THIRD EDITION

The Globalization

Reader

~IJ Blackwell ,,1. Publishing

Edited by Frank J. Lechner John Boli

2

How to Judge Globalism I Amartya Sen

Globalization is ofren seen as global Westernization. On this point, there is substanlial agreement among many proponents and opponents. Those who take an upbeat view of g1obalization see it as a marvelous eontribution ofWestern eivilization to the world . There is a nicely stylized history in whieh the great developments happened in Europe: First carne the Renaissanee, then the Enlightenment and the Industrial Rcvolution , and these led to a massive inerease in living standards in the West. And now the greal achievements ofthe West are spreading to the world. In this view, globalization is not only good, it is also a gifr from me West to the world. The champions of this reading of history tend to feel upset not just beeause this great benefaetion is seen as a curse but also beeause it is undervalued and castigated by an ungrateful world.

From the opposite perspective, Western dominance - sometimes seen as a continu­ation of Western imperialism - is the devil of the pieee. In this view, eontemporary capitalism, driven and led by greedy and grabby Western countries in Europe and North Ameriea, has established rules of trade and business relations that do not serve-jV. v 1-

1 the mterests of the poorer peuple in the world. The eelebration of various non-Western 6"" identities - defined by religion (as in Islamic fundamentalism ), region (as in the eham-pioning of Asian values), or culture (as in the g1orifieation of Confueian ethics) - can add fuel to lhe fire of eonfrontation with the West.

[s g1obalization reallya new Western curse? It is, in faet, neither new nor necessarily Western; and it is not a curse. Over thousands of years, globalization has eontributed lO the progress of the world through travel, trade, migration, spread of cultural inAu­ences, and dissemination of knowledge and understanding (including Ihat of seienee and teehnology) . These global interrelations have ofren been very produetive in the advaneement of different eountries. They have nol neeessarily taken me form of inereased Western influenee. [ndeed, the active agents of globalization have ofren been located far from the West.

Oriltinal publication details: Excerpted from Amartya Sen, "How to JlId~e Globalism," Tire American Prospect, 13:1. January 1-14, 2002.

20 Debating Globaliza tiol¡

To iIIustrate, consider the world allhe beginning of Ihe la I millennium ralher Ihan at its end. Around LOOO A.D., global reach of scien,e, lechnology, and malhemaLÍcs was changing the na tu re of the old world, bu l Ihe dI emi~,alÍon Ihen was,lO a, greal extent, in the opposite direction of whal we ee loday. 1 he hlgh le hnology 10 Ihe world of 1000 A.D. included paper, Ihe prinling pres., Ihe cro ,bow, gunpowder, Ihe iron-chain suspensio n bridge, the kile, Ihe magnoli compa ... , lhe wheelbarrow, and the rotary fan. A millennium ago, Ihese ilem, were 'I\ed eXlensively In hina - and were practically unknown elsewhere. Globa litalion 'prcad Ihem acro, Ihe world,

including Europe. A similar movement occurred in the Eastcrn influcn e on Westem mathematics.

The decimal system em erged and beca me well devcloped in India belwcen Ihe second and sixth centuries; it was used by Arab ma lhemalician soon Ihereafler. Thesc math· ematical innovatio ns reached Europe mainly in Ihe lasl quarter of Ihe lenlh century and began having an im pact in Ihe early years of Ihe la<l millennium, playing an important part in the scientific revolulion thal helped 10 transform Europe. lhe agents of globalization are neither European nor exclusively WeSlern, nor are Ihey neeessarily Iinked to Western dominance. Indeed, Europe would have been a 101 poorer - eco· nomically, culturally, and scientifically- had it resisled Ihe g1obalizallon ofmalhemat­ics, science, and techno logy at lhallime. And loday, Ihe same principie applies,lhough in the reverse direction (from Wesl lO Easl). To rejecl lhe slobalilalion ofscienceand technology because it represen ts Weslern in nuence and imperiali m would nol only amount to overlooking global conlribulio ns - drawn from many different partsofthe world - that lie solidly behind so-called W eSle rn science and lechnology, bul would also be quite a daft practical decision, s iven lhe exlenl lO which Ihe whole world can benefit from the process. r ... ]

Global Interdependences and Movements

The misdiagnosis !hat I b l' . f ' . . g o a Izatlo n o Ideas and p raclices has lO be resi led because It entalls dreaded Westernizatio n has played quile a regressive p.rt in lhe colonial and postcololHal world This a '.. . . . h . '. . ssumptlOn mcltes parochml tendencles and underrnmes t e posslbillty of obJ'ectivity i ' d kn ' . ' ' . n sClence an owledge. It IS nol only counterprodudlve m Itself; glven lhe global' t . h . . lB eractoo ns t rougho Ul h islory, il can .Iso cause non-Westem socletoes to shoot themsel . l e.

e 'd h ves lB t ' e loo t - even on lheir precious cuhural foo l. onsl er t e resistan ce in 1 d' . h . ' '

d th· n la lO t e use o f Weslern Ide.s . nd concepls 10 seICn"

an ma ematlcs In th · h b

. e noneteent century, lhis debate fi lted into. broader conlro· versy a out Western ed t' '. . ers" h h uca Io n versus mdtgenous lndian education. The "WesternlZ-

, suc as t e redoubtabl Th . in India t d"" e o mas Babonglo n Macaulay, s.w no meril whatsoever

n ra Itlo" ¡ have ne ~ d d' tion] who c uld d' th ver Oun o ne amo ng them ladvocales of Indian Ira 1-

native literaOt ef,,¡y d' at a single shelf of a s o od European librarywas worth Ihewhole ure o n la and A b ' .. h of native edu u· . ra la, e d ecla red . Partly in retali.tion, Ihe advoeales ca O" reslsted W t . ed loo readily the ~ d' es ern Impo rts altogelher. Both sides, however, aeeept

oun atlOnal dichotom y betw d ' . '1 ' . European math . '. een two Jsparate CIVllZatlOns. « ematlCs, Wllh ItS use f h . . I Western" '. o suc conccpts as sme \Vas V1ewed asa purey

unport onto India In f h '. . b . act, 1 e fifth -cenlury Indian mathem. lIelan Arya -

d

How to Judge Globnlisl1l 21

hata had discussed the concept of sine in his dassic work on astronomy and mathemat­ics in 499 A.D., calling it by its Sanskrit name, jya-ardha (literally, "half-chord"). Th is wo rd, firs t shortened to jya in Sanskrit, eventually beca me the Arabic jiba and, laler, jaib, which means "a cove or a bay." In his history of mathematics, Howard Eves explains that around 11 50 A.D. , Gherardo of Cremo na, in his translations from lhe Arabic, rendered jaib as the Latin sinus, the corresponding word for a cove or a bay. And this is the source of lhe modern word si/le. The concept had traveled full cirde ­from India, and then back.

To see globalization as merely Western imperialism of ideas and beliefs (as the rhetoric ofren suggests) would be a serious and costly error, in the same way that any European resistance to Eastern influence would have been at the beginning of lhe las t millennium. Of course, there are issues related to globalization that do connect with imperialism (the history of conquests, colonialism, and alien rule remains relevan t today in many ways), and a postcolonial understanding of the world has its merits. But it would be a great mistake to see globalization primarily as a feature of imperial­ism. It is much bigger - much greater - than that.

The issue of the distribution of economic gains and losses from globalization remains an entirely separate question, and it must be addressed as a further - and extremely relevant - issue. There is extensive evidence that the global eco nomy has brought prosperity to many different areas of the globe. Pervasive poverty dominated the world a few centuries ago; there were onJy a few rare pockets of affluence. In overcoming that penury, extensive economic interrelatio ns and modern technology have been and rema in influentia!. What has happened in Europe, America, Japan, and East Asia has important messages for aU other regions, and we cannot go very far into understanding the nature of globalization today without first acknowledging the posi­tive fmits of global economic contacts.

Indeed, we cannot reverse the economic predicament of the poor across the world bywithholding from them the great advantages of contemporary technology, the weU­established efficiency of international trade and exchange, and the social as weU as economic merits ofliving in an apeo society. Rather, the main issue is how to make good use of the remarkable benefi ts of economic intercourse and technological prog­ress in a way that pays adequate attention to the interests of the deprived and the underdog. That is, 1 would argue, the constructive question that emerges from the so-called antiglobalization movements.

Are the Poor Getting Poorer?

The principal chaUenge relates to inequality - international as weU as intranationa!. The troubling inequalities indude disparities in affluence and also gross asymmetries in political, social, and economic opportunities and power.

A crucial question concerns the sharing of the potential gains from globalization -between rich and poor countries and among different groups within a country. It is not sufficient to understand that the poor of the world need globalization as much as the rich do; it is also important to make sure that they actually get what they need. This may require extensive institutional reform, even as globalization is defended.

22 Debatil1g Globa/izatio/l

There is also a need for more c1arily in formulalü¡g Ihe dislributlon.1 questions.

I ·t·s often argued Ihal Ihe rich are genmg ncher and Iht poor poorer. For examp e. 1 J • . • Sut this is by no means uniformly so, even though Ihere are cases tn whICh Ih" has happened. Mueh depends on Ihe region or Ihe group eho en and whal IIldlC.lors of economic prosperity are L1sed. Bul lhe atlcmpt to b~~c the C~Stlg~t~on or economlc

lobalization on Ihis rather thin ice produces a pellllt,lrly fraglle CrItique. g On the other side, the apologisls of globali7alion poinl 10 Iheir belief Ihal Ihe poor who participate in Irade and exehange are moslly gening richer. Ergo Ihe .rgumenl runs _ globalization is nol unfair to the poor; Ihey 100 benen\. If Ihe cenlr.1 relev.nce of this question is a<cepted, then Ihe whole debale lurn; on delerminmg which side is correet in this empirieal dispule. Bul is this Ihe righl banleground m Ihe firsl place?

1 would argue that ir is no\.

Global Justice and the Bargaining Problcm

Even if Ihe poor were to gel jusI a Iinle rieher, Ihi. would nOI necessarily IInply Ihal the poor were getting a fair share of lhe pOlenlially va. l benents of global economie interrelations. [t is not adequate lo ask whClher intcrnatlonaJ inequ.llity is getting marginally larger or smaller. In order lO rebcJ againsl Ihe appalling poverty and Ihe staggering inequalities that eharaeterize Ihe con lemporary world - or 10 prolesl againsl the unfair sharing of benents of global coope ralion - il is nOI necessary 10 show Ihal the massive inequality or distributional lInfairness is also gening marginaJly larger. This is a separate issue altogether.

When Ihere are gains from cooperalion, Ihere can be many possible arrangemenls. As the game theorist and mathemalician John Nash discussed more Ihan half a eenlury ago (in "The Bargaining Problem," pllblished in Ecol1omelnca in 1950, \Vhich was eited, among other writings, by the Royal Swedbh Academy of Sciences \Vhen Nash was 3,;arded the Nobel Prize in economics), lhe central issue in general is nol whether a particular arrangen1ent is better for everyone than no cooperation al al! wouId be, but whether that is a fair division of lhe benents. One c.1nnol rebul Ihe critieism Ihal a distributional arrangement is unfair simply by noting thal all the parlies are betler off Ihan they would be in the absence of cooperation; Ihe real excrcise is Ihe choice betweel1 these alternatives. [ ... ]

Likewise, one cannO! rebut the eharge lhat Ihe global system is unfair by showing Ihat even the poor go h· f ·1 d In sornet tng rom global contacts and are not necessan y ma e p~~rer.. That answer may or may not be wrong, but lhe question certainly ¡s. The cntlcallssue is not wheth th· . N· ·1 er e poor are getlmg marginally poorer o r ncher. or 15 1

whether Ihey are better off than Ihey would be had Ihey excluded Ihemselves from g10bahzed mteractions.

Again, the real issue· ti d · ·b . d h· . h

IS le IStn lItlon of globalization's benefits. Indee , l 15 IS w y many ofthe anl" I b l· . d

f h Ig o a Izatlon protesters, who seek a better deal for the under ogs

o t e world eCOn0l11 ... ·h. t d h

y, are not - contrary to thetr own rhelonc and lo lhe Y1ews attn u e to t em by olhe _ all ". . . . trad· t· . h rs re y antlglobahzauon." It is also why there IS no real con·

te IOn lJl t e faet Ih t th .. . the m I b l· a e so-called anttglobahzatlOn prolests have become among

ostgo a Ized e t· h ven s In t e contemporary world.

How lo Judge Globalism 23

Altering Global Arrangements

However, can those less-well-off groups get a better deal from globalized eeonomie and social relations without dispensing with the market eeonomy itself? Thcy eertainly can. The use of the market economy is consistent with many different ownership patterns, resource availabilities, social opportunities, and rules of operation (such as patent laws and antitrust regulations). And depending on these eonditions, the market econorny would generate different prices, terms of trade, income distributioll, and, more generaUy, diverse overal! outcomes. The arrangements for social seeurity and other publie interventions can make further modifieations to the outeomes of lhe market proeesses, and together they can yield varying levels of inequality and poverty.

The central question is not whether to use the market eeonomy. Thal shallow ques­tion is easy to answer, because it is hard to achieve economic prosperity without making extensive use of the opportunities of exehange and speeialization that markct relations offer. Even though the operation of a given market economy can be signifi­cantlydefeetive, there is no way of dispensing with the institution of markets in general as a powerful engine of economie progress.

But this reeognition does not end the diseussion about globalized market relations. The market economy does not work by itself in global relations - indeed, it cannot operate alone even within a given country. lt is not only the case that a market­inclusive system can generate very distinct results depending on various enabling conditions (such as how physical resources are distributed, how human resources are developed, what rules of business relations prevail, what social-security arrangements are in place, and so on). These enabling conditions themselves depend critically on economic, social, and political institutions that operate nationally and globaUy.

The crucial role of the markets does not make the other institutions insignificant, even in terms of the results that the market economy can produce. As has been amply established in empirical studies, market outcomes are massively infl ueneed by publie policies in education, epidemiology, land reform, microcredit facilities, appropriate legal proteetions, et eetera; and in eaeh of these fields, there is work to be done through publie aetion that can radieally alter the outcome of local and global economie relations.

Institutions and Inequality

Globalization has mueh to offer; but even as we defend it, we must also, without any contradietion, see the legitimacy of many questions that the antiglobalization protest­ers ask. There may be a misdiagnosis abou! \Vhere the main problems lie (they do not lie in globalization, as sueh), but the ethieal and human eoneems that yield these ques­tions eaU for serious reassessments of the adequaey of the national and global institu­lional arrangements that eharaeterize the eontemporary world and shape globalized economic and social relations.

Global capitalism is much more coneemed \Vith expanding the doma in of market relations than with, say, establishing demoeraey, expanding elementary edueation, or

24 Debating Globalization

enhancing the social opportunities of soeiety's uoderdogs. Sioee globaliz:uion of markets is, on its own, a very inadequate approach to world pro,penty, there 1$ a need to go beyood the priorities that find exprcssionin the cho eo focu, of global capital· ism. As George Soros has poioted out, IOternatlonal bll>tncss concern often have a stroog preferenee for working in orderly and hi¡¡hly organlled .utocr.cies rather lhan in actlvist and less-regimented democracic~, and thi~ c..1n be a regre~'tive influence on equitable development. Further, multination,,1 flrm\ can exert thelr influence on the priorities of publie expenditure in less s.cu re third world eountrie, by glving prefer· enee to the safety and eonvenienee ofthe managerial d."e and ofpnvileged workers over the removal of widespread illit.raey, medic,,1 depnvatlon, and other adversities of the poor. These possibililies do not, of eourse, Impose any insurmountable barrier to development, but it is important to make sure that the . urm untable barriers are .etually surmounted. l ... J

Fair Sharing of Global Opportunities

To eooclude, the eonfouoding of globalization wlth WesterOltatlon is oot only ahis· torie.l, it a1so distr.ets .ttention from the many poteotial benefits of global ,"t<gration. Globalization is • historieal proeess that has offercd ao abundance of opportunities aod rewards in the past aod eon tioues to do so today. The very exi tence of potentially large benefits malees the questio n of fairness in sharing the benefits of globalization so critically important.

The central issue of eonteotion is not globalization itself, nor is It the use of the market as an institution, but the inequi ty in the overall balance ofinstitutional arrange· meots - whieh produces very uoequal sharing of lhe benefits of g1obalizalion. The questioo is not just whether the poor, too, gain something from globalizalion, bul whether they get a fair share aod a fair opportunity. There is ao urgent need for reform· mg mStItutlOnaJ arrangements - in addition to national ones _ in order to overcome both the errors of omissioo and those of eommissioo that teod to glve the poor across the world sueh limited o t" GI b' . , b . ppor Unltles. o allzauon deserves a reasoned delense) ut It also needs reformo

6

The Modern World-System as I Immanuel Wallerstein a Capitalist World-Economy

The world in which we are now living, the modern world-system, had its origins in the sixteenth century. This world-system was then loeated in only a part of the globe, primarily in parts of Europe and the Americas. It expanded over time to cover the whole globe. lt is and has a!ways been a world-economy. It is and has a!ways been a capiralisr world-eeonomy. We should begin by explaining what these two terms, world­economy and capitalism, denote. It will then be easier to appreciate the historieal contours of the modern world-system - its origins, its geography, its temporal deve\­opment, and its contemporary structural crisis.

What we mean by a world-economy (Braude!'s économie-monde) is a large geo­graphic zone within whieh there is a division of labor and henee significant interna! ,xchange of basic or essential goods as weU as flows of capital and labor. A defining feature of a world-eeonomy is Ihat it is not bounded by a unitary politieal structme. Rather, there are many politieal units inside Ihe world-eeonomy, loose\y tied together in our modern world-system in an interstate system. And a world-economy contains many cultures and groups - praeticing many re\igions, speaking many languages, dif­fering in their everyday patterns. This does not mean Ihat they do not evolve some common cultural patterns, what we shall be calling a geoeulture. It does mean that neilber political nor cultural homogeneity is to be expeeted or found in a world­economy. What unifies Ihe s!rueture most is the division of labor which is constituted within it.

Capitalism is not Ihe mere existence of persons or firms producing for sale on the market with the intention of obtaining a profit. Su eh persons or firms have existed for thousands of years all aeross the world. Nor is lhe existence of persons working for wages sufficient as a definition. Wage-Iabor has also been known for thousands of years. We are in a capitalist system only when the system gives priority to the endless accumulation of capital. Using sueh a definition, only the modern world-system has been a capitalist system. Endless accumulation is a quite simple concep!: it means Ihat

Original publication details: Excerpted from Immanuel WalJerstein, "The Modern World-System as a Capitalist World-Economy." in World-Systems Analysis: Arr fntrar/I/crion, Duke Ulliversity Press, 2004, pp. 23-30.

56 Explaining Globalizarloll

people and firms are aeeumulating cap'lal on ord~r 10 a"umU~'I( lill mort capital, a proeess that is eontinual and endles,. I( we ~ y lh., a 'cm g'ves pnunr( 'osueh endless aeeumulation , it means lhal lhere eX"1 \trULlural me.han, rru bywhlCh tho~ who aet with other molivalions are penaJiI d in wm( way, dnd r. "'emually dimi· nated from lhe social scene, wherca, lho,e who Jel wllh lhe approprUlt mOlivalions

are rewarded and, if sueeessful, enriehed. A world-eeonomy and a eapilali'l 'y'lem grllo 'tlher, S,nse world c<onomieslack

the unifying eement of an overall poJilieal 'lruuur. ur a humugencoul culoure, whal holds them together is the efficaey of lhe d,v",on of 1.1bor, Anu lh, dh,JCY isa fune· tion ofthe constantly expanding wealth lhal a capllaJi 1 y\lem pro.,d l'm,1 modem times, the world-eeonomies lhal had be n un lru<led tllher fellapan or were Irans· formed marJu militari inlo world empires, HI ltlric.lly. lhc unly wo,ld·«onomylo have survived for a long lime has been lh modern ",orld , y lcm, ¡nd lhal is becaust the eapitalist system took rOOI and beca me on Itd 1 d. 11 uchnlOg (.,IU".

Conversely, a eapitalisl syslem annOl eX"1 wllhin dny Iram ""k "'<pI Ihatof. world-eeonomy. We shall see lhal a eap'lali 1 y'lem r'<juor a \cry pe<laI rel.tion· ship between economie produeers and lhe holdel\ uf poltll al p"".r, 1I1he lalterare too strong, as in a world-empire, lheir inlereSl will o' mue lhu ollhe econom' produeers, and the endless aceumulation of capll I will cea 10 be ~ pri,)rity. Capil~' ists need a large markcl (henee minisyslcm are 100 narruw f", lheml bUI Ihey~~ needa multiplicityof stales,so lhal they an ga'"1hcadvanla¡tc ofworkingwilhstalo but also can eireumvent slales hostil e 10 lhelr ml.reM, m fav"r of lalo friendlylo their interests. Only the existenee of a mult,plo ,ly of lale, wllhon lhe o,eran di,~ioo of labor assures this possibility.

A eapitalist world-eeonomy is a olle U n of m.ny in'1I1ullOn !h, combinalion of whlCh aecounts for ils proeesses, and .11 of whl h are inlenwoncJ w,th each otba. The basie institutions are the m.rkel, or ralher lhe markelS; the lirm lh~l compele in the markets; the multiple sta les, within .n mler la le . lem; !he households; th< elasses; and the status-groups (to u e Weber' lerm, which me pcoplt in recenlr"" have renamed th u 'd ""). -tb' e I enUt,es . They are .11 inslIlulion lhal h.-e becn crealed W1 ID the framework ofthe . l' . . '. caplta ISl world-eeonomy. (eoum. ,ueh ,n IIIUllonshave~"" silllilantoes to instituti th . ' . - . h . ons a t ex,sled m pnor hislorleal y'lems 10 wh"h we al' glven the same or s' ') . ' . . . I

'. 'ml ar nam es. BUl u ong the same name 10 de><:nbe ,"slllUliOru oeated m dlfferent histo' I al -It. b . rica systcms quile oflen confusesralherthan darifiesan )'"

's etter to thmk of lhe t f' . . ~ II

'fi' se o mst'tul,o lls of lhe modem world·s)"ltm as eonte u· a y specl e to lt.

Let us start with k . of . l' mar ets, slllee lhese are normally eon,dercJ lht .ssenlial rearo" a caplta 1st system A ma k . b . d d oIs

or firms II d b' r et IS oth a eonerele local slruClure in whlCh lO I~ U se an uy goods a d . th kinol of exehang , n a virtual instilution acropace where t "me

e oeeurs. How larg d' ds tht realistie alte ' e.n w,despread any vinual markel is depen on matoves that sellers d b . . I in I eapitalist world an uyer have al a given lime. In pnnClp e,

But as we shall -eeonth°my the virtual market exi'l in the world-economy as a.iwIt see, ere are ofte' r . g nac· rower and m " n mlenerenee with lhese boundarie>. creattn

ore proteeted" k k 00r all eommoditie 11 m ar ets. Tllere are of eoum separal. ,inual mar e~

saswe asfore 't I . tb/lt can also be said t . . apl a and different kinds oflabor. Bul over 11m<,

o ex,st a smgle virtual world market for aIJ the faclor> ofproductio"

World-Systems Analysis 57

combined, despite all the barriers that exist to its free functioning. One can think of this complete virtual market as a magnet for all producers and buyers, whose pull is a constant political factor in the decision-making of everyone - the states, the firms, the households, the elasses, and the status-groups (or identities). This complete virtual world market is a reality in that it influences all decision making, but it never functions fully and freely (that is, without interference). The totally free market functions as an ideology, a myth, and a constraining influence, but never as a day-to-day reality.

