Capturing Globalization: Prospects and Projects

In: Third world quarterly, Band 21, Heft 6, S. 1013-1026

Abstract

The Asian economic crisis of 1997 highlighted the inherent instability of the new worldwide economic order being created by highly mobile capital, & also its destabilizing social & political effects, especially in the transitional societies that had proved so hospitable to the champions of globalization & to proffered capital inputs. Whether these societies are destined to be subsumed & captured by globalization processes, or whether they & their citizens have any possibility of capturing some genuine benefits from advancing globalization, may rest on whether these transitional states & societies can assert, or at least influence, the terms of their engagement with those processes. This will not be possible, however, if people, societies & states capitulate in advance to the forces & processes of globalization as irresistible. This issue is explored through the grounded investigation of four key questions: Do globalization processes serve any ends beyond themselves? How might one grasp the best, & make the most, of globalization? Is the logic of the market immutable & inflexible transculturally, or is it amenable to varying forms of cultural inflection & political supervision? Can what globalization delivers be drawn upon selectively, or is it instead a "package deal"? 146 References. Adapted from the source document.