There is always a role for randomness in real-world historical events. Capitalism, contrary to some Marxists like Paul Baran in his POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GROWTH (1956?), is not some sort of monolithic force. It always involves a dynamic competition of capitals, always striving for advantage in the battle and striving to attain and/or keep monopoly privileges, often pressuring the state to help them win. Since capitals are heterogeneous (unlike the bogus "firms" in utopian neoclassical theory) and since what happens today changes the nature of the choices available tomorrow, the results of the process is not pretermined. In the battle of competition, likes those in a real war, luck plays a role. Further, the state has relative autonomy: if the capitalists were to run the government, they wouldn't have time to accumulate capital, so they hire experts (like Albright) and politicians (like Clinton) to make decisions for them, especially when it comes to "big picture" issues like foreign policy. That means that simple politics -- like the hubris Barkley refers to -- can play an important role in history. In the long run, if US politics gets totally out of line with the class and individual interests of the US capitalist class, there will be a severe political crisis, but I don't think we're there yet. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html Bombing DESTROYS human rights. US/NATO out of Serbia!