One ofthe reasons it is not a day-to-day reality is that a totally free market, were it ever to exist, would make impossible the endless accumulation of capital. This may seem a paradox beeause it is surely true that capitalism cannot function without markets, and it is also true that capitalists regularly say that they favor free markets. But eapitalists in faet need not totally free markets but rather markets that are only partially free. The reason is eleaL Suppose there reaUy existed a world market in which alI the faetors of production were totally free, as our textbooks in economics usually define this - that is, one in which the factors flowed without restriction, in which there were a very large number of buyers and a very large number of sellers, and in which there was perfect information (meaning that all sellers and all buyers knew the exact state of all casts of production). In such a perfect market, it would always be possible for the buyers to bargain down the sellers to an absolutely minuscule level of profit (let us think of it as a penny), and this low level of profit would make the capitalist game entirely uninteresting to producers, removing the basic social underpinnings of sueh a system.

What sellers always prefer is a monopoly, for then they can create a relatively wide margin between the costs of production and the sales price, and thus realize high rates of profit. Of COUISe, perfect monopolies are extremely difficult to create, and rare, but quasi-monopolies are not. What one needs most of all is the support of the machinery of a relatively strong state, one which can enforce a quasi-monopoly. There are many ways of doing this. One of the most fundamental is the system of patents which reserves rights in an "invention" for a specified number of years. This is what basically makes "new" products the most expensive for consumers and the most profitable for their produeers. Of eourse, patents are often violated and in any case they eventually expire, but byand large they protect a quasi-monopoly for a time. Even so, production prateeted by patents usually remains only a quasi-monopoly, since there may be other similar produets on the market that are not covered by the paten!. This is why the normal situation for so-called leading products (that is, products that are both new and have an important share of the overall world market for cammodities) is an oli­gopoly rather than an absolute monopoly. Oligopolies are however good enough to realize the desired high rate of profits, especially since the various firms often collude to minimize price competition.

PatenlS are not the only way in whieh states can create quasi-monopolies. State restrietions on imports and exports (so-ealled protectionist measures) are another. State subsidies and tax benefits are a third. The ability of strong states to use their rnuscle to prevent weaker states from creating counter-protectionist measures is still another. The role of the sta tes as large-scale buyers of certain produets willing to pay exeessive prices is still another. Finally, regulations which impose a burden on pro­dueers may be relatively easy to absorb by large producers but erippling to smaller

58 Explaillillg Globnlizntioll

produeers, an asymmelry whieh re ults '" Ihe t1iminaliun uf Ih. ,maller producers from Ihe markel and Ihus inerea es Ihe dellr e 01 011(1.<>1'0'" I he mndaI.lI" bywhich slates interfere wilh Ihe virlual mMkel Me '" e>len>!'e Ihal Ih.,. ('"I>IIIUI< a funda­mental factor in determining prices anrl prohl . \Vuhoul u<h IOla~ rene Ihecapi­lalist system could nOI Ihrive ,1I1d Ihercl"rc «luid nul U"·l\e.

Nonetheless, lhere are IWO inbuilt .nll · munop"I"I" I .1I1t 10. "pltalisl world­eeo nomy. First of all , one produ er', monol'"ll\l" Jthantage I an .. lher producer's loss. The losers will of ourse slru~le I>U"lll,'lly 111 rCmu\. Ihe .d,antages oflhe winners_ They can do this by pOlili",11 'trulUlle wuhon Ihe lale where Ihe monopolislic produeers are loealed, appealing 10 dO\.lrine\ of J Irce markcl nd "lImn~ supponlo politiealleaders inelined lO end J paruwlM munn!,,," 11< .d,anl' e. Or Ihey dolh. by persuading o lher stales 10 defy Ihe world Ill.\rktl mUJI('I'"lv b,' Wln Iheir Slale power to sustain compelitive producer . ""Ih mclhud are usffi. Ih rel .. r ,olerlÍme, every quasi-monopoly is undone by Ihe el1lry 01 furthcr prudu<<f Inle> Ihe market.

Quasi-monopolies a re Ihus ,elf "quld,lIlI1l1. lluI Ihe)' la I I .. ng tll .. u~h lsaylhin¡ years) lo ensure considerable a cumul,lIlnn ni ",Ipual hy Iho "hll<onleollhequasi­monopolies. When a quasi monopoly doe, n-J'" tn e i 1, Ihe 1M e ""umulalo~ of capital si mply move their eapit"IIO ncw ICJdln¡: I'rodu t> ur ".h .. le nt\< ItadingindUl' tries. The result is a cyele ofleading prndu,", I.(Jtlrn¡: l'«xlu<1 hJ\c moderatelyshon lives, but they are constantly su ceeded hy "Iher IcJdlll~ indu trI< . Thus Ihe game eontinues. As for Ihe onee-Ieading induSlrles P"I Iherr pnme. tht)" !>«(.me moreand more Ucompetitive," that ¡s, Icss and Ics~ profit.lhlc. \Ve ~'r thl\ rJlIl'rn in adion al! the time.

Firms are the main aetors in the markel . hrm, are normallv Ihe (Ompelilo~ of other firms operating in lhe same virtual m.lfkct . Thcv are.1 1 In ( .. nl1lCl "ilh Ihose firms from whom they purehase inpul' and Ih"", firms In "hl<h IhcpdJ theirprod· uets. Fleree intereapita list rivalry i the n,lme 01 the SJme. And nnl\'the lrongesland the most agile survive. O ne musl remomher that bankrupt<)'. or ,Ib"'rpllon by a more powerful firm, IS the dail y bread of eapil"list enlerl'ri",s. 'ot JII ,apllalisl entrepre­neurs sueeeed in aeeUll1 I l · . I . f · '_.1 eh Id . u a IIlg eaplta . I'ar mm 11. 11 the)" all 'U(<<cucu, ea "ou be likely to obtai.n very I'ttl . I . ". . I .--, I e caplla. o, the repe,lIed "fa,lure, 01 hrnhnOlony"'" out the weak eompe!' t b . . . uI .

f . I ors ut are a candlllon \1nC qU.l non 01 thc cnd]e'~ ,)"um allOO

o capItal That is wh ti ' th f ',.1 . a cxp atns e con IJnt procc." of the Uln(cntrJuon o caplldJ. To be Sure there . d . . l' .•. , IS a ownslde lO lhe srowth (11' firm, elther horrzonlally rn UK

same produet) verlicall (' h d' ' lo m'gl t b h ' Y m 1 e Ifferent stcp' in Ihe ch.in (lf I'rodU(lIon), 011"'''

b I 1 de t ought of as orlhogonally (imo other prOOuct, nOI c\o;elv relaled), Sile nngs Own eOSls throu h JI . . f d .

istr f d g So-ca ed eeonomie, of ""le, Bul SIle .dd, (0515 o a mm-a Ion an coordinatian d ul' . -' . Asa

result of th' . . ,an m Ilplres Ihe risks of manasenal incIlierenCles. IS contradletlon th lb · f fi lting larger and th . ,ere las een a repeJtcd Llgz.¡g pro.:(" ° rms ge

Rather wo I~n gdettmg smaller. But i.t has not at all heen a simple up-and-do"~ cyc\e. , r WI e there has b . . . h:!role

historieaJ pro ki een a secular merease m the Slle 01 firms, le" . eess ta n g the form f h b k con-tUluously Th . f o a rate el, two steps up then one slep ac,

. eSlzeo firmsalsol d' . firnrs more political lb ' l as Ireet political implications. La.· rge Slze gIVes .

c out llt also makes lh uI bytheU eompetitors th . I em more vulnerable to politlcal a>SJ 1-

, elr emp oyees and h . Iineis an upward ratehet t . ' t elr consumers. But he .. loo the bonom

, owa l d more p r ' l' o ltlca mnuence over time.

World-$ystems Analysis 59

The axial division of labor of a eapitalist world-economy divides produetion into eore-like produets and peripheral produets. Core-periphery is a relational eoneepl. What we mean by eore-periphery is the degree of profitability of the produetion proeesses. Sinee profitability is direetly related to the degree of monopolization, what we essentiaUy mean by eore-like produetion proeesses is those that are controlled by quasi-monopolies. Peripheral proeesses are then those that are truly eompeti tive. When exchange occurs, competitive products are in a weak position and quasi ­monopolized products are in a strong position. As a result, there is a constan t flow of surplus-value from the produeers of peripheral produets to the produeers of eore-like produets. This has been ealled unequal exehange.

To be sure, unequal exehange is not the only way of moving aeeumulated capital from politieaUy weak regions to polit ically strong regions. There is also plunder, often used extensively during the early days of ineorporating new regions into the world ­economy (consider, for example, the conquistadores and gold in the Amerieas). But plunder is self-liquidating. It is a case of kiUing the goose that lays the golden eggs. StiU, sinee Ihe consequenees are middle-term and the advantages short-term, there st ill exists much plunder in the modern world-system, although we are often "scandalized" when we leam of il. When Enron goes bankrupt, after proeedures that have moved enormous sums into the hands of a few managers, that is in faet plunder. When "privatizations" of erstwhile state property lead to its being gamered by mafia- Iike businessmen who quiekly Ieave the eountry with destroyed enterprises in their wake, that is plunder. Self-Iiquidating, yes, but only after mueh damage has be.n done to the world's produetive system, and indeed to the health of the eapitalist world-eeonomy.

Sinee quasi-monopolies depend on the patronage of slrong sta tes, they are largely loeated - juridieaUy, physieally, and in terms of ownership - within su eh sta tes. There is therefore a geographieal eonsequenee of the eore-peripheral relationship. Core-like proeesses tend to group themselves in a few sta tes and to eonstitute Ihe bulk of the produetion aetivity in sueh states. Peripheral proeesses tend to be scaltered among a large number of states and to eonstitute the bulk of the produetion aetivity in these states. Thus, for shorthand purposes we can talk of eore states and peripheral sta tes, so long as we remember that we are reaUy talking of a relationship between produetion proeesses. Some sta tes have a near even mix of eore-like and peripheral produets. We may eaU them semiperipheral states. They have, as we shall see, speeial political propenies. lt is however not meaningful to speak of semiperipheral produetion processes.

Since, as we have seen, quasi-monopolies exhaust themselves, what is a core-like proeess today will beeome a peripheral proeess tomorrow. The economie history of the modem world-system is replete with the shift, or downgrading, of produets, fírst to semiperipheral countries, and then to peripheral ones. If eirea 1800 the produetion of textiles was possibly the preeminent eore-Iike produetion proeess, by 2000 it was manifestly one of the least profitable peripheral produetion proeesses. In 1800 these textiles were produeed primarily in a very few eountries (notably England and some other eoumries of northwestern Europe); in 2000 textiles were produeed in virtuaUy every part of the world-system, especially eheap textiles. The proeess has been repeated wi th many other produets. Think of steel, of automobiles, or even eomputers. This

60 Explaining Globalizatiol1

kind of shift has no effeet on the strueture of Ihe syslem ilself. In 2000 Ihere wereother eore-liJee proeesses (e.g. aireraft produelion or gcnelie engllleedng) which were con­eentrated in a few eountries. T here have a lways been new eore- like proce ses lO replace those which beco me more eompetitive and Ihen move oul of Ihe slale in which Ihey

were originally located. The role of eaeh slate is very di ffe renl vis-~-vi produ live processes depending 0 0

lhe mix of eore-peripheral proeesses wi lh in il. The slrong stales, which eonlain a dis­proporlionate share o f eore- like proeesses, lend 10 emphasi7e Iheir role of prolecling the quasi-monopolies of Ihe eo re- like p roeesses. The very weak stales, whieh conlain a disproportionate share of periphera l p roduelion proees e;, are usually unable lO do very mueh to affeel the axial divisio n of labor, and in effeel are largely foreed loaccept lhe 101 that has been given them.

The semiperipheral states whieh have a relalively even mix of produclion processes find themseJves in lhe most d ifficult situa lion. Under pressure from core slales and putting pressure on peripheral sta les, the ir major eoneern is lO keep Ihemselves from slipping into the periphery and to do what Ihey can lO adva nee Ihemsclves loward Ihe eore. Neither is easy, and both require considerable slale inlerferenee wilh Ihe world market. These semi-peripheral sta tes are Ihe ones Ihal pUl forwa rd mosl aggressively and most publicly so-ealJed pro tectio nisl policies. They hope Ihereby lO "prolect" their produetion proeesses fro m the competitio n of slro nger firms oUlside, while Irying lo improve the effieiency of the firms inside so as lO compele beller in the world market. They are eager reeipients of lhe relocatio n of erstwh ile leading products, which Ihey define these days as aehieving "eeonomic developmenl. " In Ihis effor!, Iheircompeli· tion comes not from the eore sta les but fro m o ther semiperipher.1 slales, equallyeager lO be the reeipients of reloeatio n whieh ea nnOI go to al l the eager asp irants simullane· ously and to lhe same degree. In the beginning of the Iwenly-fi rsl eenlUry, sorne obvious countries to be labeJed semiperipher. J are Soulh Ko re., Brazil, and India­eountries with strong enterprises tha t expo rt produets (fo r example sleel, aUlomobiles, pharmaeeutleals) to peripheral zones, but thal also regularly relate lo eore rones as unporters of more "advanced" products.

The normal evolution of the leading industries _ the slow dissolution of lhe quasi· monopolies - is what a r th . A . . . ecounts lor e cyelieal rhythms o flhe world-eeonomy. major leadmg mdustry will b . . d

ill e a major sumu!us to the expansio n o flhe world·economyan W resuJt in eonsiderabl 1 . '. ds . e aeeumu atlOn of eapllal. But Il also normally lea lo more extenslve employment ' th Id al

f I . 1Il e wor -eeono my, higher wage-Ievels, and a gener sense o re at lve prosperity A d '1 .

. s more an nl0re firms enter lhe market ofthe erstwh¡equasl-monopoJy there will b « d th I fe.' e overpro uetion" (that is loo mueh produelion for erea

e lectlve demand at '. ' . . (b a glven tIme) and eonsequently inereased priee compeullon

eeause of the demand ) . l a bu 'ld f squeeze , thus lowering lhe rates of profit. Al sorne pom,

I up o unsold prod ti ' further produet ' ue s resu ts , and eonsequently a slowdown m IOn.

When this happens rld. eeonomy W t lk f' we tend to see a reversal of lhe cycJieal curve of the wo

. e a o stagnation ' . R f unero-ploYll1ent r Id ' or reeeSSlOn III the world-economy. ales o . Ise WOr wlde Prod k . . Ib"r

share of th Id . ueers see to reduce eosts in order lo mamlam e WOr market O f '. . od ction

proeesses to zone th h . ne o the meehal1lsms IS reloeallon of the pr u s at ave hlstoriCalJy lower wages, that is, to semiperipheral caun'

World-Systems Analysis 61

tries. This shift puts pressure on the wage levels in the processes still remaining in core lones, and wages lhere tend to become lower as well. Effective demand which was at first lacking because of overproduction now beco mes lacking beca use of a reduction in earnings of the consumers. In such a situation, not aJl producers necessarily lose out. There is obviously acutely increased competition among the di luted oligopoly that is now engaged in these production processes. They fight each other furiously, usually with lhe aid of their state machineries. Sorne sta tes and sorne producers succeed in "exporting unemployment" from one core state to the others. Systemically, there is contraction, but certain core states and especially certain semiperipheral sta tes may seem to be doing quite well. [ ... ]

10

Globalization as a Problem I Roland Robertson

The Crystallization oí a Concept and a Problem

Globalization as a eoneept refers both to the compression of the world and the inten­sifieation of eonseiousness of the world as a whole. The proeesses and aetions to whieh the concept of globalization now refers have been proeeeding, with some interrup­tions, for many centuries, but the main focus of the discussion of globalization is on relatively reeent times. In so far as that discussion is c10sely Iinked to the contours and nature of modernity, globalization refers quite c1early to reeent developments. In the present book globalization is conceived in much broader terms than that, but its main empirical foeus is in line with the inereasing aeeeleration in both concrete global interdependence and conseiousness of the global whole in the twentieth eentury. But it is necessary to emphasize that globalization is not equated with or seen as a direet consequenee of an amorphously coneeived modernity.

Use of the noun 'g1obalization' has developed quite recendy. Certainly in academic cirdes it \Vas not recognized as a significant concept, in spite of diffuse and intermit­tent usage prior lo that, until the early, or even middle, 1980s. During the second half of the 1980s its use inereased enormously, so much so that it is virtuaUy impossible to trace the patterns of its contemporary diffusion aeross a large number of areas of contemporary life in different parts of the world. By now, even though the term is ohen used very loosely and, indeed, in contradietory ways, it has itse/fbecome part of 'global consciousness,' an aspect of the remarkable proliferation of terms eentred upon 'global.' A1though the lauer adjeetive has been in use for a long time (meaning, 'trongly, worldwide; or, more loosely, 'the whole'), it is indicative of our contemporary concem with globalization that the Oxford Dictionary of New Words (1991) aetually ind udes 'global' as a Ilew word, focusing speeifieally, but misleadingly, on its use in 'environmental jargon.' That same Dictionary also defines 'global eonsciousness' as

Original publication details: Excerpled from Roland Robertson. "Globalization as a Problem," in Globalization: ~/ Theory and Global ClIlwre, Sage. 1992. pp. 8- 9, 25-9, 174-80.

88 Explaining Globalization

'reeeptiveness to (and underslanding) of cultures olher Ihan one's own, ofi.n as pan of an appreeialion of world soeio-eeonomic and ecological i Ut.' It maintains lhal sueh a use has been mueh in/lueneed by Marshall M LlIhan' Idea of 'Ihe ~obaI village,' introduced in his book Explora/ions ill o",ml/llica"OIl (1960). The nOlionor eompression, or 'shrinking,' is indeed presenl in Ihal in/luenlial book aboullheshared simultaneity of media, partieularly lelevisual, experienee in our lIme. There can be little doubt Ihal MeLuhan bOlh re/lccled and shaped media lrends, 10 much so lhal in time we have come lO wilness (selfserving) media allempl 10 eOlllOlidalC Ihe idea ofthe global cornrnl/l1ity. On lhe olher hand lhe media fully acknowledge Ihe'nationa!· ity' of particular media syslems, .nd repor! al lenglh on lhe lough realilies ofinlema· tional relations, wars and so on. Sueh rcalilics are far from Ihe eommunal connolalÍons whieh some have read into MeLuh.n 's illlagery. Inlhe same period when McLuhan's notion of the global village was becoming in/luenlial lhere occurred Ihe 'expressive revolution' ofthe 1 960s. Thal was, 10 pul il very simply, a 'revoluli n' in conseiousness among Ihe young in numerous parts of lhe \Vorld, eenlred upon 'l/eh Ihemes as libera· tion and love, in bolh individual and colleelive lerms. In fael Ihe OxJord DIctlOnaryof New Words maintains Ihat lhe eurrenl lerm 'global consciousness ... draw, on ibe fashion for consciousness-raising in Ihe Sixlies' (1991).

Undoubtedly Ihe 1960s ' revolution' in consciousness h3d an importanl effeain Illany parts of Ihe world, in its sh.rpening of Ihe ense of wh3t was supposally eommon to all in an increasingly tight-knil world. Yel, as we will ee more fully, ibis sense of global interdependence has rapidly beco me reeognized in numerou! Olher, relatively independent, domains and fora. World \Vars, parlicularly World War 11 wilh its ' humanity-shaking' events and its aflermath, lhe rise of \Vhal beeame known aslhe Third World, the proliferation of international, transnational and supranational insli· tutions and the attempts to coord inate what has become known as the global economy have pl:yed crucial parts in Ihe twofold proeess of'objective' and' ubjeelÍve"~ob~· IzatlOn. And surely MeLuhan's own atholie-tinged observations cone<rning ibe medla-centred 'global viUage' \Vere partly shaped by such developmenls. I ... 1

Coming to Terms with the World as a Whole

l· . . ) My model of what, in Ihe m osl flexible lerms, may be eaUed lhe global field is eentred on the way(s) . h ' h . . ak m w le we Ihmk about globality in relation lO the ba!iCm eup ofthat field My fo l' . . 1 hink . . rmu atlOn IS more lTIultifaceted Ihan that of Dumonl, ¡n lhal I m terms of four mal' o . I '. '. r aspects, or reference points, rather than two. Theseare/latlo~(I SOcIetres; rnd,viduals o b ' . I .'

h ' r more aSlcaUy, se/ves; relatio"ships betweetl tlotlOtra soaetres.

or t e world systern o' " . . h . 'd mi . 'j SOClet1es; and, In the generic sense, nuwki"d, whlc I to a\Q1 sunderstandmg, I frequently call humank,'nd [ ) In the b d ... ,

Wh roa est sense 1 am concemed wilh the way(s) in whieh Ihe world i!ordered. ereas 1 am settmg o t h' -, Ih ' , u t IS model of order in \Vhat may appear lo be formadenn"

e mtent whlCh actuall 'd " . 'd . or 'total'ty' I Y gUI es It tS to mjeet Jlexibility inlO our eooSl <rallon'

1 . n so faras weth' k b l' led in a eenain ki d f . m a out the \Vorld as a \Vhole, we are ioevilab Y IOVO'

n o what IS SOn1 t ' '. .. al ' Bul ",en Ihough h e Imes pe)oratlvely caUed totallsl" an ysiS. Illy sc eme doe' I ' . d 10 S mvo ve a tOlalizing' tendency, it does so partir ¡n 01 el

s

Globalization as a Problem 89

NatioTlal Relativization of socieues

World system

societies 01 soaeties • • -?,,~ '" ·lí

-,. ~ '". • ~, . '" E 'o~ c· ~ :E 6·~ <~ ¡;: e

. L .... :v Q. o l:- .¡f" 3 • . ~ o' " i..'o~ o". ~.

. ".JI' C};..~ '" -;; a , ~'b ... , .~ o-:!! ~. ~~ " .< 3

'" .s • ¡:;"

~ "- T

Se/ves • • Humallkiml Relativization of self-identities

Figure 10.1 Th, global fi,ld

comprehend different kinds of orientation to lhe global circumstance. It will be seen Ihal movemenls, individual s and other actors perceive and construct lhe order (or disorder) of lhe world in a number of different ways. In that sense what my model does is lo facilitate interpretation and analysis of such variation. So there is a crucial difference between imposing a model of the global field on all lhe present and potential actors in lhat field and setting out a model which facilitates comprehension of varia­tion in lhat field. The latter is an important consideration. My interest is in how order is, so to speak, done; including order that is 'done' by those seeking explicitly to estab­lish legal principies for the ordering of the world. To put it yet another way, my model is conceived as an attempt to make analytical and interpretive sense of how quotidian actors, coilective or individual, go about lhe business of conceiving of lhe world, including attempts to deny that lhe world is one.

