Globalization and Postmodern Politics : From Zapatistas to High-Tech Robber Barons

Annotation The book begins with an overview of globalization, showing how wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a transnational elite while ever increasing numbers of people are being marginalised. Institutions such as the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund are intent upon exercising a new hegemony over individuals as the role of the traditional nation state is transformed. At the centre of this power shift is a group of high-tech robber barons who dominate the Information Age and exploit the technologies of globalization for their own narrow interests. The second part of the book explores the rise of the new grass roots oppositional movements around the world. Manifest in such diverse struggles as the uprising of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the battle of Seattle against the World Trade Organisation, this new postmodern politics is "de-centred" and has little interest in the old ideologies that dominated much of the twentieth century. The final section of the book contextualizes postmodern politics by drawing on contemporary examples. The authors discuss the demise of socialist and proto-socialist experiments in Chile, Grenada, Nicaragua and Cuba and the emergence of postmodern movements in Latin America. The final two chapters take a specific look at the Zapatista movement and its significance for revolutionary struggles around the world.

The book begins with an overview of globalization, showing how wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a transnational elite while ever increasing numbers of people are being marginalised. Institutions such as the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund are intent upon exercising a new hegemony over individuals as the role of the traditional nation state is transformed. At the centre of this power shift is a group of high-tech robber barons who dominate the Information Age and exploit the technologies of globalization for their own narrow interests. The second part of the book explores the rise of the new grass roots oppositional movements around the world. Manifest in such diverse struggles as the uprising of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the battle of Seattle against the World Trade Organisation, this new postmodern politics is "de-centred" and has little interest in the old ideologies that dominated much of the twentieth century. The final section of the book contextualizes postmodern politics by drawing on contemporary examples. The authors discuss the demise of socialist and proto-socialist experiments in Chile, Grenada, Nicaragua and Cuba and the emergence of postmodern movements in Latin America. The final two chapters take a specific look at the Zapatista movement and its significance for revolutionary struggles around the world.

The book shows how wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a transnational elite while ever increasing numbers of people are being marginalised. Institutions such as the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund are intent upon exercising a new hegemony over individuals as the role of the traditional nation state is transformed. At the centre of this power shift is a group of high-tech robber barons who dominate the Information Age and exploit the technologies of globalisation for their own narrow interests.

Roger Burbach explores the rise of the new grass roots oppositional movements around the world. Manifest in such diverse struggles as the uprising of the Zapatistas in Mexico and the battle of Seattle against the World Trade Organisation, this new postmodern politics is 'de-centred' and has little interest in the old ideologies that dominated much of the twentieth century.

The final section of the book contextualises postmodern politics by drawing on contemporary examples. The authors discuss the demise of socialist and protosocialist experiments in Chile, Grenada, Nicaragua and Cuba and the emergence of postmodern movements in Latin America. The final two chapters take a specific look at the Zapatista movement and its significance for revolutionary struggles around the world. Whilst The Role Of The Nation State Is Degraded, Political And Economic Power Is Trickling Away Into The Clutches Of A Transnational Elite. This Study Examines The Phenomenon And What Steps Grass Roots Movements Are Taking To Oppose It. Introduction: Globalization, New Resistances And The Postmodern Age -- Pt. 1. Globalization. 1. The Epochal Shift / Roger Burbach And William I. Robinson. 2. Epochal Clashes: Third Worldization And The New Hegemon / Roger Burbach And William I. Robinson. 3. High-tech Robber Barons: Heisting The Information Age -- Pt. 2. Politics In A Postmodern Age. 4. Shades Of Postmodern Politics. 5. The (un)defining Of Postmodern Marxism. 6. The Virtually Existing Global Revolution -- Pt. 3. Zapatistas And The Latin American Context(ualization). 7. Socialist And Postmodern Politics In The Americas. 8. Roots Of The Postmodern Rebellion In Chiapas. 9. Zapatismo And The Intergalactic Age / Fiona Jeffries -- Epilogue: The Millennial Cracks. Roger Burbach [with Fiona Jeffries And William I. Robinson]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 162-168) And Index. This work argues that a new style of politics is emerging in the wake of globalization. It explores the new grassroots oppositional movements around the world, and contextualizes postmodern politics by drawing on contemporary examples