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Book Review
| Leo Panitch, Colin Leys, Alan Zuege and Martijn Konings (eds), The Globalization Decade: a Critical Reader, Merlin Press, London, 2004. pp. £325. 16.95 paper.
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| While the 1990s may now be known as the 'Globalization Decade' the editors of this collection of essays point out that the 'foundations of globalization were, of course, laid much earlier' (p. 1). With so much work being produced on the topic of globalisation, this volume risks being left on the shelf as yet another book on the poorly defined, but ubiquitous, 'G' word. However, this collection of essays published initially in the Socialist Register— during the period in question — merits a comprehensive read. |
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Together, they provide a thorough historical analysis and grounded critique of neoliberal globalisation. What distinguishes this collection from the mainstream globalisation literature is how unfashionable they will appear to the so-called 'realists' and 'contructivists' engaged in the International Relations debates. Each essay has been chosen because it cuts through the hype of globalisation, viewing the phenomenon seriously, but particularly focusing on its real life consequences and implications of the change in the spatial scale of accumulation. Regardless of one's particular take on globalisation, astute readers will agree they bring a penetrating analysis of the process. |
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The essays highlight the social disintegration and increasing polarisation caused by globalisation (Manfred Bienefled), the contradictions in US hegemony (Peter Gowan), and the looming ecological consequences of global integration (Elmar Altvater). Gerard Dumenil and Domninque Levy argue that while the emergence of neoliberalism makes sense as a 'ruthless form of capitalism', aiming to restore the post-war the rate of profit, it is also a regime of accumulation more prone to financial instability and contradiction than previous ones. Wally Seccombe emphasises these contradictory processes in regards to the rise of pension fund capitalism. Worker's retirement savings, invested through pension funds into financial securities, have made employment less secure. This is because shareholder demands for regular dividends and asset appreciation to fund retirement are reinforcing the pressures toward firm 'downsizing' and the growth of non-standard forms of employment. |
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The issue of national economic spaces and the role of the nation state is a dominant theme. Neoliberal accounts of globalisation, and some of the Left analyses, counter-pose the nation state with globalisation, as either a distortion to perfect capital mobility, or a site of autonomy and resistance to it. Hugo Radice illustrates the conceptual poverty of this framework and points toward a more sophisticated understanding of global integration, one simultaneously national and global in character. The rejection is very welcome, for it moves past a traditional (and often deliberately constructed) hiatus in the globalisation literature, towards questions of 'what it is "the state" is trying to do, and why' (p. 159). Here also Leo Panitch reinvigorates Poulantzian state theory to argue that nation states are bringing their social constituencies into the logic of globalisation. Nation states are locations of globalisation, hence the term the 'internationalization of the state'. Deregulation, privatisation, and the break up of the welfare state reflect the reorganisation of state processes: ie the 'closing down of political terrain and opening up other new channels' (p. 5) in response to the spatial change in accumulation. The end result being that '[a]ll branches of the state, from education to local government, now have a part to play in reordering their social constituencies to the demands and discourse of international competitiveness' (p. 5). |
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If the analytical framework of some 'progressive' responses to globalisation is limited, then that has implications for the alternatives to neoliberalism. The strength of this collection of essays is that they are able to open up, and analyse, the shifts taking place in the social democratic and corporatist alternatives. Gregory Albo argues that other forms of national capitalisms are also being modified by global integration. In this regard the corporatist and left-liberal states are also responding to globalised accumulation, with 'progressive competitiveness' strategies (ie the so-called innovation policies that target high/tech and high/value production). These alternatives have not diminished, but they are not taking the ideal social democratic form, instead they are used for the legitimation of globalisation rather than participatory alternatives. |
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Finally, for those wanting a more tangible policy response to globalisation, James Crotty and Gerald Epstein's famous essay calling for global capital controls has been included. It is an argument that is now gathering steam, with ex-World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz developing a populist version. Crotty and Epstein however, are honest enough to recognise that behind the class compromises needed to make capital controls work, material sacrifices will have to be taken by labour. The question that remains open more generally, yet unaddressed in their essay, is the extent and distribution of that burden. |
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From my own perspective, disappointment comes from the fact that the globalisation of finance is sometimes superficially treated. It is true that pension fund capitalism and financial integration are creating volatility, but the key question here should not be a moral one about speculation. Instead, it should be about understanding the interrelationship between the (hyper) competition created by financial markets and the increasing intensification of economic, political and social life. This collection of essays brings balance to globalisation debates, and will find an important place in International Political Economy reading lists. |
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| University of Western Sydney |
NICK COATES | |
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