Nevertheless, in spite of my acknowledgment of certain denials of global wholeness, I maintain that the trends towards the unicity of the world are, when alI is said and done, inexorable. [ .. . ]

Globalization refers in lhis particular sense to lhe coming into, often problematic, conjunction of different forms oflife. This cannot be accurately captured in lhe simple Proposition that globalization is 'a consequence of modemity,' which 1 consider spe­cificaily towards the end of lhis volume. Present concem with globality and globaliza­tion cannot be comprehensively considered simply as an aspect or outcome of lhe Weslern 'project' of modernity or, except in very broad terms, enlightenment. In an increasingly globalized world there is a heightening of civilizational, soeietal, ethnic, regional and, indeed individual, self-consciousness. There are constraints 00 social entities lO locate themselves wilhin world history and the global future. Yet globaliza­tion in and of ilself also involves lhe diffusion of lhe expectation of such identity declarations.

This model, which is presented diagrarnmatically in Figure 10.1, gives lhe basic oUlline of what 1 here call the global field but which for other purposes 1 call lhe

90 Explaillillg Globaliza/ioll

global-human condilion, Thc figure mdicJIC', Ihe (our maior wmponent orref,~"", points, of the conception of globallty. Ihe hJ". "ay m "hl<h w(' aroable .. empinan. informed analysts to 'makc scmc' of glol",lIty •• , \<idl .• Ihe lurm '" krm,ofwhi,h globalization has in the la ~t few ccnturi., .,,,u.llly prO\ ... d ti, lll5<u '0" of diffm"l or alternalive, form s in lerms of wh"h 1\1"1",1,,.llIon 1111 ·/tl h.,t (l( urred or, mdetd, did parliaUy occur are discussed .n l.lIer ,h.'pl."," o pruv.Jt un cumple '1Ihissl'g', it is clear that Islam historically hJ' I",d .1 gener.,1 'glll¡'.,lIl1ng' Ihru 1: hUI had 1"'1 potential form of globalizalion sll"ceded we would now Jlmo I ,rn .. nly ,omp .. hend contemporary 'globaliIY' di ffcrcn ll y, ¡here "'"uld 1", J nced lur a dlllrrenl ~"dof mode!.

The model is presen led in pnmary rclértn,,, 1<> l\<ie/lllelh ,('l\Iur\' d"dopmenlS. In that it partly summarizcs . uch dcvdopmcnl\ 11 dr~,\\ dUrnllun tu int.rtJ1Oing,inter· related themalizalio nsofso.ietic ... lOd.v.du.lle1v.ml •. rnallunal rd'lions and humankind, Al the same limc •• 1 (lpel1\ 11", wJy Illlh. d.;.; u ¡un antl ludyofth",~

in which the general pallern eame hl\lor.<.ll1y 1" l',eva.I , h .Isu .lIuW\ lor diffmnl, illdeed conflieting, empirieal cmph."e, wllhlll '11", hcld'l, ,1

First. while I have emphasi/cd Ih.ll my 1"'''pe,II\' •• 11,,, .. , lo, <mr.n,,1 "nalÍo, with respeet to whal laler I eall IIn.lges 01 world u"ler and IhJI my rrimary laskin analyzing globalization is 10 lay bare .lnd "pen lIl' rel.lI.vely n ~1t,I.d il\pecuoflhal theme, there are clearly moral and crll".11 dimen,j"", 01 m)' ,ll'proJ.h lu globalizalio. 1 will only mention the mOSI gcner.l l here, Therc " <<,IJmlr J >en'oC in which I am trying to tackIe direetly Ihe p.'oblcm (lf global COlI/plt·,\I/)'. J p<>lnt ... h"h will blcom, even clearer when 1 add rcss the qlleslion of Ihe ,hifling <unlcnt\ uf Ihe four major components of my mode!. It will , I hope, .1"" oC<OI1lC dcar thJt I 3m arguingforth, moral acceptance of that eomplexity, In olhcr word,. lOmplcx'ly ¡"'como ",m~hi"g lilIe a moral issue in its own righ!. Spcetlieally, the way in wh .. h IladJ. Ihe issu~of globality and globalization suggeslS tllJt in order for one to ha," • 'r .. lillje' ~ewof th~ w,orld as a whole one Illust , al Icas l in lhe contemporary c-Írcum,IJnCe, accrplin pnnClple the relative autonom y of eaeh of Ihe four mJin componcnl\ .nd Ihal,byth' same token, one should aeknowledge that eaeh of the four i, in (lne "av or anotha constrained by the otherthree, In one sense then ovcremph.", on one I~ Iheexpenst of attention to the other three eonsti lutes.l rorm ~(·fundJmcnt.lt,m.' S.mplypul,one cannot and should not ' h I ' f th in . WIS away lle rCJlny of one or more .c,pcct!i o e lerms whteh globalization h b d" h' 01 as cen procce II1g. Thls certainly docs nOl cxhaust t e ISSue the extent to whieh my h lb " , .. lB' USI

ffi approac lO g O a"zaUon ., moral Jnel mllC' , UI.I m

su ce for the momento Second there ' s th' f " h , l' • e 'ssuc O the proecsses whieh bring aboul globaltzallon -1 ,

causa mechanisms' th 'd ' , bo I th ' or e nv.ng forces.' Whal happens here lO argumenlSa u

e dynall1lcs of ca 't l' d b tdl I d P' a 'sm an the forees of imperialism \Vhieh hal'e undou I r p aye a large part in b ' , I d" , l' nnglllg tle world int an increasingly compressed con .1I0n, n argumg tha! mille is a It l' ' 'el' th 'd th eu ura perspect.ve on globalization Ido nol ",.sh 10 con' , e. ea at 1 consider th f ' , bal ' '00 , e matter o Ihe forees' or ' the meehanisms of glo ozall

UflImportant. Howeve I II d ofWest "r, am we aware that that is weU-trodden ground, Thesprea

ern capltallSm and th I ____ J eal length as h h' , e pan p ayed by imperialism have been addr""", algr

, as t e mereasmgl I "'obal economy 1 y eomp ex erystallization of the conlcmporary 6' , n contrast the d ' , , ' has

• 'SCUSs.on of the disputed terms in which globaltzauon

Globalization as a Problem 91

oeeurred and is oeeurriog has beeo greatly oeglected. It is that and directly related issues which form the main coocero . . . , and it is hoped that sueh a cultural focus wiU place work in the more traditiooal veio io a oew light. While the use of the term 'culture' here is eertainly oot as broad and aIJ-embraciog as is to be found io sorne tendeocies within the relatively oew field of cultural studies, it is employed much more fluidly and adveoturously than in conventional sociological work. [o particular, my approaeh is used to demoostrate discontinuities aod differenees, rather thao the traditional soeiologieal view of culture as iotegrating. lt is also meant to indicate a particular way of doing sociology, rather than a sociology that concentra tes on culture as such.

Third, io my represeotatioo of the global field [ have emphasized a number of processes of relativizntion. That term is meant to indicate the ways in which, as glo­balization proeeeds, chaJleoges are increasingly preseoted to the stability of particular perspectives on, and collective and individual participation in, the overall globalization proeess. As I have said, this picture of the global field has beeo produeed in primary referenee to eootemporary globality and globalizatioo . It is an ideal-typical representa­tion of what is meaot here by global complexity. [n ooe importaot respeet it iodicates overaU proeesses of differentiatioo io so far as global complexity is eoncerned. Broadly speaking, applieation of the model involves the view that processes of differentiation of the maio spheres of globality iocrease over time. Thus differentiation between the spheres was much lower in earlier phases of globalization; while the effects of such differeotiation have beeo eocouotered uneveoly aod with different responses in dif­ferent parts of ti,. world. [ ... ]

Globalization and the Search for Fundamentals

The approaeh to globalization which 1 have been advocatiog takes its departure from empirical generalizations concerning the rapidly increasing compression of the entLre world into a single, global field aod conceptual ideas about the ways in which the world as a whole should be 'mapped' in broaclJy sociological terms. The two straods of elabo­ration are, of eourse, closely linked. In the relatively early stage of my attempts to theorize the topic of globalizatioo the issue of 'fuoda mentalism' was coospicuous. Indeed it was partly io order to accouot for the resurgence of religious fuodamentalism in the late 1970s aod ea rly 1980s that 1 revitalized my loogstandiog interest io 'inter­national' pheoomeoa. Comiog to terms with fundamenta lism and related issues has been a promioeot aspect of my work on globalization, even though over the last teo years or so I have revised my thinlciog about the relationship between globalizatioo and fundamentalism (more generally 'the seareh for fundamentals ' ). Whereas my first formulations teoded to see politicoreligious fundamentalism as resultiog largely from eompression of the il1ter-societal system (fundameotalism as an attempt to express soeiety identity), my more receot attempts to grasp analytieaJly the more general problem ofthe assertion of'deep particularity' 00 the global scene have ceotred upoo the global eonstruetioo aod disseminatioo of ideas coocerniog the value of particular­ism. The first perspective iovolves ao emphasis 00 space-time compression leading to the felt neeessity for societies (and regions and civilizatioos, as well as 'suboationa]'

92 Explaining GlobalizatiolJ

entities) to declare their idenlilies for bOlh inlernal and cXlerr",1 purposn. le Itnds~ involve a foeus on fund amenlali m .15 a reaL/um 10. ralh r than in asptct -01,

indeed, a ereation - of, globalí7A1lion; ahhough Ihat wa nvllheCld .. rfocusofmy earljer perspeetive. The seeond approach invtllv ~ morc dehnllC Ir on Iht id .. !hat the expectation of idenlily decl.tralinn "hllllc 11110 Ihe cneul proe ofsIobal. ization. This does nol mean Ihal Ihe nOlion 01 fundamenulUm rml;on or resistan ce is thereby relínqui hed, bul Ih.1I Ih.u pu Iblluy 1 nnw \1<".0 in a more

general frame. There have been four major foe.11 p01ll1S Oflhe Ilominanl gl"I>.llIallCl" proce\lsinre

the sixteenth centu ry: nnt;o1Jnlly COIHt,tUIl'd alll"l'fS; ,It, JIIh'fthltJCmdl 1) '(ti! 01 socitt· ies; individuals; and IlIImaTlkllld. Al Ihe ri,k of repellllon. my Mgllmenc 1" Ihisresp«t can be restated. 11 is largely in lerms of Ihe enhan«melll uf ea,h of IhC$t reference points, in the sense of Iheir belllg lanl\ihly ry'I.Ih/cll. Jnd Ihe W'IOS uf problems about the relationships belween Ihem Ihal Ihe I\lcl¡'.lli/allUn rr. ha> procffiiedin reeent eenturies. Allhe same IlIne Ihere have bccn chanse 111 Ihe "JY lO "hi,h ea<h of !hese major componenlS of Ihe verall g1()bal cir<um lan.c ha betn optralivtly eonstrueted. Al! of this means thal wc h.>ve 10 ulI1<cive uf Ihe <oovepl of g/obalizalion as having primarily to d o wilh tlle [or/ll In len", of whi<h Ihe wurld ha mOled lowarru unieity. So when we speak of globalí/allon we mu\l rcali/e Ihal we "rt rrlrrringabore ati to a relatively specifie path Ihal the world ha, laken in the .lIre,linn uf 11 be<oming

singular. The world could in theory, a I have arllued, hJ\c ' ... ,,,me • ,msIe enli~ along different trajeeto ries- Wilholll, for example, IIlVolvinlllhc \Jlicn,cofchenational soeiety whieh has actllally becn a vilal ingrellienl of the ()\'erall globahlalion proc,". l.· .]

Universalism and Particularism Globalized

In rny perspective globalízation in what I caH il primary ~nsc i, • relau\·e1yaulOno·

mous proeess. Its central dYllamic involves lhe Iwofold proce ofthe paru,ularÍl3lion of the universal and !he universalizalion of the particular. The paru,ularizalÍon of

the umversal, defined as the global concrelizalion of Ihe prohlem of univtrsalicy, ha< become the oecasion for the search for global fundamenlal . In olher words. che eurrent phase of very ·d I b l·· . .. ed . . , rapl g o a Izallon faclhlaces Ihe rlSe of mo\"emenl concem wlth the real mea · , f h . 'eh . nmg o t e world, movements (and individualsl searchmg 101 e meamng of the world h I T h . .. ., he . as a w o e. e uOlversahuuon of lhe partIcular relers to t global ul1lversality of th h r. . d od~ f.d . e seare lor the particular, for increa ingly fine·grame m o 1, entlty presentatíon. To put il as s h arpl y as possible I propose Ihal 'fundamental· Ism IS a mode of th h d· ' . . . l· d · oug t an practlce which has become almosl globaUy mslllullon·

alze,mlargeparta~ h . f . ' s ar as t e twentleth century is concerned in lerms oflhe nOlm o_~d~ . . 'il

. . - ermmatlon, announced after World War I by Woodrow W son, glven new life after W Id W Th d Wo Id d h or ar II with respect to what beca me knO"'l1 as che [

r ,an t en expand d I h 1960s onwards I e e on a g obal scale lO all manner of 'enlilie, from I e

. n so lar as analyst ' h ' .' ose to glob l· . s see t e search entirely in terms of an "a"sUC r<spo

a lzatlOn they are ~ ir · l· . This d a mg to deal wlth the particípalory aspeCl of globa IZ300n.

oes not mean !hat th I ere are no atavistic, isolationist or anti-global responses o

Globalization as a Problem 93

g1obalization. But we have to be very careful in delineating these. They are by no means

self-evident. [ .. . ] In addressing globalization 1 have paid particular attention to what 1 have called

the take·off period of modern globalization, lasting from about 1870 through to the mid-1920s; and 1 have been struck by the extent to which in that period the general issue of the coordination of the particular and the universal received widespread prac­tical and political attention. This was a time when there was great emphasis on the need to invent tradition and national identity within the context of an increasingly eompressed, g10balized world. Indeed much of the desire to invent tradition and identity derived from the contingencies of global compression and the concomitant spread of expectations concerning these. During the period lasting from about 1870 to 1925 basic geohuman contingencies were formally worked out in such terms as the time-zoning ofthe world and the establishment of the international dateline; the near­global adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the adjustable seven-day week; and the establishment of international telegraphic and signaling codeso Al the same time, there arose movements which were specifically concerned with the relationship between the local and lhe panlocal, one of the most notable being the ecumenical movement which sought to bring the major 'world' religious traditions into a coordinated, concultural diseourse. On the secular front, lhe international sociaHst movement had paraUel aims, but it was even more ambitious in that it sought to overcome strong particularism in the name of internationalism. A more specific case is provided by the rise at the end of the nineteenth century of the ¡ntemational Youth Hostel movement, which attempted an mternational coordina tia n of particularistic, 'back to nature' ventures. Other particular-universal developments of the time inelude the modern Olympic Games and Nobel prizes. The contemporary use of such terms as 'fundamentals' and 'fundamentalism' was also established, mainly in the USA, in the same periodo

What is partieularly significant about this period is that the material circumstance of the world <as a heliocentric globe) was, as it were, dealt with in relationship to the rapidly spreading consciousness of the global world as such, greatly facilitated by reeently developed rapid means oftravel and cornmunication, such as the airplane and the wireless. One crucial aspect of these trends was that events and circumstances previously segregated in space and time increasingly came to be considered as sinnul­taneous in terms of categories which were universalistically particular and particular­isticaUy universal. Spatial and temporal categories and measures were globaUy institutionalized so as to both accentuate consciousness of difference and to univer­salize difference.

Needless to say, such developments did not emerge de novo during the period in question. The steady growth in map-making and its globalization, the interpenetration of modes of ' travelers' tales,' the growth of postal services, the increase in the spread of travel, the early rise of tourism - a11 these, and still other, developments lay in the background to the rapid trends of the crucial take-off period of modern globalization. One particularly important development of a somewhat different kind concerned what has been caUed the politicization of archeology in the mid-nineteenth century. As we have seen, in lhat earlier period the rnonuments of e1assical and biblical civilization in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and other areas of the Near and Middle East became national quests, within the context of increasingly international and industrialized

94 Explair,;ng Globaliza/ion

society. In lurn tbese nlonUnlcnt~ hove be Onle the ba 01 the olllLial nation~ symbols of the peoples of the Middle ~.a\t and the ea'teen ;\1edllerranean. Now in those areas both loca l and nonlo~al archeolog' tare harlOs '. n(W p.!lt for ,he peoples of that region.' AII of lhis bell,ln, ,t huuld be remembered, 10 a pen"d ofgrea' (often imperial) concern with the unifi ation of humankond

In sum 1 argue that the se.rch for fundamental - in MI far a 11 ex, t on anpig· nificanl scale - is lO a considerable dellree both a «,ntingent k. ture ,,1 g1obalizalion and an aspeel of global cultu re. In J scnse 'fundamentali,m wllhin limll' makes~o·

balizalion work. 1·· ·1

national Now in

pa t for Ihe !",riO<! of gr"l

11

Disjuncture and Difference in I Arjun Appadurai the Global Cultural Econorny

It takes only the merest aequaintanee wilh the faets of Ihe modem world to note that it is now an interactive system in a sense that is strikingly new. Historians and sociolo­gists, espeeiaUy Ihose eoneemed with transloeal proeesses and Ihe world systems asso­eialed with eapitalism, have long been aware that the world has been a congeries of large-scale interactions for many centuries. Yet today's world involves interactions of a new order and intensity. Cultural transaetions between social groups in the past have generaUy been restrieted, sometimes by the faets of geography and ecology, and at other times by active resistance to interaetions with the Other (as in China for mueh of its history and in Japan befare the Meiji Restoration). Where there have been SllS­tained cultural transaetions aeross large parts of the globe, they have usually involved the long-dislance jOllmey of commodities (and of the merehants most coneemed with Ibem) and of Iravelers and explorers of every type. The two main forees for sustained cultural interaetion before this eentury have been warfare (and the large-seale politieal systems sometimes generated by it) and religions of eonversion, whieh have some­times, as in the case of Islam, taken warfare as one of Ihe legitimate instrwnents of Ibeir expansion o Thus, between travelers and merehants, pilgrims and eonquerors, the world has seen mueh long-distance (and long-term) cultural traffic. This mueh seems self-evident.

But few wiU deny Ihat given the problems of time, distance, and limited teehnolo­gies for the eommand of resourees aeross vast spaees, cultural dealings between soeiaUy and spalially separated groups have, unti! the past few eenturies, been bridged at great eost and sustained over time only wilh great effort. The forees of cultural gravity seemed always to pull away from the form ation of large-seale eeumenes, whether religious, cornmercial, or political) toward smaller-scale accretions of intimacy and interest.

Original publication detai1s: Excerpted from Arjun Appadurai, "Disjuncture and Difference in thc Global Cultural Econorny," in Modernity tU lArge: Cullllraf Dimensiolls ofGlobalizatiotl, University of Minnesota Press, 1996, pp. 27-30, 32-43.

96 Explaining Globalizntioll

Sometime in the past few eenlurie,. Ihe nalure of Ihi gra"lal",",1 fidd !<tmSlo have ehanged. Partly beca use of Ihe spiril of Ihe cxp.n,ion uf W lem manltme inllr· ests after 1500. and parlly became of Ihe rcl.ltively .ulOnnmuu oe\rlopm.nlS oflarge and aggressive social formalions in Ihe Ameri .h hush Ihe 1\11« and Ihe Incas), in Eurasia (sueh as Ihe Mongo" and Ihelr de,><enoant'. the Mugh.1 .no Ollomans), in island Soulheast Asia (slleh "' Ihe lIu~,"~) •• Ino in Ihe kin oom, 01 precolonial Afriea (sueh as Oahomey). an overlapplllg 'tI (lf eeumen ..... hc:gan tu em'·r~e. in which congeries of money, commcr e, conque,' •• lnd mi¡.tr.ttion bcgan tu lrC;ue durable eross-soeietal bonds. This process wa' .l«clcr.llco by the Icchnulngy Iramfm and innovations of the la le eighteenth ano nlnclcenlh <enlUn..-s, wh"h <fe.led complex colonial orders eenlered on Fur(lpe.ln <aplI.IIs ano ,prcao Ihruughoul Ihe non· European world. This inlrie"le ano (lwrl.lpping sel (lf l.ur""nluntal ,",orlds (first Spanish and Portugllese. later prineipall)' I ngli,h, hcnch. ano 1J1Itshlsct the basis for a permanent traffie in ide." of penplchuud .ntl sclfhnoo. whi,h (lealed Ihe

imagined eommunities of reeent ll.ltiun.li,m, Ihrnughnul Ihe ""rld Wilh what Benedicl Anderson ha, calleo · prinl capIIJIi,m." a ncw po"" was

unJeashed in the world. the power of m.l" IlIer.leY Jnd ", anendant large "ale pro· duetion of projeets of ethnie affinity that were remarkably free 01 the nffli for face· to-face communication or even of indlrCf..1 communic.:allun hc:t\\(Cn pc:rsons and groups. The aet of reading things togelher set Ihe \tage fm mnvcmcnb based on a paradox - the paradox of constructeo primordlali,m, There ". of COUI'>t. a gre" deol else that is involved in the slory of colonlJltsm ami liS di.llc<tilally ~en<rated national· isms, but the issue of constructed cthnicitles is ,urely a crucial 'Irand lO Ihis tale.

But the revolutio n of print capitali,m anO the cultural aflintlie, and dialogues unleashed by it were only modest precursor, lO the world we livc \Il now. For in the

past eentury, there has been a technolosieal e'plo ion. largely in Ihe domain oftrans· portation and information. that makes Ihe interaetion of a pnnt.domtn,ted "orld seem as hard-won and as easily erased as the pnnt re,olution mad. "rhe! forms of cultura! traffie appear. For with the advent of the steamship. the automobile. the airo

plane. the camera, the eomputer. and the lelephone. we have enler.d lOto an altogether new conditlOll of neighborliness. even with those mo t dístant from ourselves. Mar· shall MeLuhan, among others. sought to theorize about Ihis world asa "global village," but theories su eh as MeLuhan's appear to have overestimatcd the communitarian lmphcatIons of the new media arder. Wc are no\'/ aware lhat with media, each time we are tempted to speak of the global village. we must be reminded that media create con:munltles with "no sense of place." The world we live in now seems rhizomic,even sehlzophrenic calling ~ lh . I 'al d' , or eo nes of rootlessness alienation and psycho oglC iS·

tanee between individ Id ' • 'gh) f

. ua s an groups on the o ne hand and fantasies (or", tmares o eleetroIDe propin'ty h ' I ' f gUI on t e other. Here. we are close to lhe central prob emaUc o cultura! proeesses in today's world.

