Globalization And Its Critics: Perspectives From Political Economy (international Political Economy Series)

Globalization and Its Critics challenges the claim that globalization is a clearly understood phenomena whose effects are well known and easily accounted for. It explores the categories we use to think about globalization, the dynamics which are driving it, and the effects which globalizing tendencies are having on the key institutional features of the contemporary world. The contributors examine not only how globalization is refashioning political and economic institutions, but also the way in which specific forms of knowledge and technology are shaping the ongoing dynamic of globalization. The volume concludes with a review of the issues posed by this important debate. "Global issues have become an increasingly vital part of environmental debates. They are closely interrelated with problems at local levels. In this wide-ranging study, Robert Boardman argues that investigation of environmental issues raises complex theoretical questions, and requires more sustained links between the natural and social sciences.". "In a closely integrated account of problems in critical ecological theory, Boardman draws extensively on current research in sociology, ecology, economics, the earth sciences and other disciplines. He suggests that ideas from these can be used to expand attention to and the understanding of environmental issues in international relations and international political economy, as well as in social theory more generally.". "The discussion identifies five main theoretical bases for these tasks. These are ecology and earth-system science; constructionist approaches; environmental ethics; micro-level research, particularly perspectives based on rational expectations and on agency; and governance. Connections among these are examined in the context of debates on economics globlization and ecological transformation."--BOOK JACKET. Front Matter....Pages i-xx Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Philosophical Roots of Globalization and Philosophical Routes to Globalization....Pages 3-66 Globalization in Historical Perspective....Pages 67-90 Globalization and Cultural Political Economy....Pages 91-113 Front Matter....Pages 115-115 Restructuring the Political Arena: Globalization and the Paradoxes of the Competition State....Pages 117-138 Recasting Political Authority: Globalization and the State....Pages 139-163 What are Global Markets: The Significance of Networks of Trade?....Pages 164-182 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Deficit Discourse: The Social Construction of Fiscal Rectitude....Pages 185-203 Technology and Globalization: Assessing Patterns of Interaction....Pages 204-222 Beyond ‘Techno-globalism’ and ‘Techno-nationalism’: Rearticulating the Sites and Stakes of Technological Competitiveness in East Asia....Pages 223-244 Globalization in Perspective....Pages 245-266 Back Matter....Pages 267-292 Internationally the trade union movement is finding itself peripheralized by a series of mutually reinforcing processes - the ongoing world economic crisis; the uneven transition from an industrial to an information and service capitalism; the aggressive policies of neoliberalism; the collapse of communism and radical nationalism; the decline of the social-democratic or labour tradition - and by a globalization that undermines the nation-state to which union hopes have long been pinned. The editors argue that this crisis provides an opportunity for labour to recover or reinvent itself. They see this in terms of a labour response to the waves of energy coming from the new global social movements (women, ecology, human rights/democracy, and so on). The authors examine various aspects of Japanese financial markets. This analysis is interspersed with the relevant institutional/historical background on Japanese financial markets necessary for the non-specialist. Principal chapters include: an institutional overview; a chapter on the comparative costs of capital (both internationally and among Japanese firms); causes and implications of the high degree of financial intermediation in Japan; and an invaluable analysis of the most recent trends in the Japanese/Asian financial markets "Many in South Africa have begun to cope with globalization, regionalization, a depleting ozone layer, new disease, rampant militarization, and structures of influence like race, class, and gender. In this book scholars present a wide variety of thoughts on the future of the region and the place of theory in helping us to understand the array of events characterizing the early 21st-century world."--Jacket "Globalization and its Critics challenges the claim that globalization is a clearly understood phenomenon whose effects are well known and easily accounted for. It contextualizes localization on philosophical, historical and cultural grounds, and asks how it affects the key institutional features of the world."--Jacket Written in the context of contemporary theoretical debate in international political economy, this book overturns a number of myths about the political economy of trade in one of the oldest areas of industry. Yvon Grenier ; Foreword By Mitchell A. Seligson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 215-218) And Index.