Globalization: Tame It or Scrap It?(Global Issues)

About the Book

'Globalization is irreversible and irresistible.'
Tony Blair

This book gives the lie to that claim. Economic globalization has never been an inevitable part of human history. It is eminently reversible and hugely resistible.

Greg Buckman argues there are two broad approaches within the anti-globalization movement. One, perhaps the most widely supported and influential strand today, calls the Fair Trade and Back to Bretton Woods school. This argues for immediate reforms of the world's trading system, capital markets, and global institutions, notably the World Bank, IMF and WTO. The other, the Localization school, takes a more root and branch position and argues for the abolition of these institutions and outright reversal of globalization. Buckman explains the details of each school's outlook and proposals, their weaknesses, where they disagree, their common ground, and where they might come together in campaigns.
This book gives the lie to the claim that globalization is 'irreversible and irresistible'. Greg Buckman argues there are two broad approaches within the anti-globalization movement, explaining the details of each school's outlook, their weaknesses, where they disagree, their common ground, and where they might come together in campaigns.

Table of Contents:

Part I: The Evolution and Consequences of Economic Globalization
1. Introduction
2. The Evolution of Global Supermarket: A History of World Trade
World trade in the nineteenth century
World trade in the twentieth century
World trade after the Second World War
The shocks of the 1970s
Causes of the spread of world trade

3. The Evolution of the Global Bank: A History of World Capital Flows
Pre-Industrial Revolution global finance
The influence of the Industrial Revolution
The emergence of the gold standard
The First World War and the interwar years
The Bretton Woods twins
The world economic order from the 1950s to the 1970s
The shocks of the 1970s
Todayûs casino economy

4. The Engines of Globalization
Transnational corporations
The political influence of TNCs; The on-the-ground influence of TNCs; Changing attitudes
towards TNCs
The World Trade Organization
Trade negotiations; The Doha Round; The bizarre rulings of the WTO; The new trade
boundaries pushed by the WTO; Regional trade deals
The International Monetary Fund and World Bank
The rise of the IMF and World Bank; The fall of the IMF and World Bank
The Washington Consensus
The technological engines of globalization
The environmental price of world trade

5. Rich versus Poor in the Global Economy
The polarization of global wealth
Concentration of economic globalization around rich countries
Relative size of poor economies
The third world debt crisis
Poor countries and global trade
Trade winners and losers
Poor country raw material exports
Poor country trade winners
Export-processing Zones
Rich country trade losers
Aid to the rescue?
Ecological debt

6. Rich Country Double Standards
Rich country double standards on trade
Double standards on patents
Double standards on agricultural and textile trade

Part II: The Policy Alternatives of the Anti-Globalization Movement
7. The Anti-Globalization Movement
The global loss of democracy
The anti-globalization movement
Origins of the anti-globalization movement
The anti-globalization protests
Policy formulation by the anti-globalization movement
NGOs and non-mainstream parties

8. The Fair Trade/Back to Bretton Woods School
Trade
Ending rich country protectionism, allowing poor country special and different treatment;
Protection of national agricultural industries; Social and environmental trade clauses
The Future of the IMF, World Bank and WTO
The World Trade Organization; No new issues; Services and patent agreements; The
International Monetary Fund and World Bank; Debt cancellation
Capital Market and Transnational Corporation Regulation
Different types of capital control; The Tobin Tax; Control over Transnational Corporations;
An international bankruptcy mechanism

9. The Localization School
Advocates of Localization
Localization aiding Democracy
Trade
The Future of the IMF, World Bank and WTO
The World Trade Organization; The International Monetary Fund and World Bank
Capital and Transnational Corporation Regulation
Control over transnational corporations

10. Globaphobes versus Globaphiles
The Oxfam Rigged Rules report debate
Short versus long term strategies
Corporate engagement
Rich country versus poor country anti-globalization organizations
Changing fashions within the anti-globalization movement
Policies that straddle both schools
Policies that stand outside the localization / fair trade divide

11. Deficiencies of Both Schools
Deficiencies in Fair Trade school policies
Deficiencies in Localization school policies
Deficiencies common to both schools

12. The Policy Future of the Anti-Globalization Movement
The common ground between the two schools
Common policies of the Fair Trade and Localization schools; Philosophies common to both Schools
Broader areas of agreement between the two schools
Agreement on need for international finance institutions; Agreement on need for residual
world trade and limited protectionism
Potential areas of better consistency between the two schools
Capital market / TNC regulation policies ; Management of the IMF, World Bank and
WTO policies; Trade policies
The general policy future of the anti-globalization movement
The need for the anti-globalization movement to engage with the public more; The need for the
anti-globalization movement to engage with itself more

13. Conclusion

About the Author :
Greg Buckman is former national finance manager for The Wilderness Society of Australia and currently Treasurer of the Australian Greens and has been co-editor of their magazine, Green. He has undertaken much economic research, particularly on issues concerning globalization, forestry and energy. His long involvement with the environment movement goes back to the successful international fight to save the Franklin River in Tasmania, Australia in the early 1980s. Greg Buckman is former national finance manager for The Wilderness Society of Australia and currently Treasurer of the Australian Greens and has been co-editor of their magazine, Green. He has undertaken much economic research, particularly on issues concerning globalization, forestry and energy. His long involvement with the environment movement goes back to the successful international fight to save the Franklin River in Tasmania, Australia in the early 1980s.

Review :
The value of the book lies in providing an accessible account, shorn of excessive intellectual economic and political jargon, of policy alternatives to neo-liberal economic globalization...those wishing [for] an accessible introduction to a history of the globalization and anti-globalization movements need look no further. The clearest and most succinct explanation of the origins and processes of economic globalization yet to appear in English, plus the best coverage of the debates over what to do about it. A useful tool for anti-globalization activists everywhere. So refreshing and useful to read a book that goes beyond the usual bleatings about the problems of globalization in order to analyse in detail the alternatives that are at last emerging. Greg Buckman has done the global justice movement a valuable service in clearly outlining the major debates around taming versus scrapping globalization, and then attempting to find common ground. I urge everyone who wants a fairer, safer and more sustainable world to read this book. Greg Buckman's work opens up the all-important debate between the ideas of localization and fair trade on the one hand, and economic globalization on the other.