Thus, the curiosity that d p. h d el f

. rove ICO Iyer to Asia (in 1988) is in some ways I epro u o a eonfuslOn betwe . f h btl en some me fable McOonaldization of lhe "orld and the mue sthu er ¡pla

dy of indigenous trajeetories of desire and fear with global flowsof peopleand

mgs. n eed Jyer's . . I ra1 syste' ' . Own Impresslons are testimony to the fac!lhat. if" globalcu tu m IS emergmg it is fill d . h . . • ed as

Passivity d b' e WLt IrOOles and resistances so me times camouuag

an a ottomless '. • appetlte 111 the Asian world for things \Vestern.

d

Disjuncture and Difierence in the Global Cultural Economy 97

Iyer's own account of the uneanny Philippine affinity for American popular musie is rich testimony to the global culture of the hyperreal, for somehow Philippine rendi­tions of American popular songs are both more widespread in the Philippines, and more disturbingly faithful to their originals, than they are in the United States today. An entire nation seems to have learned to mimk Kenny Rogers and the Lennon sisters, like a vast Asian Motown ehorus. But Americanization is certainly a pallid term to apply to such a situation, for not only are there more Filipinos singing perfeet rendi­tions of sorne American songs (oflen from the American past) than there are Ameri­cans doing so, there is also, of eourse, the faet that the rest of their lives is not in complete synchrony with the referential world that first gave birth to these songs.

In a further globalizing twist on what Fredrie Jameson has ealled "nostalgia for the present," these Filipinos look baek to a world they have never lost. This is one of the central ironies of the polities of global cultural flows, espeeially in the arena of enter­tainment and leisure. [ ... ]

The central problem of today's globa! interaetions is the tension between eultur~' homogenization and cultura! heterogenization. A vast array of empirieal faets eouldb be brought to bear on the side of the homogenization argument, and mueh of it has come from the left end of the speetrum of media studies, and sorne from other per­spectives. Most aften, the homogenization argument subspeciates ¡nto either an argu­ment about Americanization or an argument about commoditizationJ and very often tbe two arguments are closely linked. What these arguments fail to eonsider is that at least as rapidly as forees from various metropolises are brought into new soeieties they tend to become indigenized in one or another way: this is true of musie and housing styles as much as it is true of science and terrorism, spectacles and constitutions. The dynamics of sueh indigenization ha ve just begun to be explored systemieally, and much more needs to be done. But it is worth noticing that for the people ofIrian Jaya, lndonesianization may be more worrisome than Americanization, as Japanization may be for Koreans, !ndianization for Sri Lankans, Vietnamization for the Cambodians, and Russianization for the people of Soviet Armenia and the Baltie republies. Such a list of alternative fears to Amerieanization eould be greatly expanded, but it is not a shapeless inventory: for polities of smaller sea!e, there is always afear of cultural absorption by polities of larger sea!e, especially those that are nearby. One man's imagined cornmunity is another man's political prison.

This scalar dynarnie, whieh has widespread global manifestations, is a!so tied to the relationship between nations and states. For the moment let us note that the simplifi­cation of these many forees (and fears) of homogenization can also be exploited by nation-states in relation to their own minorities, by posing global commoditization (or capitalism, or some other such external enemy) as more rea! than the threat of its Own hegemonic strategies.

The new global cultura! eeonomy has to be seen as a eomplex, overlappiog, disjunc­tive order that cannot any longer be understood in terms of existing eenter - periphery models (even those that might aceouot for multiple eenters and peripheries). Nor is it susceptible to simple mode\s of push and pull (in terms of migration theory), or of surpluses and deficits (as in traditional models of balance of trade), or of eonsumers and producers (as in most neo-Marxist theories of development). Even the most complex and flexible theories of global development that have come out of the Marxist

98 Explai/liflg Globalizatioll

tradition are inadequately quirky .nd have failed to come lO termo wuh "hal 5<OtI Lash and John Urry have called disorganlled capltali,m. The wmpl<xuy "flh<currenl global economy has to do with cerlalll fund"'1lenl.1 di'lunetor bcl,,<tn economy,

culture, and polilies that we have only bCl\un to theo",c. l pro pose thal an e1emenlary framework for .1<rlorll1& ,u,h dl\Iun,lut< is to look

at the relationship among five dimen~lon~ of global <uhur.11 flo", Ihal can he termed (a) et""oscapes, (b) medinsmpcs, (e) tcdIllO'WP"l, (d) jilll"'f..,II/P,· ,ano (r) Ideoseapes. The suffix -scape allows us 10 point lO Ihe flUId, IrregulM ,har<" uf Ih,-M' laods<apes, shapes that eharaelerize intcrnalio.,.,1 <3pll.,1 .,. deel,ly.\S Ihey du 10I«03\100al c101h­ing styles, These terms with lhe eommon suffi. -sil/pe al o Ind"ale IhJllh,;e are nol objeetively given relalions lhal look Ihe ~Jme fmm C\'cry .nBle ,,1 ",ino bUI, ralher, lhat they are deeply perspectival con"rU'I\. inflecled by Ihe h"lUri,ul . lio~uislic,and polilical situatedness of differenl ,or" of JclOr : na\lnn ,Iales. muhlOa\lunall, oiasporic comm unities, as well as subnationa) grtlllping\ Jno nlt.lvemc:1ll (whcthtr religiou~ politieal, or eeonomie), and even inllmalC f.lle ' lu ·fa<c grour', ,u,h a, village~ neigh. borhoods, and families, Indeed, the IIldlvidu.II.lClor" Ihe la'l hl<.lI\ uf Ihl' p<"p<clival set of landseapes, for these landseapcs .lre evcnlually navigaled by a~enb who bolh experience and constitute larger formalions, in pan from thclr own ')Cn\C (lf what these landseapes offer,

These landseapes thus are lhe buildlllg block, of whal (CXlClIlhll~ Il<nediCl Ander­son) 1 would like lO eall illlngilled worltls, lh.1I i~. the muhirle "",Id, Ihal are cansli­tuted by the histo rieaUy situaled imaginaliolls of pcrsoll\ .lId group' 'pread around the globe, An important fa el of lhe wurld we live in loday is Ihal l1Iany per",ns on Ihe globe live in sueh imagined worlds (a nd nol Just in imagllled coml1lunlll< ) and Ihus are able to con test and someli mes even subvcrl Ihe imaglllcd world, 01 Ihe oflicial mmd and of the entrepreneurial menlalily Ihal surround Ihem,

By ethnoseape. 1 mean the landscape of per ons who con",lule the ,hifting world In w.hich we live: tourists. immigrants. refugecs. exiles, guest WOrkl'fS. and other movmg groups and individuals eonslilule an <ssenll.1 feature uf lhe world and appear to affeet the polities of (and belween) nalions 10 a hilherto unprc<edcnled degre<, This Isnot to say lhat there are no relatively slable eommUllllle .nd nelworks ofkinship, fnendshlp, work, and leisure, as weU as of birth. residenc<. and other filial forms, Bul It IS to say that the warp of lhese stabililies is everywhere ShOl Ihrough wilh Ihe woof of human motion" as more persons and groups deal with the realilie> of having 10 move or the fantasles of wanting to move, Whal is more. bOlh these re.lities and fan­taSles now funetion on la I . . d' h' k . rger sea es, as men and women from vlllages 10 In 13 t In

not ¡ust of moving to Poona or Madras bul of moving lO Dubai and HouslOn, and refugees from Sri Lank fi d h ' ' han t emselves 11\ South India as weU as in Switlerland,¡USI as t elHmong are driven to London as weU as to Phil.delphi., And as inlernalional eap,ta shlfts ItS needs d ' . ) as pro U(llon and technology generate different needs, aS nahon-states shift their 1"

ce po ICles on refugee populations these moving groups can never auord to let their . . . )

B ¡ Imagmallons reSI lOO long. even if they wish lO, y tee moseape l mean lh I bi d th ch' e g o a eonfiguralion, also ever fluid. of lechnology an

e ,aet t at teehnology b h h' h ' moves t h' h ,01 Ig and low. both meehanieal and informauonal, now a 19 speeds aeross ' ki d ' 1 countri vanous J1 s of previously impervious boundanes. ~ any es now are the roots of l ' , ' L'b I11U tmatlOnal enterprise: a huge slee! eomplex m I ya

Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy 99

may involve interests from India, China, Russia, and Japan, providing different eom­ponents of new teehnologieal eonfigurations. The odd distribution of teehnologies, and thus the peeuliarities of these teehnoseapes, are inereasingly driven not by any obviouseconomies of seale, of politieal control, or of market rationality but by inereas­ingly complex relationships among money flows, political possibilities, and the availability ofboth un- and highly-skilled labor. So, while India exports waiters and ehauffeurs to Dubai and Sharjah, it also exports software engineers to the United Sta tes - indentured briefly to Tata-Burroughs or the World Bank, then laundered through the State Department to beeome wealthy resident aliens, who are in turn objeets of seductive messages to invest their money and know-how in federal and state projeets

in India. l ... 1 It is useful to speak as weU of fil1ancescapes, as the disposition of global capital is

nowa more mysterious, rapid, and diffieult landseape to foUow than ever before, as currency markets, national stock exchanges, and cornmodity speculations move mega­monies through national turnstiles at blinding speed, with vast, absolute implieations for small differenees in pereentage points and time units. But the critieal point is that the global relationship among ethnoseapes, teehnoseapes, and finaneescapes is deeply disjunctive and profoundly unpredietable beeause eaeh of these landseapes is subjeet to its 0\'111 constraints and incentives (sorne political, same informational, and sorne technoenvironmental), at the same time as each acts as a constraint and a para meter for movements in the others. Thus, even an elementary model of global politieal economy must take i.nto aeeount the deeply disjunetive relationships among human movement, technologieal f1ow, and financial transfers.

Further refraeting these disjunetures (whieh hardly form a simple, meehanieal global infrastructure in any case) are what I eaU mediascapes and ideoscapes, whieh are closely related landscapes of images. Mediascapes refer both to the distribution of the electronic capabilities to produce and disseminate information (newspapers, maga­zines, television stations, and film-production studios), which are now avaiJable to a growing number of private and publie interests throughout the world, and to the irnages of the world ereated by these media. These images involve many complieated inftections, depending on their mode (doeumentary or entertainment), their hardware (electronic or preeleetronic), their audienees (local, national, or transnational), and the interests of those who own and control them. What is most important about these mediaseapes is that they provide (especially in their teJevision, film, and cassette forms) large and complex repertoires of images, narra ti ves, and ethnoscapes to viewers throughout the world, in whieh the world of eommodities and the world of news and politics are profoundly mixed. What this means is that many audienees around the world experience the media themselves as a eomplieated and interconneeted repertoire of print, celluloid, eJeetronie sereens, and billboards. The Iines between the realistie and the fictionallandseapes they see are blurred, so that the farther away these audi­ences are from the direet experienees of metropolitan tife, the more likeJy they are to construct imagined worlds that are ehimerieal, aesthetie, even fantastie objeets, par­ticularly if assessed by the eriteria of sorne other perspeetive, sorne other imagined world. l ... 1

ld,oseapes are also eoneatenations of images, but they are ofren direetly politieal and frequently have to do with the ideologies of states and the eounterideologies of

100 Explaining Globalizatioll

movements explicitly oriented to ca pturing sta te power or a piece of it Thes< ideo­scapes are composed of elements of the Enlighten menl worldV1ew. whlch cons~Uof a chain of ideas, terms, and ¡mages, Il1cludangfreedom. we/lare, "gll ts, sovtrelgmy, rlP­resentation. and the master term dem ocracy. The master narrative of lhe Enlighlenm.nt (and its many variants in Britain. France. and lh~ United tat.es) was construmd with a certain internallogic and presupposed a ce rtm n relatto nshlp belween readmg. rep· resentation. and the public sphere. But lhe di aspo ra of Ihese lerms and images across the world. especially since the nineteenth cenl u ry. has loosened the internal cohecen" that held them together in a Euro-American masler narrative and provided inslrada loosely structured synopticon of po litics. in wh ich d ifferent nalion-slates. as panof their evolution. have organized their po lil ica l cultures aro und different keyworck

l·· .] This globally variable synaesthesia has hardly even been nOled. bUI it demands

urgent analysis. Thus democracy has clea rly beeo me a master leml. with powerful eehoes from Haiti and Poland to the fo rmer Soviet Union and hina. but il sits al the eenter of a variety of ideoseapes. eomposed of dislinetive pragmatic eonfigurationsof rough translations of other central terms from the voeabulary of the Enlighlenment This creates ever new terminologieal kaleidoseopes. as sta les (and Ihe groups thatSltk to capture them) seek to paeify po pulatio ns whose own ethnoscapes are in mOlion and whose mediaseapes may crea te severe problems for the ideoseapes wilh whichthey are presented. The f1uidity of ideoseapes is complieated in particular by the growing diasporas (both voluntary and involuntary) o f intelleetua ls who continuously in¡ect new meaning-streams into the discourse of democracy in differenl parts of Ihe world.

This extended terminological discussion of the five terms 1 have eoined seU Ihe basis for a tentative formulation about the conditio ns under which eurrenl globalflo>' oceuc: they occur in and through the growing disjunctures among elhnoscapes.le<h· noscapes. financescapes. mediascapes. and ideoscapes. This formulation. Ihe core of my model of global cultural f1ow. needs sorne explanation. First. people. machinerr. mone~J lm~ges) and ideas now foUow increasingly nonisomorphic paths; of COUr5f, al

all penods m human history thece ha ve been sorne disjunctures in the Aows of lhese things. but the sheec speed. scale. and volume of eaeh of these Aows are noW so grral that the disjunetuces have beeome central to the politics of global culture. The Japanese are notonously hospitable to ideas and are stereotyped as inclined to export (all) and Impon (sorne) goods. but they are a lso notoriously closed to immigration. like Ibe $WISS. the Swedes and th S d· y. l · f • e au IS. et lhe SWlSS and the Saudis accepl popu attons o guest workers thus t· lb · . . • crea II1g a or dlasporas of Turks. Italians. and other mcum· Medlterranean group S h . I '. s. ame suc guest-worker groups maintain contllluOUS conl3C wlth thelf home f lile . . na lons. e the Turks. but others like high-Ievel South ASlan mlgrants. tend to desi r . h· • f d . . re lves in t eu new homes. raising anew the problem O repro·

uctlOn m a deterritoriaJized context Deterritorialization . al . . Id

b '. ) m gener , JS One of the central forces of the modero \\'or eeause It brmgs laboring l· . f la

tivel a1th .. popu atlOns II1to the lowec-class sectors and spaees o re . y we y soelelIes while so·· . ·fi d senses of cr"f . • melImes creatmg exaggerated and mtenSI e I IClsm or attachment t r· . h ther

of Hindus Sikh . . o po lites m the home sta te. Deterritorialization. w e , s, Palestlmans, or Ukrainians, is now at the core of a variety of global

•

DisjU/lctllre and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy 101

fundamentalisms, including Islamie and Hindu fundamentalism. In the Hindu case, for example, it is clear that the overseas movement of Indians has been exploited by a variety of interests both wilhin and outside India to crea te a complieated network of fioaoces and religious identifications, by which Ihe problem of cultural reprodue­tion for Hindus abroad has beco me tied to Ihe politics of Hindu fundamentalism

at home. At the same time, deterritoriaüzation creates new markets for film companies, art

impresarios, aod trave! agencies, wh ieh thrive on the need of the deterrilOrialized papulation for contact wilh its homeland. Naturally, these invented homelands, whieh eoostitute the mediaseapes of deterritorialized groups, can often become suffieiently faotastie aod ooe-sided that they provide the material for new ideoseapes in whieh ethoic eooflicts can begio to erupt. The creation of Khalistan, an invented home!and oflhe deterritorialized Sikh population ofEngland, Canada, and the United States, is ooe example of the bloody potential in such mediaseapes as they interaet with the internal colonialisms of the nation-state. The West Bank, Namibia, and Eritrea are other Iheaters for the enaetment of Ihe bloody negotiation between existing nation­states and various deterritorialized groupings.

It is in the fertile ground of deterritoriaHzation, in which money, commodities, and persons are involved in eease!essly chasing each olher around the world, that the mediascapes and ideoseapes of the modern world find their fractured and fragmented couoterparl. For Ihe ideas and images produced by mass media often are only partial guides to Ihe goods and experienees Ihat deterritorialized populations transfer to ooe anolher. In Mira Nair's brilliant film India Cabaret, we see Ihe multiple loops of this fraetured deterritorialization as young women, bare!y competent in Bombay's metro­poütan g1itz, come to seek their fortunes as cabaret daneers and prostitutes in Bombay, eotertaining men in clubs wilh dance formats derived wholly from Ihe prurient dance sequences ofHindi films. These seenes in tum eater to ideas about Westem and foreign women and Iheir looseness, while Ihey provide tawdry eareer alibis for these women. Sorne of these women come from Kerala, where cabaret clubs and the pornographie film industry have blossomed , partly in response 10 Ihe purses and tastes of Keralites returned from Ihe Middle East, where Iheir diasporie lives away from wom en distort Iheir very sense of what the relat ions between men and women might be. These trag­edies of displacement eould eertainly be replayed in a more detailed analysis of the relations between the Japanese and German sex tours to Thailand and Ihe tragedies of the sex trade in Bangkok, and in olher similar loops that tie together fantasies about the Other, the convenienees and seduetions of trave!, the economies of global trade, and the brutal mobility fantasies that dominate gender politics in many parts of As ia and the world at large. l ... ]

One important new feature of global cultural polities, tied to the disjunetive rela­tionships among the various landscapes discussed earHer, is that state and nation are at eaeh other's throats, and the hyphen Ihat links them is now less an icon of conjunc­ture Ihan an index of disjuneture. This disjunetive relationship between nation and state has two levels: at the leve! of any given nation-state, it means Ihat Ihere is a battle of the imagination, with state and nation seeking to eannibalize one another. Here is the seedbed of brutal separatisms - majoritarianisms that seem to have appeared from nowhere and mieroidentities Ihat have beeome politieal projects wilhin Ihe

102 Explaining Globaliza/ion

nation-state. At another level, thi di. junCllve rclallon,h,p " deeply entangled with various global disjunetures: ideas of nationhood appear to be tradily Inlfeasing in seale and regularly erossi ng existing state boundane', somellmt" a, wnh the Kurds, beca use previous identities stretehed oeros va<t national 'palo., ur," wnh the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the dormant threads of o transn.tional tIia poro ha'f beco .Cltvated to

ignite the mieropolities of a nation -s tatc. l. · ·) States find themselves pressed to stay open by the ftlrce, 01 med,a, te,hnology,and

travel that have fueled eonsumerism throughout the world ontl h.we ,n<teased the craving, even in the non-Wcstern world t ror ncw ommoduic ... lod ,pc~1¡)dts,Onthe other hand, these very eravings con beco me aught up in new tthoo"ap,:\, medias· capes, and, eventually, ideoseopes, su h a demo r,ley in Chin.l. that the ,tate cannot tolerate as threats to its own control over ,dca, of nallonho<>d anu ptoplehood. States throughout the world are under siege, C'pc<taJly ",here conte,t' ,,'er the ,dooseapes of demoeracy are fieree and fundamental, and where there are radical d, )unctures between ideoscapes and teehnoseapes (as in the aI.C of wry ,maJl ,ount". that lack eontemporary teehnologies of produet,on .nd ,nformallon); (lr betwe.n ,dooseapes and finaneeseapes (as in eountrie sueh a Mexico or Bralll. "here mteroational lending influenees national polities 10 a very l.uge degreo); or hctwcco ,dcoscapesand ethnoseapes (as in Beirut, where di.sporic, local, .1Od translOl.alliliatíon\ Jrt suicidally at battle); or between ideoseapes .nd mediJscape (a~ ,n many eountrie, m the Midille East and Asia) where the lifestyles representcd on both national and ioternationalTV and ci nema completely overwhehn and undcnnllle the rheloric of nallonal politics. In the Indian case, the myth of the law-breaking hero ha emerged to mediate this naked struggle between the pieties and reali ties of Indian politics. whi,h has grown inereasingly brutalized and corrupl.

The transnational movcment of the martial arts. particularly through As,a. as medio ated by the Hollywood and Hong Kong film industries IS a rieh ¡lIustrallon oftheways in whieh long-standing martial arts traditions, refonnulated to meet the fantasies of con temporary (sometimes lumpen ) youlh p pulation ,create new cultures of malCU­limty and violente. whieh are in lurn the fuel for increased violenc< io national and mternational politics. Sueh violencc is in turn the spur to an increa ingly rapid and amoral arms trade that penetrates the entire world. The worldwide spread oftheAK· 47 and the Uzi in films . . . . l' d . . . .'. ' 111 corporale and state secunty, m terror, and m po Ice an md,tary aetlvlty, IS a reminder that .pparenlly simple teehnieal uniformities often coneeal an increasingly com I fll '" . . . s . . p ex set o oops, IIlklllg ,mages of v,olencc to asp",uon for commu11Ity m sorne imagincd world.

Returning then to the ethnose.pes wilh whieh I began, the cenlral parado, of ethmc politlcs in toda ' Id . . I . Y s wor 's thal primordia (whether of language or skin coor or nelghborhood or ki h' ) I h . . ns 'p lave become globalized. That is, sentiments, " ose greatest force IS III thei bTty . . . al' . . r a " to 'glllle IIllim.cy into a politieal state and turo lo< ,ty mto a stagmg ground fo 'd . h r, ent,ty, ave become spread over vast .nd irregular spaces as groups move yet sta r k d . b'ü f Th" Y m e to one anolher lhrough sophisticated media capa' -t,es. IS IS not to deny that Su eh primordia are often the product of invented tradi· lons or retrospective affi l" ti b ' . ' d

unstabl ' I 'a ons, ul lO emphasize lhat beca use of the d'SJunc!tvean e mterp ay of com d' , . ethnic'ty . merce, me la, national policies, and consumer ¡antasle5,

l ,once a geme eonta d' h I ) me III t e botlJe of some sort ofloeality (however arge,

<

Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy 103

has now beeome a global force, forever slipping in and through the eraeks between

sta tes and borders. But !he relationship between the cultural and eeonomie levels of this new set of

global disjunetures is not a simple one-way street in whieh the terms of global cultural politics are set whoUy by, or confined whoUy within, the vieissitudes of international flows of teehnology, labor, and finance, demanding only a modesl modifieation of existing neo-Marxist models of uneven development and state fonnation. There is a deeper ehange, itself driven by the disjunetures among all the landseapes [ have dis­eussed and eonstituted by their continuously fluid and un-eertain interplay, that con­eems the relationship between produetion and eonsumption in today'sglobal economy. Here, 1 begin with Marx's famous (and often mined) view of the fetishisl11 of the eOI11-modity and suggest that this fetishism has been replaeed in the world at large (now seeing the world as one large, interaetive systel11, composed of many complex subsys­tems) by two mutually supportive descendants, the first of whieh 1 eaU produetion fetishism and the seeond, the fetishisl11 of the consumer.

By production fetishism I mean an iUusion ereated by eontemporary transnational produetion loei that masks transloeal capital, transnational earning flows, global man­agement, and often faraway workers (engaged in various kinds of high-teeh putting­out operations) in the idiom and speetacle ofloeal (sometimes even worker) control, national produetivity, and territorial sovereignty. To the extent that various kinds of free- trade zones have become the models for produetion at large, espeeiaUy of high­teeh eommodities, produetion has itselfbeeome a fetish, obseuring not social relations as sueh but the relations of produetion, whieh are inereasingly transnationa!. The loeality (both in the sen se of the local faetory or site of produetion and in the extended sense of the nation-state) beco mes a fetish that disguises the globaUy dispersed forees that aetuaUy drive the production proeess. This genera tes alienation (in Marx's sense) twiee intensified, for its social sense is now compounded by a eomplieated spatial dynamie that is increasingly global.

