ABSTRACT
This chapter examines at the way radicals have tried to come to terms with the death of actually existing socialism and the associated international result in the shape of the 'end of the Cold War'. It investigates their efforts to decode the meaning of the term 'globalization'. The chapter discusses whether or not radical analysts have developed a theory of crisis. It explores the ways radicals have tried to come to terms with American power. The modern history of historical materialism begins with the collapse of actually existing socialism as a serious political project after 1989. The tendency towards crisis in the post-Cold War epoch has been reinforced, it has been argued, by the end of the Cold War itself. Though not all radicals adhere to the argument that the Cold War was good for capitalism there are those who maintain that even though the superpower conflict was costly these costs were more than offset by the benefits.
