Globalizing Issues

Globalisation, as an international phenomenon, has contributed to or assisted in the development of major economic, political and social change in the new millennium. For the last half century, the forces of globalisation have been accelerating through the developing and developed worlds. While the importance of globalisation or the economic and social linkages binding the world together has been widely acknowledged, scholars and policy-makers disagree vehemently about whether globalisation is inevitable; whether it is, on balance, positive or negative; who, if anyone, controls the processes; who are the winners and losers in the fundamental transformations being wrought by globalisation; and what policies should be adopted in the face of globalisation. This book focuses on the economic, political and social issues of globalisation.

People around the globe are more connected to each other than ever before. Information and money flow more quickly than ever. Goods and services produced in one part of the world are increasingly available to the rest of the world. International travel is more frequent. International communication is commonplace. This phenomenon has been titled globalisation. The Era of Globalisation is fast becoming the preferred term for describing the current times. Just as the Depression, the Cold War Era, the Space Age, and the Roaring 20's are used to describe particular periods of history, globalisation describes the political, economic, and cultural atmosphere of today. While some people think of globalisation as primarily a synonym for global business, it is much more than that. not exist also allow social activists, labour organisers, journalists, academics, and many others to work on a global stage. This book brings together a wide range of expertise addressing these issues from the perspective of authors from around the world. Contents: Preface; From Westernisation to the Whirl of Globality: Conceptualising Globalisation and its Effects on Local Societies; Globalisation and Competitiveness: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Developing Countries vs. Industrial Countries; Globalisation, Marginalisation and Growth in Emerging Market Economies; Globalisation of Real Estate Markets and Urban Development in Central Europe; The Challenges of Globalisation: The Role of the World Bank; The Meaning and Limitation of Public Life under Global Capitalism; Violence and State (Re)Formation in the African Context: Global and Local Aspects of Crisis and Change; State Ideology, Global Economy and Coping Strategies; Index.

People passionately disagree about the nature of the globalization process. The failure of both the 1999 and 2003 World Trade Organization's (WTO) ministerial conferences in Seattle and Cancun, respectively, have highlighted the tensions among official, international organizations like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, nongovernmental and private sector organizations, and some developing country governments. These tensions are commonly attributed to longstanding disagreements over such issues as labor rights, environmental standards, and tariff-cutting rules. In addition, developing countries are increasingly resentful of the burdens of adjustment placed on them that they argue are not matched by commensurate commitments from developed countries. Challenges to Globalization evaluates the arguments of pro-globalists and anti-globalists regarding issues such as globalization's relationship to democracy, its impact on the environment and on labor markets including the brain drain, sweat shop labor, wage levels, and changes in production processes, and the associated expansion of trade and its effects on prices. Baldwin, Winters, and the contributors to this volume look at multinational firms, foreign investment, and mergers and acquisitions and present surprising findings that often run counter to the claim that multinational firms primarily seek countries with low wage labor. The book closes with papers on financial opening and on the relationship between international economic policies and national economic growth rates.

This book is an invitation to question conventional and often misleading visions of globalization. No problem is global by nature: issues are transformed by the action of claims-makers to become ‘problems’ debated in supra-national forums, triggering policy choices and policy transformations. Contributions highlight how health issues, environmental issues and/or political issues are framed as global by a set of stakeholders (scientific experts, bureaucrats, political parties or actors, social movements, social networks, firms). As the volume maps the social logic behind the globalization of problems, it also presents an opportunity for the very cross-disciplinary collaboration it calls for: researchers mobilizing the “agenda-setting” paradigm of issue globalization and those working within the “social constructionist” model are both represented here, providing a unique opportunity to examine the dynamics of globalization from the perspectives of (political, media, economic) sociology, international relations, social movement studies, and beyond.

This new anthology offers a wide selection of readings addressing the contemporary moral issues that arise from the division between the Global North and South—“the problem of the color-line” that W.E.B. Du Bois identified at the beginning of the twentieth century and which, on a scale that Du Bois could not have foreseen, is the problem of the twenty-first. The book is interdisciplinary in scope. In addition to standard topical essays in ethical theory by philosophers such as Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, and Peter Singer, it contains essays from economists such as Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, and Thomas DeGregori, as well as current empirical data from the World Bank, IMF, United Nations, and other sources.

Put quite simply, the twin impacts of globalization and environmental degradation pose new security dangers and concerns. In this new work on global security thinking, 91 authors from five continents and many disciplines, from science and practice, assess the worldwide reassessment of the meaning of security triggered by the end of the Cold War and globalization, as well as the multifarious impacts of global environmental change in the early 21st century.

This powerful, unsettling book gives us a rare glimpse behind the closed doors of global financial institutions by the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics. When it was first published, this national bestseller quickly became a touchstone in the globalization debate. Renowned economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz had a ringside seat for most of the major economic events of the last decade, including stints as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist at the World Bank. Particularly concerned with the plight of the developing nations, he became increasingly disillusioned as he saw the International Monetary Fund and other major institutions put the interests of Wall Street and the financial community ahead of the poorer nations. Those seeking to understand why globalization has engendered the hostility of protesters in Seattle and Genoa will find the reasons here. While this book includes no simple formula on how to make globalization work, Stiglitz provides a reform agenda that will provoke debate for years to come. Rarely do we get such an insider's analysis of the major institutions of globalization as in this penetrating book. With a new foreword for this paperback edition.