As for the fetishism of ¡he consumer, I mean to indicate here that the consumer has been transformed through commodity flows (and the mediaseapes, espeeiaUy of adver­tising, that aeeompany them) into a sign, both in BaudriUard's sense of a simulaerum that only asymptotieally approaehes the form of a real social agent, and in the sense of a mask for the real seat of agency, whieh is not the eonsumer but the produeer and lhe many forees that eonstitute produetion. Global advertising is the key teehnology for!he worldwide dissemination of a plethora of ereative and culturally weU-ehosen ideas of consumer agency. These images of agency are inereasingly distortions of a world of merchandising so subtle that the eonsumer is eonsistently helped to believe !hat he or she is an actor, where in faet he or she is at best a ehooser.

The globalization of culture is not the same as its homogenization, but globalization ~nvolves the use of a variety of mstruments of homogenization (armaments, advertis­tng leehniques, language hegemonies, and clothing styles) that are absorbed into local political and cultural economies, only to be repatriated as heterogeneous dialogues of national sovereignty, free enterprise, and fundamentalism in whieh the state plays an tncreasingly delieate role: too mueh openness to global flows, and the nation-state is threatened by revolt, as in the China syndrome; too little, and the sta te exits the inter­national stage, as Burma, Albania, and North Korea in various ways have done. In

104 Exp/aining Globalízation

general, the state has become the arbitrageur of this repatriatian af díffere,,,e (in Ihe form of goods, signs, slogans, and styles). But thlS repatrlallOn or export ofthe de>igns and commodities of difference continuously exacerbates the internal politicsof majo,. itarianism and homogenization, which is most frequently played out in debates OVe!

heritage. Thus the central feature of global culture today is the politics of the mutual effort

of sameness and difference to cannibalize one another and thereby proclaim thei, successful hijacking of the twin Enlightenrnent ideas of the triumphantly universaland the resiliently particular. This mutual cannibalization shows its ugly face in ,iOIS, refugee flows, state-sponsored torture, and ethnocide (with or without statesupport). lis brighter side is in the expansion of rnany individual horizons of hope and fantasy, in the global spread of oral rehydration therapy and other low-tech instrumenU of well-being, in the susceptibility even of South Africa to the force of global opinion, in the inability of the Polish state to repress its own working classes, and in the gro'lh of a wide range of progressive, transnational alliances. Examples of both sorts could be multiplied. The critical point is that both sides of Ihe coin of global cultural p,oces> today are products of the infinitely varied mutual con test of sameness and difference on a stage characterized by radical disjunctures between differem sorts of global flows and the uncertain landscapes created in and through these disjunctures. ) . .. )

24

Globalism's Discontents JoseplT E. tiglitz

Few subjects have polarized people throughout lhe world as much as g1obalization. Sorne see it as the way of the fulure, bringing unprecedentcd pro peruy to ,veryone, everywhere. Others, symbolized by the eaule protestors of December 1999, fault globa!ization as the source of unlold problcms, from the destruction of native cultur~ to increasing poverty and immiseration. In this article, I want to sort outthe different meanings of globalization. In many countries, globalization has brought huge benefiu to a few with few benefits to the many. But in the case of a few countries, it has brought enormous benefit to the many. Why have lhere been lhese huge differences in expen' ences? The answer is that globalization has meanl different things in different plac~.

The countries that have managed globalization on their own, such as those in Eall Asia, have, by and large, ensured that they reaped huge benefits and thatlhose benefit5 were equitably shared; they were able substantia!ly lO controllhe terms on which m" engaged with the global economy. By conlrasl, the countries that have, by and Iarg<, had globalization managed for them by the Inlernational Monetary Fund and om" mternational economic institutions have not done so weU. The problem is mus n~ with globalization but with how it has been managed.

The mternational financia! institutions have pushed a particular ideology-mark<! fundamentahsm - that is both bad economics and bad politics; it is based on prem"" concernmg how markets work that do not hold even for developed countrie~ mucb less for developi . h . l" 'moUl ng countnes. T e IMF has pushed these econonllcs po !CteS Wl

a broader vis ion of' h d' h u5heO . . soc.ety or t e role of economics wilhin society. An .t as p these pohCles in wa th h . M ys at ave undermined emerging democraCles .

. ore generally, globalization itself has been governed in ways that are undem. cratlC and have be d' d . II th """ . h' en Isa vantageous to developing countries, espeCia y e yv.-w.t m those e t' T f d ,,~

d f oun nes. he Seattle protestors pointed to the absen" o emo<

an o transparen th . . . f"' b' d f¡ . cy, e governance of the international econonllC Instltu 10 .' an Or speClal corpo t d fi '. f tervailin' ra e an nanclal mterests, and the absence o coun .

Original pubücation detail . E ~ 13: 1, January 1-14, 2002. s. xcerpted from Joscph E. St ig1ill. "GlobaLism's Disconlrnts," ThtAmffl{Q1I

Globalis",'s Discontents 209

democratic checks to ensure that these informal and public institutions serve a general interes!.ln these complaints, there is more than a grain of truth.

BeneficiaI Globalization

Ofthecountries of the world, those in East Asia have grown the fastest and done most to reduce poverty. And they have done so, emphatieally, via "globalization." Their vowth has been based on exports - by taking advantage of the global market for exports and by closing the teehnology gap. It was not just gaps in capital and other resources that separated the developed from the less-developed eountries, but differ­ences in knowledge. East Asian eountries took advantage of the "globalization of knowledge' to reduce these disparities. But while sorne of the eountries in the regio n yewby opening themselves up to multinational eompanies, others, sueh as Korea and ¡¡¡"an, grew by creating their own enterprises. Here is the key distinetion: Eaeh of ~e most successful globalizing eountries determined its own pace of ehange; eaeh made sure as it grew that the benefits were shared equitably; eaeh rejeeted the basic tene~ofthe"Washington Consensus," whieh argued for a minimalist role for govern­ment and rapid privatization and liberalization.

In East Asia, government took an active role in managing the eeonomy. The stee! industry tbat the Korean government ereated was among the most effieient in the world-performing far better than ils private-seetor rivals in the United States (whieh, ~ough private, are eonstantly turning to the government for proteetion and for IUbsidies). Financial markets were highly regulated . My researeh shows that those regulations promoted growth. It was only when these eountries stripped away the regulations, under pressure from the U .S. Treasury and the IMF, that they eneountered problems.

Ouring the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the East Asian eeonomies not only grew rapidly bul were remarkably stable. Two of the eountries most touehed by the 1997-1998 "",omic cr~is had had in the preeeding three deeades not a single year of negative Ynwth; two had only one year _ a better performance than the United States or the otlterwealthy nations that make up the Organization for Eeonomie Cooperation and Devdopment (OECD). The single most important factor leading to the troubles that "'eral of tbe East Asian eountries encountered in the late 1990s - the East Asia crisis -was the rapid liberalization of financial and capital markets. In short, the eountries ofEast Asia benefited from globalization beca use they made globalization work for tltem; it was when they suecumbed to the pressures from the outside that they ran into problems that IVere beyond their own eapaeity to manage well.

Globalization can yield immense benefits. Elsewhere in the deve!oping world, glob,Jization of knowledge has brought improved health, with life spans inereasing ~ 'rapid pace. How can one put a priee on these benefits of globalization? Globaliza-

o has brought still other benefits: Today there is the beginning of a globalized civil . tbat has begun to sueeeed with sueh reforms as the Mine Ban Treaty and debt 'eness for the poorest highly indebted countries (the Jubilee movement). The rza~on protest movement itse!f would not have been posslble Wlthout ization.

210 Economic Globalizatioll

The Darker Side of Globalization

How lhen eould a trend with lhe power lO have so many benefits have produced sueh opposition? Simply beeause it has not only failed to live up to its poteotial but fre­quently has had very adverse effeels, But this fo rees us to ask, why has it had sueh adverse effeets? The aoswer ca n be seen by looki ng at eaeh of the eeooomic eIements of globalization as pursued by lhe international financial iostitutions aod especiallyby

the IMF, The most adverse effeets have arisen from the liberalizatioo of finaocial aod capital

markels _ whieh has posed risks to developiog eouolries without commeosurate rewards, The liberalizalioo has left them prey to hot moncy pouriog ioto the couotr)', ao influx that has fueled speeulative real-estate booms; just as suddeoly, as iovestor sentiment changes. the money is pulled out, leaving in its wake economic devastation. Early 00, lhe IMF said lhat these eountries were being rightly puoished for pursuing bad economie policies, But as lhe crisis spread from eouotry to eouotry, eveo those

that lhe IMF had given high marks found themselves ravaged, The IMF often speaks about the importance of the disciplioe provided by capital

markets, In doiog so, it exhibits a eertain palernalism, a new form of the old colonial mentality: "We in the establishment, we in lhe Norlh who ruo our capital market. know best, Do what we teH you to do, aod you will prosper," The arrogaoee is offen' sive, but the objeelion is more than just 10 style, The positioo is highly uodemocratic: There is ao implied assumption that demoeracy by itself does not provide suffieient d iscipline, But if one is to have an external disciplinarian, one should choose a goo<! diseiplinarian who knows what is good for growth , who shares ooe's values, One doesn't want an arbitrary and capricious ta kmaster who one moment praises you for your virtues and the next screams at you for being rotten to the eore, But capital markets are just sueh a fickle taskmaster ' even ardent advocates talk about their bouu

of irralional exuberanee followed by eq:.ally irrat io nal pessimism,

Lessons of Crisis

Nowhere was the fieldeness more evident than in lhe lasl global financial crisis, Hi;, toncally, most of the disturbances in capital flows into and Oul of a couotry are no

t

the result of faeto ' 'd h ' fl . rs lOS1 e t e cOlllltry. Major disturbances arise, rather, from ¡n u· ences outs.de the cou t Wh ' 99' " n ry, en Argentina suddenly faced high interest rates In 1 • 11 wasn t beca use of h t A ' , ' R -A' w a rgentma d.d but beca use of what happened In U§JO

rgentma eannot be blamed cor Russ" " S

l ' la s CrlSlS . mall developiog eo t' e d' , ' I tili' , 1 h ' un nes lLn .1 vlftually impossible to withstand thlS vo a ~

ave desenbed capil I k l'b ' , lik

a -mar et • erahzatton with a siolple metaphor: Small countn6

are e small boats L'b ]" , ... sea E 'f h ,. era .zmg cap' tal markets is like setling them loose on a roup' , ven. t e boats are II ' I'kd t be hl-t b d 'd we captamed, even if the boats are sound, they are t \'

roa s. e by a b' forth 'h 'g wave and capsize, But the IMF pushed for the boats to ~ mto 1 e roughest a t f th '-~ eaptains d p r s o e sea befo re they were seaworthy, with untraw<"

an erews and w'th I'c e-di' ) 1 out he vests. No wonder matters turned out SO lid ~.

Globalism's Discontents 211

10 stt wby it is important to ehoose a diseiplinarian who shares one's values, oonsider a world in whieh there were free mobility of skilled labor. Skilled labor .uuId then provide discipline. Today, a eountry that does not treat capital well ,~ findcapital quiekly withdrawing; in a world of free labor mobility, if a eountry did not treat skiUed labor well, it too would withdraw. Workers would worry Ihout the quality of their ehildren 's edueation and their family's health eare, the qualityoftheir environment and of their own wages and working canditions. They .. u1d say to the government: If you fail to provide these essentials, we will move ""iIert. That is a far ery from the kind of discipline that free-flowing capital

prOli<les. The hberalization of capital markets has not brought growth: How can one build

r.tonesor create jobs with money that can come in and out of a eountry overnight? Anditgetsworse: Prudential behavior requires eountries to set aside reserves equal to ilt amount of short-term lending; so if a firm in a poor eountry borrows $100 million lI, "y, 10 pereent interest rates short-term from a bank in the United States, the gov­_nt must set aside a eorresponding amount. The reserves are typieally held in r.5. Treasury biUs - a safe, liquid asset. In effeet, the eountry is borrowing $100 million fromtheUnited States and lending $100 million to the United States. But when it oonM,itpays a high interest rate, 20 pereent; when it lends, it reeeives a low interest flle,around 4 pereenl. This may be great for the United States, but it can hardly help tIi'growth of the poor eountry. There is also a high opportunity cast of the reserves; dJe moneyrould have been mueh better spent on building rural roads or eonstrueting !<hIlO. 01 health dinies. But instead, the country is, in effeet, foreed to lend money 1) lhe United States. l ... ]

TheCosts ofVolatility

(¡pital·market liberalization is inevitably aecompanied by huge volatility, and this Itlatility impedes growth and inereases poverty. lt inereases the risks of investing in dlt country, and thus investors demand a risk premium in the form of higher-than­"nnaI plofits. Not only is growth not enhaneed but poverty is inereased through

"''''' channeb. The high volatility inereases the likelihood of reeessions - and the r a1ways bear the brunt of sueh downturns. Even in developed countries, safety are weak or nonexistent among the self-employed and in the rural sector. But arethedominant seetors in developing countries. Without adequate safety nets, lit ", . . . . h t 'lSlons that follow from eapital-market liberalizatlon lead to lmpove.ns men .

~enameofimposing budget discipline and reassuring investors, the IMF mvanably expenditure reduetions, whieh almost inevitably result in cuts in outlays for

nets that are already threadbare. Int DlaUers are even worse _ for under the doctrines of the "discipline of the capital

" il rountries try to tax capital capital flees. Thus, the IMF doctrines inevitably I<lan increase in tax burdens on the poor and the middle elasses. Thus, while IMF

Uenable the rieh to take their money out of the eountry at more favorable terms o'ervalued exehange rates), the burden of repaying the loans hes wlth the

\ who remain behind.

212 Economic Globalization The reason Ihat l emphasize capital-market liberal ization is that the case againslrt

_ and against the IMF's stanee in push ing it - is so eompelling. lt illustrates whal ClJl

go wrong with globalization . Even eeonomi~ts like jagdish Bhagwati, slrong ad,ocalo of free trade, see Ihe folly in Iibe ralizing capItal markets. Belatedly, SO too has !he I~ll _ at least in its official rhetorie, tho ugh less so in its poliey stances - but loo Jal/ for aH Ihose countries that have suffered so much from following Ihe IMF',

prescriptions. But while the case for trade liberalizatio n - when properly done - is quite compel·

ling, Ihe way it has been pushed by the 1M F has been fa r mo re problemalic.Th.b.ic logie is simple: Trade liberalizatio n is supposed to resul t in resourees moving from inefficient protected seetors to m o re efficient export seetors. The problem is not onl¡ that job destruetion comes b efore the job ereotio n - so thal unemployrnenl and poverty resuIt _ but !hat Ihe IMF's "struetural adjustment programs" (designo! io ways that aHegecJly would reassure global investors) m ake job ereation almost impos­sible. For Ihese programs are often aceompa nied by high interest rates that are oh" justified by a single-minded fo cus on inAatio n . Som etimes lhat concern is deserv~ often, though, it is earried to an extreme. In lhe United States, we worry Ihal smal inereases in Ihe interest rate will diseourage investment. The lMF has pushed for f¡¡ higher interest rates in countries with a far less hospitable investment environment The high interest rates mean Ihat new jobs and enterprises are not ereated. Whal happens is that trade liberalization, ra ther than moving workers from low-producti\i~ jobs to high-produetivity ones, moves them fro m low-produetivity jobs 10 unemploy· mento Ralher than enhaneed growth, the effeet is inereased poverty. To make mallen e~en ",:"orse, the unfair trade- liberalizatio n agenda forces poor countries to compete wllh lughly subsidized American and European agrieultu re.

The Governance of Globalization

By eontrast, [ ... ] in Ihe current proeess of globalization we have a system ofwhatl eall global governanee without global government. Intemational institutions like di< World Trade Organ' t' h . d h Iza IOn, t e IMF, the World Bank and others provlde an a o: system of glob 1 . . ' I •.

d . a govemanee, but lt IS a far ery from global government and ".

f 1 b al . t ough lt IS perhaps better than not havtng any ~~te1D emoerahe aeeount bil'ty Al h . . .

o g o a! governanee th . • . ' e system 15 structured not to serve general interests or aSSU1

'

equltable resuIts Th' ti' . . h n h .ft . . IS no on y ralses lssues of whether broader valuesare glvenS o s n ; it does flot even promote growth as mueh as an alternative might.

Governance through Ideology

Consider the eontrast be . 'lo! Sta tes and h tween how eeonomic decisions are made inSlde the Unl ow they are made i Ih" . . .. In th> country' n e mternatlOnal econOffilC LOStltutiOns.

J economlC decision . h' . . . l b di< Nationa! E . s Wlt III Ihe adnulllstratlOn are undertaken large Y Y . eonorrue Couneil h' h' 1 h el n' ~ eommerce Ih h' ' w le lile udes Ihe secretaty of labor, t e secr a., , e e auman of the C iI f el¡¡\' oune o Economie Advisers, the treasury secr

Globalism's Discontents 213

assistant anomey general for anti trust, and the U.S. trade representative. The . ooly one vote and often gets voted down. AlI of these offidals, of eourse,

",part of 3D administration that must faee Congress and the democratie electora te. Butin theintem.tional arena, only the voiees of the finaneial eommunity are heard . n. IMF reports to the ministers of fi nanee and the govemors of the central banks, mdooeofthe important items on its agenda is to m ake these central banks more _dependent - and less democratieaUy accoun table. lt m ight make little d ifferenee if ~, IMF dealt only with matters of eoneem to the fin aneial eom munity, sueh as the deannce ofehecks; but in faet, its polieies affeet every aspeet of li fe . lt forces eou ntr ies tobavetigbt monetary and fi scal polieies: It evaluates the trade-offbetween inflation and unemployment, and in that t rade-off it always p uts fa r more weight on inflation

~on jobs. The problem with having the rules of the game d ictated by the lMF - and thus by

dl financial eommunity - is not just a question of values (though that is important) butalsoa question ofideology. The fi naneial eommunity's view of the world predomi­ml<s - even when lhere is little evidenee in its sup por t. lndeed, beliefs on key issues .,bdd so strongly that theoretical an d empirieal su p port of the positions is viewed

• bardly necessary. Recall again the lMF's positio n o n liberalizing capital markets. As noted, the IMF

pushed asetofpolieies that exposed eoun tries to serio us risk. One migh t have t1lOught, ¡ji" tbe evidenee of the eosts, that the IMF eould offer plenty of evidenee that the ~hcies "so did sorne good. r n faet, there was no such evidenee; the evidenee that was .1ilable suggested that there was little if any positive effeet on growth . Ideology mmled lMF offiei.ls not only to ignore the absence of benefits but also to overlook

1ht oidence of the huge eosts im posed on eountries.

An Unfair Trade Agenda

ro. trade·liberalization agenda has been set by the North , or more accurately, by 'Ittial interests in the North. Consequently, a disp roportionate part of the gains has ~ to the .dv.need industrial eountries, and in sorne cases the less-developed ~ha .' h r ."" ve .ctuaUy been worse off. After the last ro und of trade negOl1atlOns, t e

rtlgUay Round lhat ended in 1994, the World Bank ealculated the gams and losses - eachof theregions ofthe world. The United States and Europe gained enormously. ~sub.Sahar.n Afriea, the poorest region of the world , lost by about 2 pereent

• USe of terms-of-trade effeets: The trade negotiatio ns opened thelr markets to nufacturedgoods produeed by the industrialized eountries but did not open up the

. of Europe and the United States to the agrieultural goods in whieh poor '\e lnesoften have a comparative advantage. Nor did the trade agreements eliminate

I1lbsldies to agrieulture that make it so hard fo r the developmg eountn es to -"",.

!he U.S. negoti. tions with China over its membership in the WTO d isplayed a ' . Slandard bordering on the surreal. The U.S. trade representative, the chief

:.Iot~r forthe United Sta tes, began by insisting that China was ~ developed eountry. 10 rules, developing eountries are allowed longer transltlon penods m whleh

214 EcO/1Omic Globalizatio/1 sta te subsidies and other departll res from Ihe \\'1'0 ",illure Irt permlll<d.Ouno certainly wishes it were a developed counlry. \Vllh W 'lcrn.,lr

le per apila il1(o,""

And since China has a 101 of "ca pilas," il's po, .ble \O muluply a huge num"". people by very smaU average incomes and conclllde IhJI.lhe People'; Republic~lbo¡ economy. But China is nol only a develop.ng e onomy: '1 "a 10,,·IO,ome developiq country. Yet m e Uniled Stales insisted that China be treateo Iike a de>dopedcounl~~ China went along wilh Ihe fietion: Ihe negotintion' dUllSed un so looSlhatChinagx some extra time to adjus!. But lhe true hypo risy "'as ,hown wheo U.S. negotiat," asked, in effect, for developing-c untry status for the Unlleo ~Iate, to S,I exlra till'/

to shelter the American lextile industry. Trade negotiations in lhe service industnO' .llso .Ilu trate the uole>e1 oatureoftht

playing field. Which serviee industries did the Unitcd Sta le, .... Y ,,",re ,·,'t)'imporlllle Financia! services _ induslries in whi h Wall Street ha' a comparati" advanllf Construction industries and muritime crvi c. wcrc not 00 the agenda, becaused't developing eountries would have a comparative advantage \O the<t '>C<tors.

Consider also intellectual-p roperty right , \Vhich are imponanl ifinoovalO~aIt~ have incentives 10 innovale (lhough many of the wrporate adv<xates of inteUect\II. property exaggerate its importance and fail tO note that much of the moSl impo!llll research, as in basic science and mathematie , i, not patcnlablel.lotelle<tual-prope1ll

rights, such as patents and lrademark:., need to balance Ihe II1tcrcsl>ofproducetl,itI mose of users _ not only users in developing countrie • but researchers in dev,lo~ countries. If we underprice lhe profilability f innovalÍon 10 Ihe ioveotor, w,det, mventlOn. If we overpriee its cost to lhe research commulllty aod Ihe end u~r, ~ retard its diffusion and beneficial effeel on living slandards.

