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’Globalization in Question’

24.03.2009
Press Release for ’Globalization in Question’ By Paul Hirst, Grahame Thompson and Simon Bromley.
Published by Polity Press, Cambridge 2009, pp 299.
1] Do you want a very different .. though considered .. view of ‘globalization’ that speaks to the current crisis but does not uncritically support its description as necessarily global in character? If so, this is the book for you!
2] The book argues that armed with a reasonably rigorous definition of ‘economic globalization’ -- and when measured against the empirical data -- analysis demonstrates that there is no truly global economy, not even a financially globalized economy. Rather we still have an ‘inter-national economy’, where interactions and interdependencies between essentially intact national economies constitute the nature of the international economic system.
3] Thus the book sets up an analytical distinction between a ‘globalized international economy’ and an ‘inter-nationalized international economy’ and proceeds to investigate the empirical case for both of these. In so doing it finds that the idea of a ‘globalized international economy’ rather dissolves through the fingers when closely examined. It does not really exist.
4] So how come we have a seemingly global crises on our hands at the international level? Several responses to this can be made in the light of the analysis contained in the book.
First, the growth of aggregate international economic interdependencies and integrations is mistakenly taken as a necessary indicator of globalization when it is perfectly compatible with inter-nationalization as well , so cannot be used as an unproblematic discriminator between these two forms of economic arrangements.
Second, there are enormous political and media pressures to describe the present crisis as a global one. It sounds so much more dramatic and significant than a series of ordinary domestic or national ones. And it lets the politicians in particular off the hook since the blame can be more easily laid at the door of foreign causes. Thus it can be presented that we have all become victims of the same global events beyond the control or direct responsibility of domestic political decision makers.
Third, whilst there has been significant contagion between markets and countries, such contagion is not necessarily a sign of globalization since it has been a feature of financial crises since the 1637 Dutch Tulip Crisis.
5] Correctly describing the crisis as an inter-national one leads to quite a different view of how the regulatory and governance reactions to the recent events should be conceived and organized. Here the G20 is likely to get it completely wrong since it is wedded to a misplaced globalized view of the system.
For more information and explanations contact Grahame Thompson ( gt.cbp@cbs.dk; g.f.thompson@open.ac.uk)
Globalization in Question (third edition) is a continuing intervention into current discussions about the nature and prospects of globalization. The book has far-reaching implications which will be of interest to students and academics in a number of disciplines including politics, sociology, economics and geography, as well as to journalists and policy-makers. Further info





Last updated by Anje Schmidt 24/03/2009