Democratising Globalisation: The Leverage of the Tobin Tax

In the 1970s Professor James Tobin proposed a very modest tax on currency transactions. This would make much speculative movement of funds unprofitable and the world financial system less volatile. The Tobin tax, if implemented with other regulatory measures, would be emancipatory. Global finance would be subjected to a process of deliberate control. It would bolster the autonomy of states. And it might transform the politics of globalization in the direction of more democratic control, social responsibility and justice. But, the major problem has aways been the lack of political will. Tobin and his supporters have always assumed that the only feasible way to implement the new tax would be for all major financial centres to agree to it simultaneously. Dr Patomäki demonstrates that it is possible to proceed without universal consensus, and develops the idea of a Tobin tax organization (TTO) that would implement and supervise the process. The potentially huge annual revenues - eventually as much as $1 trillion - could be used for economic and social purposes determined globally, reviving the prospects of humanity moving towards a more just world order.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Introduction 1. Economics of Financial Instability 2. Power Analysis of the Global Financial Markets 3. The Case for the Tobin Tax and Global Re-Regulation 4. Is It Realistic? Overcoming the Technical Problems 5. Is It Politically Possible? Emancipation by Means of the Two Phases-Model 6. Towards Democratic Politics of Global Governance Conclusion

About the Author :
Heikki Patomaki is a reader in international relations at Nottingham Trent University and research director of the Network Institute for Global Democratization. Prior to this, he was a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 1994-97. He is an active public speaker, contributor to the press, and consultant in his native country, Finland. He is also the author of a number of books and monographs in both English and Finnish. This, his most recent, book emerged as a response to the Asian and Russian financial crises. It has provided the intellectual basis of a campaign organised by the Centre for Development Cooperation in Helsinki (KEPA) to get the Tobin Tax on to the European political agenda. The book and the campaign have been worked out in cooperation with ATTAC in Paris. Heikki Patomaki is a reader in international relations at Nottingham Trent University and research director of the Network Institute for Global Democratization. Prior to this, he was a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 1994-97. He is an active public speaker, contributor to the press, and consultant in his native country, Finland. He is also the author of a number of books and monographs in both English and Finnish. This, his most recent, book emerged as a response to the Asian and Russian financial crises. It has provided the intellectual basis of a campaign organised by the Centre for Development Cooperation in Helsinki (KEPA) to get the Tobin Tax on to the European political agenda. The book and the campaign have been worked out in cooperation with ATTAC in Paris.

Review :
An extraordinary portrait of finance capital, its irrational behaviour, and its negative consequences for people's wellbeing and the stability of democratic states. A commendable attempt to give concrete answers to the question of what could and should be done to implement the Tobin Tax. This book should be read by all those who want to see effective measures taken to counter the negative effects of globalization in general and the instability of international financial markets in particular. This important book addresses two of the most powerful ideas being debated at the dawn of the 21st century -- democratizing governance and the Tobin Tax. The book's value lies in making the conceptual, political and practical linkages between these two ideas to show that the most serious obstacles to their implementation do not lie in technical or organizational problems, but in the lack of political will of some of the world's most powerful countries and institutions. I recommend this book to anyone interested in an articulate, alternative, radical perspective on key challenges facing the globalization project today. Because this book is so clearly written, it will be equally useful for the general reader as well as specialists in money, finance and the political economy of globalization.