In m e final stages of lhe Uruguay negotialions, bolh the Whil< House Offi,,~ SClence and Technology Policy and the ouneil of Economic Advistrs worried tItI we had not got the balance righl _ mal lhe agreement put producers' interests~" users'. We worried that, wilh lhis imbalance lhe rate of progre and inoovationnuP actually be impeded Aft II k I .' . . .. _ .. . er a , now edge IS the mo t imponant IOput mIO r""·~ and overly slrong' t II I . ftl» • 111 e eetua -property rights can, in effect, increase Ihe pnte o mput. We were also c d b . l" ... ... . oneeroe a oul me eonscquences of den)'lng IIe-saVlnglll<'" emes to the poor This . b . . h n'!Il

f .. ' Issue su sequently g.ined inlernational .nenUon m t eCO .

o the provlSlon of AlDS d " . 'r(lÍ th d m e ,cllles III SOll th Afric •. The international outrage

'o de rug companies to back down _ and it appears lhat, going forward, the 0>1.

a verse consequences ill b " "'aIl ..... th D . w e cllcumscnbed. But il is worth noting Ihallno!' y, e emocratlc U S ad '. . . Wh . . mll1lstratlon supported lhe pharmaceutical companoes.

at we were not fu ll f be "biop' " '. y aware o was another danger - what has come 10 IIacy, whlch lllVOI e '. . d" 1m cines N 1 v s mtern.t.onal drug companies patentmg tra .uona

. 01 on y do they se k " ,1 d' rightfull b I e lO m ake money from "resources and kno"' g y e ong lo the de I . I h do firms who I . ve opmg countries, but in doing SO they sque e

ong prov.ded mes t d " .. ." Ir" mese patent l era Itlonal medJemes. Whlle It .s not cea s wou d hold u ' . ed . . lear

the less-de I d P III court If they were effectively challeng , .IISe

ve ope count' to mount such h n es m ay not have the legal and financia! resourees

r . a c aIIenge Th ' h mo and potentiall .' e Issue as become the source of enormo

us e

yeconom lC eo I Id Th' faIl' , ncem t uoughout the developing wor. .s '

Globalism's Discolltellts 215

1 ,as ~ Ecuador visiting a village in the high Andes, the Indian mayor railed against ho,~obaIization had led to biopiraey. l ... J

Global Sodal Justice

looay, in mueh of the developing world, globalization is being questioned. For instance, in Latin Ameriea, arter a short burst of growth in the ea rly I 990s, stagnation mdrecession have set in. The growth was not susta ined - some might say, was not runainabk. Indeed, at this juneture, the growth reco rd of the so-ealled post-reform eraJooks no better, and in some eountries mueh worse, than in the widely critieized IDIport.\ubstitution period of the 1950s and 1960s when Latin eountries tried 10

0dustriaIize by discouraging impons. Indeed, reform erities point out that the burst ~~owth in tbe early 1990s was Iittle more than a "eateh-up" that did not even make

opfor lbe loS! deeade of the 1980s. Throughout the region, people are asking: "Has reform failed or has globalization

frltd?" The distinetion is perhaps artificial, for globalization was at the eenter of the .forros. Even in those countries that have managed to grow, sueh as Mexieo, the beoefits have aecrued largely to the upper 30 percent and have been even more con­rentratedintbetop ID percent. Those at the bottom have gained Uttle; many are even "", off. The reforms have exposed eountries to greater risk, and the risks have been oome d~proportionately by those least able to cope with them. Just as in many eoun­triowherethe paeing and sequeneing of reforms has resulted in job destruetion out­'"tr~¡jobcreation, so too has the exposure to risk out-matehed the abi li ty to create institutions for eoping with risk, including effeetive safety nets.

In th~ b1eak laodseape, there are some positive signs. Those in the North have I.wnt< more aware of the inequities of the global eeonomie architeeture. The agree­""'tat Doha to hold a new round of trade negotiations - the "Development Round" -promises to rectify sorne of the imbalanees of the pasto There has been a marked <hange in tbe rhetorie of the international eeonomie institutions - at least they talk oboutpoverty. At the World Bank, there have been some real reforms; there has been ,meprogress in translating the rhetorie into reality - in ensuring that the voiees of

1Ie poor are heard and the eoneerns of the developing countries are listened 10. But """itere, tbere is often a gap between the rhetorie and the reality. Serious reforms in "'emanee, in who makes deeisions and how they are made, are not on the table. If lI!I"fth . f e problems at the IMF has been that ideology, interests, and perspeetlves o ~ financial eommunity in the advaneed industrialized eountries have been given

roponionate weight (in matters whose effeets go well beyond finanee), then the ~"P«ts for suecess in the eurrent diseussions of reform, in which the same parties ::r.:ueto predominate, are bleak. They are more Iikely to result in slight ehanges in

ape oftbe table, not ehanges in who is at the table or what IS on the agenda. September II has resulted in a global alliance against terrorismo What we now need lIOt JUSI an alliaoee agail1st evil, but an allianee for something positive -. a global

' ''ti for redueing poverty and for creating a better environment, an alhanee for

n¡aglobal soeiety with more social justiee.

Questions

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

What is a global "commodity ,h.1I0"1 What d Ihe r of uLh chailll m maoy sectors tell you abOUllhe ch.mgiog div. IUIIuf laboraround lhe~o"" Who beoefits most from lhe work dUlle '" uLh ch.uu? WhallNonsean you draw from Korzcnicwic/'~ C.l\C 'ttudy ur the." • 'ike CurrmJtion? What is new aboul conlempor.lry \"urI" lr ... 1 •• "",dm!! 111 (otr<ffi! How are developing countries involved in tlll' thn.'c ('rtH.lu\.tHln nttworlshe discusses! How do trends in Ihe apparel amI ekelmn" IIld.ulry Jrll1un\lrale lhallhe integration of lhe global cwnomy ent.ul .\ n",re grllSrarh• \Ir fragmenled division of labor gener.lled hy <ver exp.lIl1lin ' ghlball'rududion networil

(e.g., global commodity ehal"'>? What happened to inequJlity .lmung indlv.dual •• dU Ihe world in ¡he las! deeades ofthe twenlieth (cnlury, ae(",ding lu W"II, ",1 huwdoés heexpbin the trend he describes? Why .loes he lhlllk gluhahLlulln tS gooJ for lhepoor,

and what data does he supply to m.lke his La$C' What is tbe "neoliberal" argumenl .hmll lhe wllrlJ dlslrlhutlon ofincome. and what evidenee does Wade provide lO refute 111 1>. he lhmk acounllf's integration into the world economy helps ib 1"><,,1 lIuw do trcnds in China

affeet global trends in inequalily? What should eorporalions lakc rcspolNhllity furo .",ordm~ to lhe Glob. Compaet deseribed by Robinson? Why .loes ,he thlOk il i, Important rOl corporations to take on broad rcspomihilily fM deahng wllh global issu~' How do voluntary initiative. such ." lhe <:Iohal Coml'.ld relale to govern­

ment aetion in addressing glob.ll problems? Does Henderson think it is in the enlightencd ...,I(-inte",l of pri'1t. eompames to take on the \Und of corporate ,odal re,pon>lbility advoca

ted

by Robinson? What effeels mighl this have on bu,inc".' and on themar,rt economyl Can b' d - b- ., . usmess o as mueh good ." peop\c hke Ro IOson expe<" Why does Henderson describe advocates of corporate rL"'ponsibility" adherents of "global salvalionism "? What are the "discontents" and the "darker ,ide" of g1obalization, according to Sllglitzl How d h l' _s - n' . oes e assess lhe con equence. of markcl Iberou,,,tlO-What does he mean by "governance through ideology," and what shouIJ replaee It?

49

From One Earth to One World

World Commissioll on

Environment alld

Development

[n the middle of the twenlieth eentury, we saw our planet from spaee for thefirst tmt HistoriallS may eventually find that this vision had a greater impaet on thoughl ila did the Coperniean revolution of the sixteenth eentury, whieh upset the humanlli· image by revealing that the Earth is not the centre ofthe universe. Fromspace,"~ a small and fragile ball dominated not by human activity and edifice but by a pall/ll of c1ouds, oeeans, greenery, and soils. H umanity's inability to fit its doings iDIO " pattern is changing planetary systems, fundamentally. Many such changes are""" panied by life-threatening hazards. This new reality, from which there is DO ~ must be reeognized - and managed.

Fortunately, this new reality coincides with more positive developmentsneWloth! eentury. We can move information and goods faster around the globe than ev~b<f'" we can produce more food and more goods with less investment of resou~es;1J teehnology and scienee gives us at least the potenlial to look deeper into and ¡,r.a understand natural systems. From spaee, we can see and study the Earth as aoor¡l> !Sm whose health depends on the health of all its parts. We have the powertor""'" human affairs with natural laws and to tmive in the process. [n this our cultural '" spmtual h . t· . l· "u'" en ages can remforce oue econol11ic interests and survlva ¡mpe

This Commission believes that people can build a future that is more prosP""" l1lor~ just, and mOfe secure. Our report, Our Commot'l Future, is not a predicuon: ever mcreasing envuonmental decay, poverty, and hardship in an ever more pon~t world among d . ·b·l· 'ca O" '" ever ecreasmg reSQurces. We see instead the pOSSI llty 10 .L

of eeonomie wtl . d expand "' . gro 1, one that mus! be based on policies that sustato an enviran mental resouree base. And we believe sueh growth 10 be absolutelY""'OI to reheve the gre t th· di · g 1I'0rld. a poverty at!S deepening in much of the eve opm ...

But the Com . . , . . Iiticala'~ nusSlon s ha pe for the future is eonditional on declSlve po .• , now to begin m . . . able h-anagmg envlronmental resources to ensure both sustaiO .~ progress and hu . rving a 0<1" man survlval. We are not forecasting a future; we are se

Original publication details' E lo rtfttlr. ()fI1(¡1J11f Future. Oxford U. . . xccrptcd from World Commissiotl 011 Enviro/mlttlt alld f)eYe P

mvcrSlty Press. 1987. pp. 1- 9.

Prom One Earth to One World 405

_anurgenl nOlice based on the la test and best seientifie evidenee - that the time has ",melolake Ihe deeisions needed to seeure the resourees to sustain this and coming generalions. We do nol offer a detailed blueprint for aetion, but instead a pathway by "mch!he peoples of the world may enlarge their spheres of eooperation.

The Global Challenge

Successe5 and fai /ures

Thoselooking for sueeess and signs of hope can find many: Infant mortality is falling; human life·expeetancy is inereasing; the proportion of the world's adults who can read and wrile is dimbing; lhe proportion of ehildren starting sehool is rising; and global food produetion inereases fas ter than the population grows.

Bul!he same proeesses Ihat have produeed these ga ins have given rise to trends lhat tht planet and its people eannot long bear. These have traditionally been divided into failures of"development" and failures in the management of our human environment. Onlbe development side, in terms of absolute numbers there are more hungry people inlbe world than ever befo re, and their numbers are inereasing. So are the numbers lIilOcannot read Or write, the numbers without safe water or safe and sound homes, andlbe numbers short of woodfuel with whieh to cook and warm themselves. The gap hetween rieh and poor nations is widening - not shrinking - and there is Jittle prospeet, giren presenllrends and institutional arrangements, that this proeess will be reversed.

There are also environmental trends that threaten to radieally alter the planet, that threalen !he lives of many species upon it, including the human speeies. Eaeh year anolber six million heetares of produetive dryland turns into worthless deserto Over three decades, Ih is would amount to an area roughly as large as 5audi Arabia. More Iban II million heetares of forests are destroyed yearly, and this, over three deeades, '<\luid equal an area about the size of India. Mueh of this forest is converted to low­¡radefarmland unable to support the farmers who settle it. In Europe, acid precipita­liln kills foresls and lakes and damages the artistic and arehiteetural heritage of ~bofll; il may have aeidified vast traets of soil beyond reasonable hope of repair. The

ing of fossil fuels puts into tllC atmosphere earbon dioxide, whieh is eausing uaI ~obal warming. This "greenhouse effeet" may by early nexl eentury have

DlCreas<d average global temperatures enough to shift agricultural produetlOn areas, r""sea levels to flood eoastal cities, and disrupt national eeonomies. Olher mdustnal !3leslbrealen lo deplete the planet's proteetive ozone shield to sueh an extent that the .umberofhuman and animal eaneers would rise sharply and the oeeans' food eham " uld be disrupted. Industry and agrieulture put toxie substanees into the human

chain and imo underground water tables beyond reaeh of cleansing. lhere has been a growing realization in national governments and multilateral

IUbons Ihal it is impossible to separa te eeonomie development issues from enVI­:'enl issues; many forms of development erode the environmental resourees upon Gev h lbey mUsI be based, and environmental degradalion can undermine economle ¡ ,\¡pmenl. Poverty is a major cause and effeet of global environmental problems. "lbereforefutile to attempt to deal with environmental problems without a broader

406 C/wlIgil1g World Society

perspective that encompasses the facto rs underlying world poverty and internatiog

incquality. These concerns were behind the establishment in 1983 of the World Cornmiso>

on Environment and Development by the UN General Assembly. The CornrnissioOl an independent body, linked to bul o utside the conlrol of govemments and ~e l~ syslem. The Commissio n's mandale gave it lhree objeetives: to re-examine the criti1 cnvironment and development issues and to formu late realistie proposals fordeabJ¡ wilh lhem; to propose new fo rms of inlernational eo-operation on these i~u.tIw will influenee pol icies and even lS in the d irection of needed ehaoges; and torai.tl. levels of underslanding and commitmenl to action of individuals, voluotaryorgani>

tions, businesses, institutes, and governments. Through o u r deliberat ions and the lestimony of people at the public hearin~ .

held on five continents, all the commissioners came to foeus 0 0 one central ilim: many present development trends leave increasing numbers of people poorand .u. nerable, while at the same time degrading the environment. How eao such dev,"" ment serve nexl cen tu ry's world of twice as many people relyiog on me sao<

environment? This realization broadened our view of development. We cameloset i not in its restr icted context of econom ic growth in developing countries. Wecame tD see that a new developm ent path was requ ired, o ne that sustajoed human progresslll jusI in a few places fo r a few years, but fo r the entire planet into lhe distant futuJt Thus "sustainable d evelopment" beco mes a goal notjust for lhe "developing"nation\

but for industri al o nes as well .

The inter/ocking crises

Until recently, the p lanet was a large world in whieh humao aetivities and theirelfol were neatly compar tmentalized wi thin natio ns, withi o seetors (eoergy, agricultuJt trade), and within broad areas of coneern (environmental, eeooomie, social). J1¡6t

~ompartments have begu n to dissolve. T his applies in particular to the various~ enses" Ih t h . . Th '" a ave selzed pub be concern, partieularly over the past deeade. '"

not separate erises: an enviromnental cris is, a development crisis, 3n energycrisis. ~ are al! one.

The planet is passing thro ugh a period of dramatie grawth and fundamental ch>n~· Our human world f 5 bill ' . , anlJlh<! o Ion must make room in 3 finite enV1ronment lor human world. The population eould stabilize at between 8 biU ion and 14 bilJi<O sometune next ce t d' t ofti't . . n ury, aceor ll1g lO UN projeetions. More than 90 percen lI1erease will oee . h .L· airad' b . . . ur m t e poorest eountries, and 90 pereen! of that gro,,", lO

urstUlg Cltles. Eeonomie aeti . t h '. nd tb) e Id VI Y as multlphed to ereate a $13 trillion world eeonomy, a

ou grow five- o t e Id . 'al d ction "" r enlO m the eoming half-eentury. lodustn pro u . grown more tha fi ... .., Id h . e Ir.­Su h fi n "1' 0 over the past century four-fi fths of this growt S,"C '"

e gures refleet a d ' . h the \1'0[11 invest . h n presage profo und impaets upon the blOsp ere, as s m ouses t e' ,¡hpUli raw m t 'aI fr ' ransport, larms, and industries. Much ofthe economlC gro\'i a en om fo r t il A ' . es s, so s, seas, and waterways.

mamspnng of e . '1 th· technoIo!' offers th . eo no mle growth is new teehnology, and whl e 15

e po tentlal for si . th . ffi't reso""" owmg e dangerously rapid eonsumptIoo o nI e

From One Earth to Olle World 407

nalso entails high risks, including new fo rms o f pollution and the introduetion to ¡he planet of new varia tions of Jife forms that eo uld ehange evolutio nary pathways. Meanwhile, the industr ies mast heavily reliant on environmental resources and mosl heavily polluting are growing most rapidly in the develo ping world, where ¡he" is bolh more urgeney fo r growt h and less eapaci ty to minim ize damaging

side·effeas. These related changes have loeked the global econom y and global ecology together

in new ways. We have in the past been concerned about the impacts of economic growtb upon lhe environmen!. We are now fo reed to eoneern o urselves wi th the impaas of ecological stress - degradalion o f soils, water regimes, atm osphere, and lor~ts -upon our eeonomie prospeets. We h ave in the mo re reeent past been foreed toface up lO a sharp ¡!lerease in economic interdependence among nations. We are oowforeedlo accustom ourselves lo an aeeelerating eeologieal interdependenee among muons. Ecology and eeonomy are beeoming ever more interwoven - loeally, region­aIIy, nationaUy, and globally - into a seamless net of causes and effeets.

Impoverishing lhe local resouree base can impoverish wider areas: Deforestation by highland farmers causes flooding on lowland farOl s; faetory po llutio n robs local fishermenofthei r eateh. Sueh grim local cycles now operate nationally and regionally. ilJ¡iand degradalion sends environmental re fu gees in their millions aeross nalional oolders. Deforestation in Latin Ameriea and Asia is eausing m ore floods, and more destruaive Ooods, in downhill , downstream nations. Aeid preeipi tat ion and nuclear {¡]JOUI havespread aeross lhe borders of Eu rope. Similar pheno mena are emerging on '~obalscale , such as global warming and loss of ozone. Inte rnationally traded hazard­oU\ chemicalsenlering foods are themselves internatio nally t raded. In the next eentury, theenvironmental pressure causi ng population movements may ¡ncrease sharply, .hiIe barriers lo lhat movement may be even firmer than they are now.

O"" lbe pasl few deeades, life-lhreatenin g environmenlal eoneerns have surfaeed m Ihe developing world. Countrysides are coming under pressure from inereasing oumbersof fanners and the landless. Cities are lilling with people, ears, and faetories. Yn al lbe same lime these developing eountries must operate in a world in whieh the ","urees gap between most developing and industrial n ations is widening, in whieh ihl mdUSlrial world dominales in the rule-making of some key international bodJes, ¡¡¡dio which the induslrial world has a1ready used mueh of the plane!'s eeologieal QP.I~ This inequality is the planees main "environmental" problem; it is also lts

mam development" problem. Inlemational economie relationships pose a particular problem fo r enviro nmental

: ag.'ment in many developing eountries. Agriculture, fo restry, energy produetlOn

, . numog generate at least half the gross national produet of m any developmg coun­

tne. and aceount for even larger shares of livelihoods a nd em ployment. Exports of :Ur~ r<saurces remain a large factor in their eeonomies, espeeIally for the least

'e!oP<d, MOSI of these eountries faee enormous eeonomie pressures, both interna-

noI and domestie, to overexploi t their environmental resouree base. . lbe lecent crisis in Afriea best and most tragically illustrates the way~ in whleh

'<o11()ml(S and ecology can interaet dest ruetively and trip into d isaster. Tn ggered by ~ . . . . a1 p~=

lis real causes lie deeper. They are to be found 111 part 111 natlon t gaVetoo Jiule atlention, too lale, to the n eeds of smallholder agriculture and to

408 Changing World Society

the threats posed by rapidly rising populations. Their roots extend also to a global economie system that takes mo re Oul of a poor eontinent than it puts in. Oebls tIlat lhey eannot pay force Afriean na tio ns relying on eommodiry sales lo overuse th,ir fra gile soils, thus turning good land to deserl. Trade barriers in the weallhy nations­and in many developin g o nes - make it hard fo r Afríeans to sell lheir goods for reason­able returns, putting ye t mo re pressure o n eeologieal systems. Aid from donor nations has not only been inadequate in seale, bullOO o ñen has refl eeled lhe priorilies ofth, nalions giving the aid, rather than the need s of Ihe recipients. The produetion baseof other developing world areas su ffers s imil a rly both from local failures and from th, workings of international economic systems. As a consequence of the "debt crisis" of Lalin America, that region's natural resources are 1l0W being used not for development bul to meet finaneial obligations 10 ered ilo rs abroad. This approaeh to the d,bt problem is short-sighted fro m several sland poinls: eeonomie, politieal, and environ­menta!. It requires relatively poor eountr ies simultaneously 10 aceepl growing poverty

while exporting growing amounts of scarce reSQurces. A majority of developing eounlries now have lower per eapila ineomes than when

lhe deeade began. Rising poverty and unem ploymenl have inereased pressure on environmental resourees as mo re people have been foreed 10 rely more direetly upon them. Many governments have cut baek effo rls lO proleel the environmenl and to

bring eeologiea! considerations into develo pment plann ing. The deepening and widening enviro nmenta! crisis presents a threat to nationa!

seeurity - and even survival - that may be greater than weU-armed, ill-disposed neigh­bours and unfriendly allíanees. Already in parts of Latin Ameriea, Asia, the Middl, ~ast, an~ Africa, environmental decline is becoming a source of political unrest and mtemahonal tension. The reeent destruetio n o f mueh of Afriea's dryland agricultur>! produetlOn was more severe than if an invading army had pursued a seorehed-earth poliey. Yet most of the affeeted govemments stUI spend far more to proteet their peopl, from mvading armies than from the invading deserto

Globatiy, mUitary expenditures total about $ 1 trillion ayear and eontinue to gro ... In many eountrie U' d ' . f . s, m ltary spen m g consumes sueh a high proportlon o groo natlOnal produet that it itself does great damage to these societies' developmentefforti Gho:e~omeots tend to base their approaches to usecurity" on traditional definitions. T IS IS most obvio . h ' f . us m t e attempts to aehICve seeurity through the developmenlO potenhally planet-dest' 1 OJ roymg nue ear weapons systems. Studies suggest that thecoN

and dark nuclear wint e ti . d . a! er lO oW1l1g even a limited nuclear war eould destroy plant an aOUll ecosystems d I ' . . d-fji an eave any human survlVors oecupying a devastated planet \/"

1 erent from the one they inherited. The arms raee - in ati t f th be ~

mo d. par S o e world - pre-empts resourees that migh! U""

re pro uetIvely to d' . . h h -" aod th 11111nIS t e security threats created by environmental coruUú

e resentrnents that ar fu II d b . M e e e y Wldespread poverry. any present efforts to g d d . . _ .•. and to l' h uae an n1amta111 human progress, to meet human n~

rea lze uman ambif . . d nations Th d lons are slmply unsustainable - in both the neh an p"-. ey raw too heavil t . . t.. resouece y, 00 qUICkJy, 00 already overdrawn envuonmen

aceounts to be affo d bl e . . .L· aceounts Th r a e lar mto the future ",ithout bankruptIJ1g wO" . ey may show profit h b Ol ehildren will inh _ s on t e balance sheets of our generation, ut

ent the losses W b . . fu ,~ . e orrow envuonmental capital from ture gent

From Olle Earth to Olle World 409

b 4 .iDltmli·o ,n or prospeet of repaying. They may damn us fo r our spendth rift 1., .• IIIr ,;a¡ never eolleet on our debl lO Ihem. We ael as we do beeause we can Iti~. it fulure generations do not vole; they have no political o r fi nancial

l~di1l,CIIlDOt ehaUenge OUT decisions. I1liítalilll of the present profligaey are rapidly c10sing the options fo r fulure -.",MI'" of today's deeision makers will be dead befo re the planet feels the "",ltUlof:acid preeipitation, global warming, ozone deplelion, or widespread I'l'állbt and speeies 1055. Most of Ihe young volers of today wil! stil! be alive. In ~ c.!iisioo's hearings it was the young, those who have the most to lose, who

I ",tbI\lIhest crities of the plane!'s present managemen!.

