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Books on Globalisation
Globalisation has become a
catchword used by everyone. In academia, explaining (or denying) the existence
of globalisation, understanding its consequences and proposing ways of
handling them has become a central preoccupation in most of the social
sciences. Yet there is considerable disagreement and confusion about what
globalisation is and, consequently, about what the pluri-/inter-disciplinary
globalisation studies should cover and where the central debates are located.
In this selection we have done our best to reflect this
state of the debate. We have included up-to-date introductions that give
the reader a tour of the globalisation debates and try to force some semblance
of order in it. But in addition to this, we have included seminal works
from the debate. We start with the debate about how new globalisation
is and then include works from four areas where the debate about globalisation
is particularly intense. Since the debate is ongoing and very prolific
our choice is open to criticism. The works selected may turn out to be
short-lived successes. Developments in the debate, or, simply looking
at it from another angle may make other books seem more essential. The
only thing we can do about this is to welcome feedback and update the
list regularly. We also encourage those interested to consult the readers
at the end of this list.
Introductions
Globalisation of the Economy
Society
The State
Security
Historical Perspective
Readers
Introductions:
Scholte, Jan Aart (2000) Globalization: A Critical
Introduction, London and New York: Macmillan and St. Martin's
Press
This is a textbook like introduction to the Globalisation debates. Its
key aim to bring order in the confused and vague globalisation debates.
It is consequently replete with little summaries and boxes, useful for
newcomers. It covers the key literature in the discussion.
Held, David, Anthony G. McGrew, David Goldblatt and
Jonathan Perraton (1999) Global Transformations: Politics, Economics
and Culture, Stanford, CA: Standford University Press, 515 pp.
A comprehensive study including issues like: the fate of the nation-state,
globalisation of war system, global markets and finance, corporate power,
mobility, national culture, environment. Combines history, political science
and economics to spell out the process of change in different areas of
contemporary societies.
Globalisation
of the Economy:
Gilpin, Robert (2000) The Challenge of Global Capitalism,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 352 pp.
This book covers the major debates and issues related to the globalisation
of the economy. It is particularly strong in covering trade and regional
developments with a focus on Asia and the Americas. It is offers valuable
insights about the debate and shifting US strategies, which are determining
for the rest of the world.
Friedman, Thomas L. (1999) The Lexus and the Olive
Tree: Understanding Globalisation, New York, 394 pp.
A popular book by a foreign correspondent who lived in different countries.
Helleiner, Eric (1994) States and the Reemergence
of Global Finance, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
This book places the “globalisation” of finance in historical perspective
by tracing developments back to the Bretton Woods conference. In particular
it stresses the role of states in this development. The book is a commendably
clear introduction to complex arguments that it replaces in historical
context.
Ruigorok, W. and R. van Tulder (1995) The Logic
of International Restructuring, London: Routledge, 344 pp.
Ruigrok and van Tulder move beyond generic statements about the “globalisation”
of production. They distinguish different forms which internationalisation
takes of which globalisation is but one; they show why specific firms
and industries take part in different ways and they discuss different
national responses to these changes.
Society:
Castells, Manuel (1996) The Information Age: Economy,
Society and Culture, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers (vol. 1: The
rise of network society; vol. 2: The power of identity; vol. 3: End of
millennium).
This three-volume-mastodon work is one of the most comprehensive, wide
reaching and empirically rich discussions of the social, political and
economic changes at the heart of the globalisation debates. However, the
book is above all one author’s analysis and interpretation of present
changes. Each volume is well enough argued and written to stand on its
own.
Giddens, Anthony (2000) A Runaway World: How Globalization
is Reshaping our Lives, New York: Routledge.
In his characteristically lucid manner, Giddens examines the global marketplace,
but goes beyond a conventional economic approach to look at more universal
issues like family, risk, tradition, and democracy. Runaway World describes
how changing currents in the international seas of finance are destabilizing
countries, and how most people (and their governments) aren't prepared
to deal with an ever-accelerating capitalism and Americanization of culture.
Beck, Ulrich (2000) What is Globalization?,
Oxford: Blackwell, 180 pp.
Beck explores the creation (and the paradoxes) of the world society without
state and disorganised capitalism which globalisation is leading us towards.
He argues that it is important re-establish the primacy of politics and
suggests ways in which he believes this can be done.
The State:
Strange, Susan (1996) The Retreat of the State:
The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 218 pp.
Strange is interested in “the diffusion of power”, and particularly in
the increased power of non-state actors, she sees as resulting from globalisation.
She shows that states are in retreat overall, although to varying degrees,
since they can no longer fill the functions.
Weiss, Linda (1998) The Myth of the Powerless State
Governing the Economy in a Global Era, Cambridge:
Polity Press, 260 pp.
Weiss deals with the retreat of the state argument from a comparative
political economy perspective. On the basis of comparative studies of
Sweden, Germany, East Asia as well as on a thorough discussion of the
claims advanced by globalists she argues that the state is not in retreat.
On the contrary, transformative state capacity is more important than
ever.
Held, David (1995) Democracy and the Global Order:
From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance, Cambridge: Polity
Press, 324 pp.
Held combines an account of why globalisation makes democracy problematic
with an account of how elaborating cosmopolitan democracy inside and across
borders might solve this problem. His argument is firmly grounded in an
empirical analysis of globalisation, an understanding of political theory
and a historical account of the changing nature of the (nation) state.
Keck, Margaret E. and Kathryn Sikkink (1998) Activists
Beyond Boarders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics,
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 228 pp.
This book analyses the changing nature of politics by focusing on advocacy
groups that act across boarders and play an increasing role in many political
issues, including the environment, women’s rights and work against slavery.
The book links up the globalisation debate with international relations
and comparative political theory.
Security:
Kaldor, Mary (1999) New and Old Wars: Organized
Violence in a Global Era, Oxford: Polity Press, 192 pp.
This book maps out the changing nature of war. It shows that the goals,
organisation and financing of wars have been so much altered that it is
no longer possible to conceive of wars in Clausewitzian terms. These general
insights are supported by a study of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The
book links globalisation studies and security studies.
Historical Perspective:
Arrighi, Giovanni, Beverly J. Silver and et. al. (1999)
Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System, Minneapolis
and London: University of Minnesota Press, 336 pp.
Here the current changes are placed in a world system theory perspective.
They are seen as expression of a period of hegemonic transition and compared
to the earlier such transitions (Dutch and British). This give the authors
an original, and well argued, vision on what is new and lasting about
globalisation as well as some indications of where we are likely to be
heading.
Hirst, Paul Q. and Grahame Thompson (1996) Globalization
in Question: The international economy and the possibilities of governance,
Cambridge: Blackwell, 227 pp.
This work is devoted to gathering information on economic globalisation
in order to replace exaggerated claims about it in proper historical perspective.
In particular the authors drive the argument that the world economy is
no more integrated than it was in the 19th century. Consequently
they claim that the possibilities of governance are far greater than usually
understood.
Readers:
In addition to the above basic books there are two excellent
readers. They collect basic (partly overlapping) articles on different
aspects of the globalisation. The Lechner and Boli reader gives slightly
more attention to the debates in sociology, comparative politics and media
studies. The Held and McGrew reader is slightly more attentive to the
debates in international relations and international political economy.
Held, David and Anthony G. McGrew, eds (2000) The
Global Transformations Reader, Oxford: Blackwell, 480 pp.
Lechner, Frank J. and John Boli, eds (2000) The
Globalization Reader, Oxford: Blackwell, 411 pp.
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