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economic planning

(Encyclopedia)economic planning, control and direction of economic activity by a central public authority. In its modern usage, economic planning tends to be pitted against the laissez-faire philosophy which develo...

Gentile, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Gentile, Giovanni jōvänˈnē jāntēˈlā [key], 1875–1944, Italian philosopher and educator. He taught philosophy in several Italian universities and for many years contributed to the magazine of...

Dürrenmatt, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Dürrenmatt, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh dürˈənmät [key], 1921–90, Swiss playwright and novelist. Dürrenmatt's writings depict a world both comic and grotesque. As a young German-speaking playwright...

Nenni, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Nenni, Pietro pyĕˈtrō nĕnˈnē [key], 1891–1980, Italian journalist and political leader. He was imprisoned in 1911 for his participation in the protest movement against the Italo-Turkish war in...

Bassani, Giorgio

(Encyclopedia)Bassani, Giorgio jôrˈjō bäsäˈnê [key], 1916–2000, Italian novelist. The recurrent background for his complex, analytic narratives about Jewish bourgeois life in Italy was the growth of fascis...

Popper, Sir Karl Raimund

(Encyclopedia)Popper, Sir Karl Raimund, 1902–94, Anglo-Austrian philosopher, b. Vienna. He became familiar with the Vienna circle of logical positivists (see logical positivism) while a student at the Univ. of Vi...

Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von

(Encyclopedia)Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von, 1899–1956, Austrian politician, a descendant of the 17th-century general of the same name. He took part in Hitler's “beer-hall putsch” of 1923 (see Hitler, Adolf...

conservatism

(Encyclopedia)conservatism, in politics, the desire to maintain, or conserve, the existing order. Conservatives value the wisdom of the past and are generally opposed to widespread reform. Modern political conserva...

Montale, Eugenio

(Encyclopedia)Montale, Eugenio āo͞ojĕˈnyō mōntäˈlā [key], 1896–1981, Italian poet, critic, and translator. After working as an editor, Montale became chief librarian of the Gabinetto Vieusseux in Florenc...

Grossman, Vasily Semenovich

(Encyclopedia)Grossman, Vasily Semenovich, 1905–64, Russian novelist and journalist, b. Berdichev (now Berdychiv, Ukraine). He graduated (1929) from Moscow State Univ., published novels and short stories, and bec...

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