1 ",.,11Is !he abili ty lO make developmenl sustainable - to ensure that it meels afthe present wi thout compromising the abili ty of future generalions to

1 .,lBlIWIIlnec~s . The eoneept of sustainable developmenl does imply lim ils - nol 1 ~.¡lIibbuI limilations imposed by the present state of teehnology and social I ~"'illollelwironmenla resourees and by the ability of the biosphere 10 absorb

aclivilies. But leehnology and social organizatio ns can be bolh lIId improved lo make way for a new era of economic growth. The Com­

bdieves thal widespread poverty is no longer inevitable. Poverty is nol only oi llitsdf, bul suslainable development requires meeting the basic needs of IIlII lIIInding to aU the opporlunity lO fulfil their aspirations for a belter life.

wbkh poverty is endemie wiU always be prone to ecological and other

!tiOIIlIr1ission on Environment and Development fust met in October !lblishe<l its report 900 days later, in April 1987. Over those few

!'OBIDt-lril1>~ered, environment-development crisis in Africa peaked,

million people at risk, killing perhaps a miJIion. a pesticides faelory in Bhopal, India, kiJIed more than 2,000

_ .OIlndec and injured over 200,000 more. . tanks exploded in Mexico City, killing 1,000 and leavll1g thou-

homeless. ilIIInol,vl nuclear reactor explosion sent nuclear faUout across Europe,

tbe risks of fulure human cancers. R' ehernieals, solvents and m ercury f10wed inlO the Rhine lver

. "!arehoulse fi ' . iJI' f fish and threalen­•. re in Switzerland, kilhng m lOns o d h . fGmanyan t e

waler in the Federal Repubhc o er

. lared ro unsafe 60 miUion people died of d iarrhoeal dlseases re

...... , •• and malnutrilion; most of the victims were children.

4\ O C!Janging World Society

The Commission has sought ways in whieh global development can be put on a sustainable path into the 2\st eentury. Sorne 5,000 days will elapse between the publieation of our report and the tirst day of the 21st eentury. What environ·

mental erises lie in store over Ihose 5,000 days? During the 1970s, Iwiee as many people suffered each year from "nalural"

disasters as during the 1960s. The disaslers mosl directly associated with environ· menl/development mismanagemenl - droughls and floods - affecled the most people and increased most sharply in terms of numbcrs affecled. So me 18.5 million people were affeeted by drought annually in the 1960s, 24.4 million in Ihe \ 970s. There were 5.2 mili ion flood viel ims yearly in Ihe 1960s, 15.4 million in Ihe 1970s. Numbers of victims of eyclones and earthquakes also shol up as growing numbers of poor people buill unsafe houses on dangerous ground.

The results are nol in for the 1980s. But we have seen 35 million afflicted by drought in Afriea alone and len s of millions affeeled by Ihe beller managed and Ihus less-publicized Indian droughl. Floods ha ve poured offlhe deforesled Andes and Himalayas with inereasing force. The 1980s seem deslined lo sweep Ihisdire

trend on into a erisis-filled 19905.

Meeting essential needs requires 110t only a new era of economic growth fornations in whieh the majority are poor, but an assurance that those poor get their fair shar, of the resources required to sustain that growth . Such equity would be aided by politi· cal systems that seeure effeetive eitizen partieipation in deeision making and bygreater democracy in internationaJ decision making. . Sustainable global development requires lhat those who are more affluenl adopt

hfestyles within lhe planet's eeological means - in their use of energy, for examplt Further, rapidly growing popuJations can ¡nerease the pressure on resources and slo~' any rise. in living standards; thus sustainable development can only be pursued ¡j populallon Slze and growth are in harmony with lhe changing productive pOlenli~ 01 the ecosystem.

Yet in the end, sustainable development is not a fixed slate ofharmony, but ralher a process of c~ange in which the exploitation of resaurces, the direction of ¡ovest' ments, the onentation of teehnologieal development and institutional change alt made eonsistent w'th f 'd h'" . 1 uture as well as present needs. We do not preten t at UK

process IS easy or st . htC d" . h L .l I . ralg lOrwar. Pamful eholCes have to be made. Thus, 10 I e ,"1<'

ana yS1S, sustainable development must rest on political will. [ . .. 1

50

Rio Declaration on Environment and

Development

UN Conference on Environment and Development

.. Conference on Environment and Development, 1aIs1IIII at Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 J une 1992, lofUiDg the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human

adopled at Stockholm on 16 June 1972, and seeking to build upon it, diegoa¡ of establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the Ii new levels of cooperation arnong States, key sectors of societies and

llliugtowards international agreements whieh respect the interests of all and Bltegrity of the global environmental and developmental system, ~ the integral and interdependent nature of the Earth, our home,

lbat:

PrincipIe 1 beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable deveJoprnent. They are

ahea!thy and productive Jife in harrnony with nature.

~ . PrincipIe 2 . . I ~'"maccordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the pnnclp es

."""';' .. 1 law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to . and developmental polieies, and the responsibility to ensure

~"l\tÍ!¡w'ith ;'n their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage 10 the envtron­

OIberStates or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

PrincipIe 3 tal ~ development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmen

ental needs of present and future generations.

~ <k . . ent and Development• tads: Excerpted from Unitcd Nations Conference 011 Envlro

nm

00 Environment and Dcvelopment" and "Agenda 21," 1992, #1 - 25.

412 CIJaflging World Society PrincipIe 4

In arder to achieve sustainable developm ent, environmental protection shall eonstitute an integral part of lhe developmenl proeess and cannol be considered in

isolation from ¡t.

PrincipIe 5 AU Sta les and all people shaU eooperale in the essential task of eradicating poverty

as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in crder to decreasethe disparilies in standards ofliving and better meel the needs ofthe majority ofthe peopl,

of the world.

PrincipIe 6 The specia! situation and needs of developing eountries, particularly the leasl devel·

oped and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority.lnler· national aetions in tbe field of environment and development should also addresslhe

interests and needs of all couotries.

PrincipIe 7 States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and

resto re the health and integrity of the Earth's eeosystem. In view of the different con· tributions to globa! environmental degradation, States have common but differe"i· ated responsibilities. The developed eountries acknowledge the responsibilitythatlhey bear in the internationa! pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financia!

resources they carnmand.

PrincipIe 8 To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of lifefor all people, Slales

should reduce and e!iminate unsustainable patteros of produetion and consumption

and promote appropriate demographie polieies.

PrincipIe 9 Sta tes should cooperate to strengthen endogenous eapacity-building for sustainab

le

development by ·m . . . f . u·fi, I provmg selentlfie understandu1g through exchanges o sClen and teehnologieal k Id · dilfu . nowe ge, and by enhancu1g the development, adaptatlon, . Slon and transfer of t h I . . . ee no agtes, mcluding new and innovative technolog1es.

E . PrincipIe 10

nVlronmental . b ed ·U Issues are est handled wilh the participation of all concero a· zens, at the relev t I I . . an eve . At the nationalleve! eaeh individual shall have appropna

l'

access to mformati . I • h·· . I d·. on coneermng the environment that is held by pubbc aut on06 mc u mg lOformati h . .. anJ th . on 00 azardous materials and activities in thelf cornmuOlUe5,

e opportUl1lty to p t". . . . ili· anJ enco . ar IClpate 111 decIslOn-making processes. States shall fae lale urage publie aw . . . . . ailabk Effee': areness and partlelpauon by making informal1on wldely av . uve access to ·ud· . Id" remedy shall b J. ICla and administrative proceedings, including re re\S

, e provlded.

R/O Declaratio/1 0/1 E/1viro/1ment and Development 413

PrincipIe I I

mact cffeetive environmental legislation. Environmental standards,

1 ~¡!IIIIl abj«tl\'es and priorities should refleel Ihe environmenlal and develop­. .... __ lO which they apply, tandards applied by sorne eounlries may be

,;¡:n¡ci* and of unwarranted eeonomie and socia! casI lo other eounlries, in

. ~1ÍlriMIoping countries,

PrincipIe 12 ÍJIl!8laIdcooperate to promote a supportive and open international eeonomie

l lIl!lIhiwouldlead to eeonomie growth and suslainable developmenl in aU eoun-~ bdIa address the problems of cnvironmental degradalion, Trade poliey

b , •• renlvil(lnn1enltal purposcs should not constilule a means of arbilrary or g"ül!cW¡crilnin,aüon or a disguised reslrietion on internationa! Irade. Unilal­

\o dea1 with environmcntal ehallenges oulside the jurisdietion of the Clltll\try should be avoided, Environmental measures addressing Irans­

Dlt""rlWplba! enVirl)nrnelntal problems should, as far as possible, be based on an

PrincipIe 13 \:lo liIalI develop national law regarding liability and eompensalion for Ihe

<imsofpollution and other environmenla! damage. Sta les shall also coopera le in 1I"'1"lIII1Ul and more determined manner to develop further internalional law

· , and compensalion for adverse effeets of environmental damage

br activilies IVithin their jurisdietion or control to areas beyond Iheir

PrincipIe 14 · lbouJd effeelively cooperale to diseourage or prevent the reloeation and

lOotherSlates of any aetivities and substanees thal cause severe environmental

01 are found lO be harmful lO human health.

· PrincipIe 15 . d I >lelo protecI Ihe environmenl, Ihe preeautionary approaeh shall be WI e y

r • • ·.~L.. according lo !heir eapabi!ities. Where there are threats of senous or • ... 'Oanl .. ' I ., ' al! b ed as a reason for aek of full screnllfie eertall1ty sh not e us ·~,'Qst·el~ectiVf measures to prevenl environmental degradation.

PrincipIe 16 f . n auth " h . l l'lzation o enviro -Ontles should endeavour to promote t e 111 erna h

CllIIsand h .' nt the approae t e use of economic instruments, taking lOto aceou

poJJ . ·th due regard lo uter should, in principIe, bear the cost of pollullOn, WI

ln!erest d' ..' . I d and investmenl. an Wlthout dlstortmg mternatlOna tra e

. PrincipIe 17 11 b ndertaken b...., tallmpact assessment as a national instrument, sha e u h i-'~ ...' . act 011 t e env

aCllVllres that are likely lO have a signifieant adverse Imp , lDd are sUbjeel lO a deeision of a eompetenl nationa! authonty,

414 Changing World Society PrincipIe 18

States shall immediately notify olher Sta les of any natural disasters or olher emer­gendes that are likely to produce sudden harmful effects on the environmenl of lhose Sta les_ Every effort shall be made by the inlernational community to help Stales so

afflicled.

PrincipIe 19 Sta les shall provide prior and timely notificalion and relevanl information lo poten­

lially affecled Sta tes on activilies that may have a significant adverse trans-boundary environmental effect and shall consult wilh those Sta tes at an early stage and in good

f.ilh.

PrincipIe 20 Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their

full participation is therefore essential 10 achieve sustainable developmenl.

PrincipIe 21 The creativity, ideals and courage of the youth of the world should be mobilized to

forge a global partnership in order to achieve sustainable developmenl and ensurea

belter future for all.

PrincipIe 22 Indigenous people and their communilies and other local communities haveavital

role in environmental management and development because of their knowledgeand traditional practices. Sta tes should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and mterests and enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable

development.

PrincipIe 23 The envir,onment and natural reSQurces of people under oppression, domination

and occupatlOn shall be protected.

W ti . _ PrincipIe 24 ar are IS 1I1herently destructive of sustainable developmenl. States shaU therefore

respect IIlternationalla ·d· . ... f ed fl

' w prOVl mg protectlon for the envlronment In tunes o arm con ICt and coopera te· ·t f th m I s Uf er developrnent, as necessary.

PrincipIe 25 . Peace, development and env· I . d d t and mdivisible. lronmenta protection are mter epen en

54

Counterhegemonic Globalization: Transnational

Social Movements in the Contemporary Political Economy

Peter Evans

When people invoke "globalization," lhey usually mean the prevailing system oftrans­natianal dominatioll, which is more accurately called "neoliberal globalization)" "cor­porate globalization," or perhaps "neoliberal, corporate-dominated globalization-" Sometimes they are referring to a more generic process - lhe shrinking o[ space and inereased permeability of borders that result from falling costs of transportation and revolutionary changes in techno logies of communication. Often the two are conflated.

¡mplieit in mueh of eurrenl discourse on globalization is the idea lhat the particular system of transnalional domination lhal we experienee today is the "natural" (indeed inevitable) consequenee of exogenously determined generie ehanges in the means of transportatian and cornmunication. A growing body of social science literature and activiSl argumenlation ehallenges this assumption. Arguing instead that the growthof transnational connections can potentially be harnessed to the construction of more equitable distributions of wealth and power and more soeially and eeologicallysustain­able eommunities, this literature and argumentation raises the possibility of wh,t I wOllld like to eaU "counterhegemonic globalization." Aetivists pursuing this perspec­tlve have crealed a multifaeeted set of transnational networks and ideological [rames lhat stand in Opposilion to eontemporary neoliberal globalization. Collectively the¡ are referred lO as lhe "global justice movement. " For aetivists and theorists alike, th'" mov~me~ts have beco me olle of the Olost promisi ng political antidotes to a system of dommatlOn thal is inereasingly seen as effeelual only in its ability to maint,in it"~ In power.

Althollgh lhe growth of membership and politiea] clout of transnational soci~ movements is ha dI ' al 'zational r o measure, the burgeoning of thelr form orgam

Original pubLication del ') . Ex . . T ",,-<_.' I M al s. ccrpted from Pctcr Evans "Counterhegemonic Globaltz.a1iOn: ra .mela ovements' he' ~ AJexand M H' In t e ontemporary Global Political Economy" in Thomas Janoski, Robtrt R. .

er . ¡eks. and Mildred A S h ' .. . S CiviJ;~ a"d G/ob /" . . e warlz (cds. ), rile HaTldbook or Polltlcal Sodology: tares. a l2atlon Camb . d U· . '

. n ge mverSlty Press, 2005. pp. 655. 658-60. 662-8.

Co ullter/¡egemonic Globalizatian 445

GOs - is wcll-documented. Their numbers have doubled 1983 and doubled again belween 1983 and 1993. Perhaps even more

lbeir quantitative growth has been their ability to seize oppositional lhe iconic images ofSeattle to the universal diffusion of the World

Yision that "another world i possible." lhe cultural and ideological movements has begun to rival that of lheir corporate adversaries.

Ir.c~=::~ti~:~o~ Foundations of I~ Globalization

I~ "'I.'" on three broad fami lies of transnational social movements aimed al 11 ~"' ... JDic globalization: labor move01ents, women's movements, and envi-·1 ..... RII1'ents. Each of these movements eonfronts the dilemmas of using 1"' ..... etw1~rks to magnify the power of local movements without redefining . .. , .... o! transcending the North- outh divide. and of leveraging existing I IIIII-"Jbalpower without beeoming eomplieit in them. Looking at the three 1 ~.~tD¡¡ether is useful beeause it highlights the ways in whieh surmounting

might produce eommon strategies and possibilities for aIliances

.·1 "''!IIIPIPlt'ttal caricature to propose that the origins of the WorId Social Forum.

asuably represents the largest single agglomeration of South-based ""'.,. andactivists. began as a sort of jo int venture between ATTAC and the ,,*,!Wa~ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores or PT). Beeause the founding

organizers was of a classic Marxist socialist mobilizational party. the '",~,.IaIII~1 in the World Social Forum is further confirmation of the extent

IU::::~~~h~l!enlOr'i c globalization" has its roots in both quotidian struggles economic security in the workplaee and classie agendas of social pro-

1I ~~"r!.!he machinery of the nation-state is heavily implieated. ""'I!I!IIan'ltic participant observation of the meetings of the World Social

Alegre. Brazil eonfi rms this hypothesis. The faet that the Workers .... !he municipal administration of a major city and has (until the 2002

.... GIQ\roUed the state government as well has been essential to enabling the ~ investments that make a global meeting of thousands of participants

of oppositional groups from around the globe possible. At the same '(llltbecause ofWorkers Party sponsorship. both local and transnatio

nal trade

~amajor role in the WSF. " dls lUgg h . ' .' "postmodern as ~. ests t at counterhegemollle globalizatlOn IS not as .' al -(and d ' uing tradltlon ...... .. etractors) somelImes argue. To the eontrary. rese . -.ntic d . . . th ' in danger of dlsap-LL. agen as of socIal proteetlOn. whleh are o erwlSe f - lb fd f ' ..' 'fi t rt ofthe agenda o

.... ft e I e o neohberal globalizauon. lS a Slglll can pa . k 2,ll\\. and lhe World Social Forum. At the same time. it would be a mlSl

ta ~ __ COUnt h . " Id" n new bol! es.

er egemonic globalization as Slm ply o WIlle 1

446 Resisting Globalizatiol1: Critiqtle and Actio"

Labor as a Global Social Movement Emblematic of the eontemporary global neoliberal regime is lhe effort to reconstruá cmployment as something closer to a spol market in whieh labor is bought and sold wilh only the most minimal expeelations regarding a broader employment relation· ship. Around the globe - from Mumbai lO Johannesburg, Shanghai to the Silicon Valley _ jobs are being infonnalized, outsoureed, and generally divorced from any· thing that might be considered a social eontraet between employer and employee.

Preeisely beca use the attaek on the idea of labor as a social contrael is generalizo! ,eross all regions of the world, it crea les a powerful basis for generating global labor solidarity. I illustrate the point with two examples: the emerging relations of etleái" mutual support that join metalworkers in Brazil and Germany and the successful Icveraging of transnational solidarity by the Inlernational Brolherhood ofTeamstm (IBT) in the 1997 UPS strike. In addilion to demonstrating again lhat the "geography of jobs" perspeetive eannot explain transnalional relations among labor movements, lhese cases also further illustrate how the corporate struetures that form lhe carapace of the global eeonomy contain political opportunities as well as threats.

The long-term eoUaboration between IG Metal in Germany and lhe Brazilian Metalworkers affiliated wirh CUT (Central Uniea dos Trabalhadores) providesa good example. In 2001, when IG Metal was starting its spring offensive in Germany, me members of the Brazilian Metalworkers union (CUT) working for Daimler-Chrysler sent lheir German eounlerparts a note affirming that they would not accept any inereased work designed to replaee lost produetion in Germany. This aetion growsout of a long-term alliance between the two unions that exploits transnational corporate orga,~izational structures for counterhegemonic purposes and has proveo to be of practlcal value to the Brazilian autoworkers in their struggle to maintain some sem· blanee of a social eontraet in their employment relations. For example, in the previo", year when workers at Volkswagen's biggest faetory in Brazil went on strike tryingto reverse Job euts, Luiz Marinho, president of CUT VW, was able to go to VW's world headquarters and negotiate direetly with management there, bypassing the manag~ menl of the Brazilian subsidiary, and produeing an agreement that restored the ¡obI.

The sueeessful1997 UPS strike offers a North-North example ofhow transnation~ alhanees can be b 'It d I'd' . h . . Ut aroun t le I ea of sOClaJ contraet. One element In t e VlctOrv was a very effeetive global strategy, one that took advantage of previously undere" plolted strengths' th' l b l' . I T rt W . In elr own g o a orgamzation - the InternatlOna ranspo

orkers FederatlOn (ITF). Through the lTF a World Couneil of UPS unions wa> ereated - h' Id' ' . w lel eClded to mount a "World Aetion Day" in ISO ¡ob aetionsordem' onstratlOns around the Id A b .' rt

f h . wor . num er of European unions took aetlOn m suppo

o t e US stnkers. Why were the Euro ill' . . . h tht IBT . . peans so w IIlg to take risks for the sake of sohdanty wll

111 the UnIled St t 'Th ' I fl "UPS' . . a es. e answer was summarized in one of the ITF s ea el> . lmportmg misery fr A . )) . th' '00 of th "Am . om menea. UPS was seen as representmg e mtrtlSl

e enean ModeJ" f . .. ·th h ·~n· sioo f' o aggresslve antlUmon behavior, coupled WI t e tXr-o part-tune and t . f b-COntraer Th emporary ¡obs with low pay and benefits and the use o su

mg. e Europe I kn f .. in UPS '. ans a so ew that they had a mueh beller chance o reUUll; operatmg 111 eo . h U' neert Wlt the 185,000 unionized UPS workers in lhe OIt'"

oUllterhegemollic Globa/izatioll 447

ever have alone. Solidarity made sense and the logic of com-!be geography of job~ made no sense.

the idea of Ihe employment 'elation as a social conlraet is a broad sympalhy, Ihe "etual organizational efforts rema in largcly labor. Olher global social movements may be ideologieally sup­lO be mobili/ed. Given Ihe faellhal those who enjoy the privilege

_l)'I11enl relalionship wilh union represenlation is a shrinking minority ¡q!IlIalion, Ihe sueeesl of labor a a global social movement depends on GIIIlplemelnl "social contract" and "basic rightsn campaigns with other

1111<!illll llllve Ihe pOlenlial of gencrating broad allianees with a range of other

• ftiinil!mts l· .. J

movemetlt ¡vi/hollt borders

I c1i4p.aati,onal women's movement also has a long history, global neoliberal-1.lioililalll issues of gender to the forefront of transnational social movement 1 ">IIIII!III iludramalie way. Unlil there has been a revolutionary Iransformation

me disadvanlages of alloeating resourees purely on me basis of 111141111,,,011 fall partieularly harshly on women. The UNDP talks of a global

pointing oul that women spend most of their working hours on and adding that "the market gives almost no rewards for care."

