Publication date:
16 January 2010Length of book:
238 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
240x161mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780742567450
Globalization is in retreat, but history tells us that this is but a temporary reversal. Globalization will return, but in what form? More cycles of boom and bust? Or can globalization be rebuilt on a more feasible and sustainable platform? These are the compelling questions that Michael Veseth tackles in this thoroughly revised and updated edition of his award-winning book.
Veseth shows how pre-crash visions of globalization were based on three powerful myths: that global finance was a stable foundation for a global economy, that global markets homogenized and Americanized the world, and that globalization itself was irresistible—impossible to shape or oppose at any level from the grassroots on up. The world economic crisis has revealed globalization's Achilles heel: the fundamental instability of global financial markets and the unsettled foundation of economic globalization generally. This realization is a necessary first step, but it alone is not enough. We must rethink the rest of globalization's myths, Veseth persuasively argues, if we want to move beyond boom and bust to a sustainable global future.
Veseth shows how pre-crash visions of globalization were based on three powerful myths: that global finance was a stable foundation for a global economy, that global markets homogenized and Americanized the world, and that globalization itself was irresistible—impossible to shape or oppose at any level from the grassroots on up. The world economic crisis has revealed globalization's Achilles heel: the fundamental instability of global financial markets and the unsettled foundation of economic globalization generally. This realization is a necessary first step, but it alone is not enough. We must rethink the rest of globalization's myths, Veseth persuasively argues, if we want to move beyond boom and bust to a sustainable global future.
Michael Veseth's entertaining book is written for a more general audience than standard academic texts and as such represents an attempt to engage the mythology and the rhetoric of globalisation on its own ground. Most interestingly, perhaps, Veseth chooses to take on some of globalisation's harshest critics, suggesting that they are as guilty of conjuring up myths to serve particular claims about the world as are their opponents in the pro-globalisation camp. Veseth's proseis eminently readable while being grounded with solid empirical findings. Globaloney should prove to be of great use in the classroom.