The Clash Of Globalisations: Neo-Liberalism, The Third Way And Anti-Globalisation (Historical Materialism) (Historical Materialism)

This work addresses the politics of globalisation through an examination of neo-liberalism, the third way, and anti-capitalist responses and alternatives. It utilises a Marxist approach, not only to challenge the claims made by apologists for 'actually existing globalisation', but to explain, contextualise and problematise the rise of anti-globalisation politics. Central to the work is a critique of globalisation theory, neo-liberalism and the third way; an examination of the role of the state as an agent of globalisation, particularly the hegemonic US state; a theorisation of the nature of uneven development in the global order; and an examination of the political implications of these issues for progressive alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation. ISBN-13: 9789004143180 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 12 Chapter One Introduction 14 PART ONE ACTUALLY EXISTING GLOBALISATION 24 Chapter Two Capitalism, Globalisation and Uneven Development 26 2.1 Globalisation theory: Giddens and Castells 27 2.2 Capitalism, the state and uneven development 38 2.3 Conclusion 59 Chapter Three From Bretton Woods to Neo-Liberal Globalisation 61 3.1 The Golden Age: post-war capitalism, 1947 to 1973 62 3.2 The end of the Golden Age and the rise of neo-liberalism 69 3.3 Neo-liberalism in the 1980s 76 3.4 Summary 90 Chapter Four Globalisation and the Third Way in the 1990s 94 4.1 The globalisation project 1: globalisation and the Third Way revisited 95 4.2 The globalisation project 2: the Third Way and development 100 4.3 The reality of globalisation 1: the new economy in the United States 109 4.4 The reality of globalisation 2: emerging markets in the 1990s 115 4.5 Global finance and US hegemony 122 4.6 The WTO and the expansion of free trade 130 4.7 Conclusion: Third-Way ideology and the reality of globalisation 138 Chapter Five Globalisation, Inequality and Poverty 139 5.1 Economic globalisation: trade, investment and finance 140 5.2 Globalisation and growth, poverty and inequality 149 5.3 Globalisation and uneven development: US hegemony, and the end of 'labour-friendly' and 'development-friendly' régimes 162 5.4 Conclusion: globalisation and the anti-globalisation movement 172 PART TWO 'ANTI-GLOBALISATION' 176 Chapter Six The Politics of Anti-Globalisation and Alternative Globalisations 178 6.1 What is wrong with actually existing globalisation? 179 6.2 Alternatives to anti-globalisation 189 6.3 Conclusion: globalisation and spaces of resistance 202 Chapter Seven Civil Society 1. National Social Movements and Anti-Globalisation Politics 205 7.1 Progressive politics: old and new Lefts 207 7.2 Social and political movements in the South 217 7.3 Social movements and the "new' politics of resistance: an assessment 223 7.4 Conclusion: social movements, cultural politics and the commons 235 Chapter Eight Civil Society 2. No Sweat, No Debt, No War: Transnational Social Movements and Global Civil Society 239 8.1 Transnational capital and global resistance 240 8.2 No debt 242 8.3 International trade unionism and no sweat 245 8.4 War and the anti-globalisation movement 255 8.5 Conclusions: global solidarity, the nation-state and transnational civil society 263 Chapter Nine Anti-Globalisation and Progressive Politics: Capitalism, Socialism and Populism in the Twenty-First Century 268 9.1 The progressiveness of capitalism 269 9.2 Alternatives within capitalism 275 9.3 Agency, globalisation and anti-globalisation 288 9.4 Conclusion: alternatives to capitalism? 299 Chapter Ten Conclusions 305 10.1 Globalisation as process 305 10.2 Globalisation as project 306 10.3 Globalisation as outcome 310 10.4 The clash of globalisations 312 References 314 Index 332 This book provides a powerful critique of the case made for 'globalisation', with particular emphasis placed on neo-liberalism, the third way, and the hegemonic role of the US state. It then examines the rise of 'anti-globalisation' politics and the debate over progressive alternatives to 'actually existing globalisation' From the 1990s onwards, globalisation became the key concept, both in academic debate and in mainstream political discourse.