s, the success of this massive resettlement attempt, along with the country's uniquely broad constitutional article which recognized a right of asylum for all political refugees, had rendered the Federal Republic, in spite of its catastrophic past, something of a model for all states in the handling of refugees