Surviving Globalism

Management consultant Kenichi Ohmae describes the new reality of global economic competition as a 'borderless world'. What is the future of human values, and of environmental quality, in such a world? The authors whose work is collected in Surviving Globalism try to answer these questions from the point of view of sociology, social history, philosophy, geography and political theory. Many argue that the gains made over the last few decades in terms of social justice and environmental protection are in grave peril. Others take a somewhat more optimistic note, but all emphasize the importance of dealing with environmental and social policy against the background of a transforming global economy.

Through globalization humanity is becoming more and more mutually dependent and even united, but at the same time the multidimensional differences and gaps between us are appearing as a challenge to this connectedness. "No one can live only on food" (Lk 4, 4) are words that clearly witness that the connective tissue of humanity can't be only of economical and political nature. Also the pasture the media offer to people is too often just an instrument of the owners and not the fulfilment of media's proper function to cultivate and spread (capacity for knowing) the truth. At one hand the interweaving of ideological streams is (mis)used by new gurus for taking the possession of control. At the other hand the representatives of established religions and value systems are searching for formulas for a successful competition on the global market. What are then the possibilities and ways of survival, well-being and life worth of human person in the contemporary increasingly complex condition? From various scientific aspects and different (religious) horizons, this question is reflected upon in this book.

Links the plight of contemporary urban dwellers of African descent across North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, examines their coping strategies, and advocates social policies sensitive to their cultural and societal differences.

"Surviving Globalization offers valuable insights into the impact of global economic policies ... through the personal testimonies of local activists." - Jean Franco, Columbia University

Discusses the many facets of globalization in easy to understand language.

This book investigates the question of economic globalization - whether it is likely to lead to full convergence between political models and ways of life, or whether, even in a completely globalized world economy, there is likely to be scope for alternative solutions. In a fully globalized world, how will we survive capitalism?

society, and state (Streeck, 1999; Simonis, 1998). Interspersed between these most commonly named elements are the following: First, the high political integrating force of the German Model after WWII was based on the adoption and transformation of corporatist political structures from National Socialist Germany. Liberal capitalism was (re)introduced under political competition between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, who eventually found common ground in the politically mediated compromise between capital and labor: “This compromise was negotiated and institutionalized at a time when the communist wing of the workers movement and the authoritarian voices of German capital – for various reasons – were excluded from political participation” (Streeck, 1999, p. 15; translation: SB). The partnership between firms and unions manifested itself in manifold institutional structures. Apart from the social partners’ autonomy in matters of wage policy, worker codetermination at plant level and in operations is regarded as one of the special achievements of the German Model and has contributed substantially to social peace. The political coordination forms of concerted action, round tables, as well as modernization and crisis cartels gave birth to a highly complex political decision-making structure which, based on a federalist setup, has rightly been called “negotiation state” (Esser, 1998, p. 123). Second, the material foundation of this “Social Democratic class compromise” (Buci-Glucksmann & Therborn, 1981) consisted in the Federal Republic’s – in the words of Göste Esping-Andersen – “conservative-liberal” form of welfare state.