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European Union Economic Policy: The Role of the EU in External Economic Relations

of such communication’ (pp. 72–73). He goes on to say that all societies need to address three basic problématiques: the epistemic or ‘the degree of certainty of knowledge’ (which could involve religion or science); the political (the balance between individual and collective autonomy); and economic (ways of satisfying human material needs) (pp. 74–75). Part II begins with a chapter, ‘The link between capitalism and democracy reconsidered’, which calls another long-held assumption into question. Wagner acknowledges that both systems have roots in the Enlightenment, but points out that they have ‘different origins, different underlying principles and, thus, different historical trajectories’ (pp. 83–84). He notes that Marx and the Frankfurt School considered capitalism basically exploitative and alienating, and democracy an expendable ‘surface feature’ of capitalist societies. Wagner points out that capitalism has existed without democracy at times in Italy, Germany, Spain and Vichy France. He discusses numerous events that could not have been predicted by earlier understandings of modernity and assumptions about its future. Among them are the international social unrest of 1968, the 1974 recession, the rise of the Japanese economy of the 1980s, the Iranian revolution of 1979, various situations in former colonies and the establishment of the European Union as well as its recent problems. He highlights the situations of Brazil and South Africa, both of which face unique and complicated problems posed by former colonial relationships and diverse population groups, and both of which have undergone conscious self-examination to develop their own economic and political strategies. The book’s final chapter, ‘Towards a world sociology of modernity’ returns again to the inadequate assumptions of fifty years ago. According toWagner, ‘Sociologists then thought that they had the means to explain “modern society”, and that this society was indeed basically stable and predictable. Today, “modernity” seems in constant flux, one crisis following another’ (p. 166). He goes on to say,