1kiI1.,ointed out the extent to whieh "struetural adjustment" and other neo­l"lll"ia for global governanee contain a built-in, systematie gender bias.

rt ~ almost impossible to imagine a movement for eounterhegemonie in which a transnational women's movement did not playa leading

~ women's organizations have an advantage over transnationallabor If .... -i1thal they do not have to transeend a zero-sum logic equivalent 10 that

of jobs" whieh would put me gendered interests of women in one 1"'11 ...... with those in another region. Perhaps for mat reason, me transna­

movement has been in me vanguard of transnational social move-6eattcntion that it has devoted to struggles over how to bridge the cultural

~1Ipects ofthe North-South divide and how to avoid me potenual dangers

• ing universalist agendas. . IIbor movement the women's movement's ideologieal foundatlons are

disco f" ' . .. . eh more than

LL urse o human nghts," but transnatlOnal femmlsm , mU .. '"'" .. f b ·Id · pohtlCS

DIovement, has wrestled with me eontradleuons o UI mg . ~~ersalistic language of rights. A1though no one can ignore the ways md -.oai . I " has helpe

ng reeognition that "women's rights are human ng ltS h· IJ""" ilIIIIt:es.~'~ and abused women aeross an incredible gamut of geogra~ le,

, ....... '~ ••. l. . . h h e was a smgle one oca1l0ns, any earher na'ive assumptJOns t at t er ( I . , . mdmepm ¡emmlst agenda have been replaeed by appreClatlOn

;--- O~mDlpy ha h El" ination of A11

011\:.. .. nd, the adoption ofCEDAW (Convention on t e 1111 _"'IQÍD¡. . . b . dered me norma-

.... _ _ Inatlon Against Women) by me UN mlght e eonsl d t ....... oflh . , . . . h Montreal Aceor o

e envlronmental movement s vICtones 10 t e

448 Resistillg Globaliza tioll: Critiq ue alld A clioll

limit CFCs and the Kyoto Acco rd o n global warming. On lhe other hand, criuca!

fe minists have examined UN activit ies like the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women and accused them of perpctuating colo nialist power relations under the gui~ of transnational unity. M ohan ty sum ma rizes the conundrum nicely: "The challenge is to see how diffe rences a1low us lo expla in the conneclions and border crossin[\l beLler and more accurately, how specifying di fference aUows us lO Iheorize universal

conceens more fuUy. " [ . . . ] The numerically predominant situal io n o f women in the global economy is oneof

precarious participatían in the "informal economy" - a vast arena in which thetradi­lional o rganizational tools of the tran snatio nal labor movemenl are leasl likely lo be effective. Women in the info rmal sector experience the insecurity and lack of"social conlracl" thal appear to be the neoliberal d esliny o f aU bul a smaU minorily oflhe wo rkfo rce, regardless o f gender. If m embers of established transnalional unions like the metalworkers are to succeed in building general political supporl for defending

Ihe "social contract" aspects of their employment relalion, lheir slruggles musl be combined with an equally aggressive effo rt to expand the idea of the social conlract into the informal sector. lnsofar as the wo men's movement's campaigns around liveli­hood issues have focused pa rticularly o n the informal sector, il mighl be considered the vanguard of the labor movement as well as a lead ing strand in the movemenl fOl

counterhegemonic globalizatio n mo re generaUy. One response to the chaUenge o f the informal secto r has been lhe diffusion ofthe

"Self-employed Women's Associalio n" (SEWA) as an o rganizational form , slartingin India and spreading to South Africa, Turkey, and other countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, and eventuali y creating incipient international networks such as "Homenet" and "Streetnet. " This is not only a novel form of labor organim· Ilon: Because the archetypal si te of informal secto r employrnent is among Ihe least· prtvlleged \Vomen of the global South , it is s imultaneously an organizational form th't should help build the kind of "feminism without borders" that Mohanty argues ~ necessary to transcend the contradictions that have divided the international women's movement in the pasto

Global and local el1vironmentalism

Environmental st d h· . I h ' an . ewar s lp IS a most by definition a collective issue and t erelore Ishsue that should lend itself to colleetive mobilization. Even neoclassical economi< t eory recognizes th t . k al· a envlronmental degradation is an externality that mar ets ro not resolve espeeiall . f h· . . d· . os. Th .' Y 1 t e externall ties are split across natianal political Juns KilO

us, envlromnental b·l· tion movements have advantages both relative to 010 liza

around labor issue h· h· ' b l ol th h s, w te neohberal ideology strongly claims must e ¡eso ' roug market log· ·f le . ' ,.,. . lC 1 we lare IS to be maximized and relative to women s mo

ments, whteh are still b d iI d b· ' «. « d h fo~ . e ev e y clamls that these issues are prIvate an t ere not a appropnate targ t ~ U· . . . . U ., poliu· cal action tha . e or eo . eetlve pohllcal aetlOn (espeClally note co ecltl<

Th b t spllls across nallonal boundaries) . e o stacles to tryt· b . ""u>ll' obvious T b . . ng to Ulld a global environmental movemenl are -,

. o eglll wlth th . h e h S h's 'en'~ ronmentali ' ere IS t e lormidable gap that separates t e out sm of th e poo " . h . . .• gth< r, 1Il W lch sustainability means aboye all else SUSlalm

COtlllferllegemol1ic Globa/izatioll 449

local communilies lO extract livelihoods fro m their and the "conservalionist" agenda of tradilional N o rthern envi­

which favors the preservati n of fauna and flora without much

conservation impacts the livclihoods of surrounding communities. divide in the global environmental movement may be less Sllscep­

IPr1lrayl~d as ",ero-sllm" Ihan in the " geography of jobs" pe rspective on but Ihe logi of division appears more difficult to surmo unt !han

IlIIinsn,lticll1al femini smo the difficuhies of supersed ing No rlh- Sollth divis ions, integrating

ronceros appcars more dallnting in the envirollmental arena. Some ..... _ .. ____ warming and Ihe ozone layer - seem inlrinsically global, whereas

1':~IfGliOOs,such as Ihe health consequences oftoxic dumps, ca n be intensely I n,llIifl6:ogIS0lfblIilding a global organization that e ffeclively inlegrates locally I t..t4l/1kia with global campaigns would seem particula rly cha llenging in the

1 .:i~liItiiron,menta' movemenl. struClural challenges iI faces, lhe global environmenta l movement is

• ""4I1idetird among the most sllccessful of the transnat ional social movements. l'OO!i¡a¡pIarn the relative success of transnational movements with enviro nmen­

. " .... ,Th~fi,~1 point 10 be made is how strikingly paraUel the po litical assets of 1~"riroDmental movemenl are to those of the labor and women's move­

Ibe obvious differences among them. T his is true both of ideological institutional ones. Once again, we see a conterhegemonic movement

• • _, ... ideas and organ izational structures implanted by hegemonic

. labor and women's m ovements, political clout depends on the iIIion of a universalistic ideology affirming !he value of !he movement's • !he labor and women's movem en ts are able to leverage the ideological

concepts like "human rights" and "democracy," environmentalists 11:,~I.iulpe.:cal)le universal agenda of"saving the planet" and invoke "scientific l."'" 11 Yllidating their positions. As in !he o ther two cases, !hese ideological 11 ' ll!1rlIt"l\rth little without organizational structures that can exploit them and It llJl alDplementarv mobilization around quotidian interests. Nonetheless, the

once again, hegemonic ideological propositions are not simply IOstru-_ they are also a "toolkit" !hat can be used in potentially powerful

" \iwersive" ends. t lllibility f . f h nic globaliza-.. . o usmg governance structures !hat are part o egemo . ,~~ in lhe case of the environmental movem ent. Even more than tn the ",,"-,1<Omen's movement, the UN system has proved an extremely valuable __ -" . t I bal conferences

~~-..rurce. As 10 the case of the women's movemen ) g o . lb UN . I'd'fy transnatIOnal "lis e have played a crucial role bo!h in helptng to so 1 1

~ IIIdtopromote and diffuse discursive positions. [. -.] h h l1IIasi.e, widespread, decades-old debate over how to make sure t at t e

1I1Ofeme full . f -ts largest constltu-~, - nt Y reflects !he perspectives and tnterests o 1

;;'~ed women in the global Sou!h) ra!her !han its most powerfultra,ction ,lhe global North) appears to h ave a harder time getttng

envIronmental movement.

450 l~e5i5ting Globalization: Critiq!le alld Aetion

The faet that the "scientific analysis" paradigm provides significant advantage to environmenlalists in battles against degrada tion by corporate (and state) pollutersmay become a disadvantage when it comes to engaging in internal debates Qver competing visions within the transnationaJ environmentaJ movement, making it easier for North· crn activists to asswne that the solutions to environmental issues in lhe South can be "objectively" defined from afar ralber lhan having lo emerge out of debate and discus· sion with lhose immediately involved. None oflhis is 10 suggest !hal the environmenlal movement is doomed to go aSlray or end up fragmenled. The poinl is Ihal jusI as Ihere is no " natural logic" that dictates lhe inevitabilily of a corporale neoliberal lrajeclory for globalization, even the most successful co unterhegemonic movements have no functionalist guardian angels that will prevent them from undercutting their ov.'l1

potenlia\. [ ... ]

55

to Local: Beyond Neoliberalism to the

alofHope

Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Suri Prakash

lRfoIides and polilical slogans which emerged at the end of lhe Cold War, "free trade," "neoliberalism" and other key words, have rapidly

. ~dÍliltmlbh"l1Sfor selling the promises of a new era. New political, economic

. oI~",*~ns ' lre once again in lhe process ofbeing imposed by a few upon the emblems and paradigms are being transformed into presupposi­

~ .,.I ~llIlIlSIitut¡',eelements of lhe myths of the "social minorities" of the world. arecelebrating the opportunities being created by the Internet, World

~wlill!lilhe. global communicatio ns networks, as new forms of "g1obal democ­. la, are presuming that 5uch "advances" will stimulate multiculturalism, _ -"communication" inconceivable only a few years ago. They are assum-. 6t'NewWorld Order" being established by lhe World Trade OrganrzatlOn ~tions will finaUy materialize the most cherished dreams ofhumankind,

for lhe many. The unprecedented global exchange of goods and Ibe makers of the global mythos, will give access to the best lhat

I··''''--.aloov and civilization can offer to every man and woman on Earth. 1If1hese policy and polilical approaches, emblems or presuppositions go

anchallenged. Not everyone shares lhe spi rit of celebration they seek to 'I1I._the very beginning of lhese campaigns for globalization (of educatron,

_ currency, religion and all other aspects of sociallife) multrple

''!h ~ressed alarm about the new marvels and paradigms bemg promoted lII!dia·bype. Even the most enthusiastic fans of Bill Gates and his Wmdows ~miSgivings and doubts when they observe lhe peculiar behaviors oftheir . IIIIIf¡ing for brief momenlS out of the "virtual reali ty" in which they are ilIIId.~ven lhe most single-minded and ambitious free trade advocates cannot ~ the social and human costs of the policies they are promotrng. More

.~ ~are raising alarms about their growing sense of powerlessness

, tugged

br global forces." • r.::~NII"" dttail E h "F m Global 10 Local:

_"''''>lh5.: xcerpled from Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Suri Prakas. ro . I .... . R ki11E lile 5011 0[01 rures, 'nt"m.tion.! ofHope,n in Grassroots postllloderrllsl1I: emfl

t9-26. 27-l!, 32-3.

452 Resisting G/obalization: Critique and Actio/1

Until nOW, however, it appea rs as if most of the social movements oc campaigns lrying lO resisl the new "global" pheno m ena have proven to be highly ineffeeti. e, Sorne of them are even counterproductive, gelting lhe opposite of whallhey are looking foc, rooling and deepening in people and society the very evils againsl whieh lhey are strllggling, True, many wo rkers' strikes do succeed in proteetingjobs or pension plan, Al lhe same time, however, they also legitimize and consolidate the policies and ori· entalio ns creating unemployment or dismanlling the welfa re Slale. Amongsllhepeople slrllggling for sorne seCLIrity in their lives, m any assume lhal lhey have no more lhan o ne political option: that the best they ca n do is to proleel their own siluation; gel so me compensation for what they are losing; and hope lhal lhe promises offered in exehange for their sacrifices will o ne day be fulfilled, Sueh beliefs reinforce lhe "Global

Project." This chapter first explores the impossibility of regaining the experienee ofhuman

agency and autonomy by supposedly " thinking" on the global seale to conlend with lhe oppression of "global forces," No chaUenge lo the proliferating experiences of people's powerlessness succeeds when conceived and implemented inside lhe inslitu· tional and intellectual framework which produced it. After cJosing lhe door lo tht fantasy of global thinking, we reftect on the multiplicity of local escape roules being invented or created daily to move out of the disabling global framework. These gra~' roots counterforces of liberation rema in invisible to the mainstream world of media and scholarship.

The earliest a1arm signals abollt the new global paradigms eneroaching upon lhe minds and lives of ordinary people were expressed in the slogan "Think globally, ad loeally," supposedly formulated by René Dubos so me deeades ago, It is nol onlya popular bumper sticker today; it increasingly captures the moral imagination of mil· hons of people across the globe, Our analysis for moving beyond the "global fram" work" to local autonomy exposes the suecesses and strengths of the social philosoph' underlying the slogan, while going beyond it in exploring the measure lo whieh il can also be counterproductive.

Often, those supporting this slogan embrace several "certainties": first, lhe modero age f~rces everyone to live today in a global viIIage; second, therefore, across lhe g1ob<. peop e face shared predicaments and common enemies, like Cargill , Coca Cola, th, World Bank Nestlé d h ' , ' ' , , an ot ee transnatlonal corporatlOns as well as oppress1venatlOn-sta tes ' third onl I ' d hd ~ , , yac ear awareness of the global nature of such problems caul P orge the eoalitions of "human solidarity" and "global conseiousness" needed for

strugglmg suecessfull ' th h' gI baI . y agamst ese all-pervasive global enemiesi fourth, t 15 o conSCIOusness includ th . . b .", , es e reeogmtlOn that every deeent human being musl e mon" .. cohmmltted to the active global defense of "basic needs" or universal human righU (r, se oohng health ' , (ro , , nutntlOn, housing, livelihood, ete.) and human freedoms ( ttI

torture, oppression, etc. ) . The slogan reveals th 'U ' ti d' e I uSlon of engaging in global aetion, This is not mere rea sil"

or mary pea pie lack th li . , e centra zed power required for "global aetion," Jt IS a " ami", agamst the arroganc lh e e gI Col. V ' e, e ,a r-.etched and dangerous fantasy of "acting OOiWi.

rgmg respeet for the li 't f "1 1< godlik " mi S o oeal aetion," it resists the Promethean IUSl ro

e. ommpresent B I I ' ' ' . y c ear y defimng the limits of intelligenl, sensible actIon,

FrolJJ Global lo Local 453

IIcz¡ltralized, communal power. To make "a difference," actions should global, bul humbly local.

valuable in ighls colllained in lhe second parl of lhe slogan lO lhe IIJIC lhe replacemenl of "global lhink.ing" with lhe " local thinking" die gramools. Wc begin by presenling a synopsis of Wendell

Ih:·I.~,,~llOr:llcd argumenl, waroing nol only againsl lhe dangerous arro­bul also of lhe human impossibility of lhis form of lhoughl.

11~:1f4~.the olher "cerlainlics" lhalloday pressure millions of modern, devel­

I~~¡~~~:;~ inlo bclieving lhal lhey have lhe moral obliga lio n lO engage in 1I They disparage "lhink local"; for they suffer the modern illusion lhat 11"1 ... must necessarily be nOl only ineffective in fronl o f the global Goliath, 11;,~pIi)dúal, lalking humankind back 10 the dark ages when each was laughl only II,h ••• hHlh .. own, letting "lhe devil lake the hindmost." We reveal, inslead,

11.~:Ir,lI!Ddlialism of"globallhinking" and global action as welJ as the open nalure 6iIkiog" and local aClion, practiced "down below," at " the margins" of

IlliIIllIúlking is lmpossible

"gaze" . .. can dislinguish less and less between reality and the image !he IV screen. It has shrunk the earth into a little blue bauble, a mere

I IlIiIII"omament, all lOO often viewed on a TV sel. Forgetting its mystery, . ~_aM grandeur, modero men and women succumb to the arrogance of

!3q:DlbIllv" lo manage planet Earth ... nly think wisely about what we actually know welJ. And no person,

1 ~!I!r.iplWlicaled, intelligent and overloaded with the informatio n age state-of­;"" IIIIo\ogi',!S, can ever "know" the Earth _ except by reducing it statisticalJy, as ~~lIiustiltllions lend to do today, supported by reductionist scientists. Since

ever reaUy know more than a minuscule part of the earth, "global al its best only an illusion, and at its worst the grounds for the kinds of

IIlddangerous actions perpetrated by global " think tanks" like the World fllir more benign counterparts _ the watchdogs in the global environmental

"'ri&bts movements. bis "thnk COolemporaries "down to earth" from out-of-space or spacy 1 -

~USto stand once again on our own feet (as did our ancestors), WendelJ -"US t . h " t ct" ofTV

O redlscover human finiteness, and to debunk anot er a reality: !he "global village." The transnational reach of Dalias and the

~Ofthe British Royal Family or the Bosnian bloodbath, hke the mter­InlIifttation ofMcDonald's Benetton or Sheraton establishments, strengthen

\llejudice thal all people ~n Earth live in "One World." McLuhan's . .. un-of!he "global village" now operates as a presuPposltlon, com-

1 ¡:I~ngcriti(~1 . ests that modero conSCIousness. Contemporary arrogance sugg. b . village. Re ut­can know the globe, just as pre-moderos knew the" "h b d"

.~........ that he still has much to learo in order to us an

454 Resistillg Globalizatioll: Critique al1d A ctioll

with thought and wisdom the smaU fami1y farm which he has lilled and harvested fOI the past forty years in his ancestral Kentueky, His honestr about his ignoranee inearing for his minuscule pieee of our Earlh rende rs naked the dangerousness of those who el.im to "think globally" and aspire to monitor and manage the "global village,"

Once environmental "problems" are redueed to lhe ozone layer or to ~ob~ warming, to planetary "sourees" and "sinks," faith in the futili ty of local efforls is fed by global experts; while their conferenees, eampaigns and institutions present th, fabulous apparition of solutions "scientifieally" pulled out of the "global hal." 80th. global eonseiousness and a global government (sueh as lhe Global Environmenta! racility "masterminded" at the Earth Summil) appear as badly needed lO man'ge Ihe planet's "scarce resources" and "the masses" irresponsibly chopping "green sinks" for their daily tortiUas or ehappatis, lhreatening the "experts'" planetary designs fOI eco­development. The "ozone layer" or "global warming" are abstraet hypotheses, offered by so me scientists as an explanation of recent phenomena. Even in that condition, they eould prove to be very useful for fostering eritical awareness of the foUy oftht "social rninorities," But they are promoted as "a faet ," reality itself; and all thesocio­politieal and eeologieal dangers inhe rent in the illusion of the "Global Management' of planet Earth are hidden from "the people," Excluded, for example, from critial serutiny is the retleelion that in order for "global lhink.ing" to be feasible, we should be able to "think" from within every culture on Earth and come away from thisexCUI' sion single-minded - clearly a logieal and praetieal impossibility, once it is criticalh' de-rnythologized, For it requires the supra-cultural eriteria of "thinking" - impl~ng the dissolution of the subjeet who "thinks" ; or assuming that it is possible to "think' outside of the culture in which every Olan and woman 00 Earth is immersed. Tht human eondition do es not allow su eh operations, We eelebrate the hopefulness of eammon men and women, saved from the hubris of "scientific man)" unchastenedb\" aU his failures at playing God,

The Wisdom of Thinking Small

With lhe traditional humility of Gandhi, Ivan lllieh, Leopold Kohr, Fritz Sehumach<!, and others of thei ']k B "Th'-I," . " . r 1 ) erry warns of the many harmful consequences of lIIN"~

IBlg: pushmg aU human enterprises beyond the human seale, Appreeiatingthegenum< Ilnlts of human inl Ir d ' , I ' d "h' " e Igenee an eapaeltles, Berry celebrates lhe age-o d wlS om t mk.ing httle" II ,-or sma : on the proportion and scale that humans can really un",,'

stand, know and ass 'bil' ' ' dd . ume responsl lty for the consequences of thelr actlOns an (1.1 510n5 upon others.

Afraid that local th' k.i k ' eh

' l' th" m ng wea ens and isolates people, localizing them lOto P'" la 15m, e alter f " lb' ' il D 'd ,na Ive go althmkersforgetthatGoliathdjdinfactmeet h"nu

to

I a"" Forgettm th' b'bl' , '1' e g IS I Kal moral insight they place their failh 10 lhe count '

val mg lorce of a e .,,) .L; ing ompetmg or alternative" Goliath of their OIVn, whose global ti"'"

encompasses the' . . "Global M " ( supra-morahty of "planetary conseiousness," Assumm~ an the grown ' ' ed spaee o Eh' -ups verSlOn ofSuperman) has more or less eonquer ",

n art (and IS no ' th th'n]¡ now adva ' w movmg beyond, into the extraterrestrial), ey I nemg towards 11' __ ,1 a co ectlve conscience: one conscience, one tran~w "'"

Fro/JI G/oba/to Loca/ 455

hlII. allC humanity - the great human fam ily. " 11 is the planetary conscience a 'world society' with a ' planetary ci tizensh ip'," says Leonardo Boff,

IjJlijiltJol¡lgian, describing a hope now sha red by a wide va riety of"globalists."

l ~r"liopia, bloody civil wars in Somalia o r Yugoslavia, human rights viola-11l:l lIiIIbltbus become the personal respo nsibili t ies of al! good , no n-parochial ¡ ;;<i~iD~t:reet· supposedly complemcnting their local involvernent in reducing

!~~.dcslineSl or junk food in their own neighbo rhoods. Global Samaritans ,~¡¡",Ilbat when their local actions are info rmed , shaped and determined by

of mind," they become as uproo ted as those of the globalists they

II ,,",,~.

bow to "think little," Berry reco mrnends starting wi th the "basics" of cwnple. He suggests discovering ways to eat which take LI S beyond

HiI'l6ililgimdaction" towards "local thinking and actio n. " Global thinkers and 11i .litltbe World Bank, disregard this wisdom at the level of both tho ught

Il!daring that current food problems, amo ng others, are global in their

1 ,,~.,1IdI to impose global solutions. Aware of the th reats perpetrated by such It: ... ·llhep,ropone:nts of "Think globally, act local\y" take recourse to the tradi ­I'tí llllr~ al. only at the level of actio n, as a sensible strategy to struggle against

!"'1m1$." By refusing to "think little," given their engagement with global IFf_ '1Ite 'WOI,ld Watch Institute and o the r "alternative" globalists of their ilk

g~-rfiulctil)n on their enemies' turf. lit defeat the five Goliath eompanies now eontrol!in g 85 pereent of the

111" 1rliI1ofl:rai'r rs a:nc around half of its world production? O r the fo ur controlling ' :.IIlQt,consumpti()n of ehieken? Or those few that have cornered the beverage

1\eneeded changes wil! wait for ever if they require fo rging equally gigantie

1 11~~~~~7~:::: (oalitions, or a global eonsciousness abou t the right way to ID illusory nature of the effo rts to struggle against "global fo rces" in III ' i1III IiIIito,rv. ,'n a global seale, we are not suggesting the abandon m ent of effec-1I ~"*illlfc,,,n.r;I;; purposes, like the Pestieides Aetio n Network, trying to exert

- 1 .... llPlnban specifie threats. Even less are we suggesting that people give . to put a halt to the dangerous advances o f those "global fo rees."

Ip¡losite.ln putting our eggs in the local basket, we are simply emphaslzl.ng

. polities of "No" for dealing with global Goliaths: affirm mg a n.eh attítudes and ideals, while sharing a common rejectio n of the same evils.

<lttmon"No" does not need a "global coneiousness." lt expresses the opposlte:

!lriJ¡joflbought, action and refleetion. . tnstitutions, including the World Bank or Coca Cola, have to loca te the" operations in aetions that are always neeessarily local; they eanno t eXlst

Since 'glob 1' " . . e at some local leve!, a ¡orces can only achleve concrete eXIstenC Ibere- at the local grassroots _ that they can most effeetively and wise!~, be

h . d "Think Blg 111

at t e grassroots are realizing that there IS no nee to 1:··'Pnrtlea.sin, themselves from the clutches ofthe monopolistie food eeonomy;

· .... Int·." fr h they entered It. They ee t emselves in the sam e voluntary ways as . ~

."""IIIO,¡im"I. say "No" to Coke and other industrial jun!<, whik looking or th t h II d entrabzed 111 terms

a are ealthy, eeologically sOllnd, as we as ee . h 1101 Am . . h ' d strial worId IS t e

. ong the more promising reaetlOns lO t e 111 u

456 ResistiTlg Globalizatioll: Critique alld A ctioll

movement towards Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), inspired by both local thinking and action . This growing grassroots movement is teaching urban people how to support smalllocal farmers who farm with wisdom, caring fo r local soils, watersand ¡ntestines. In doingso, local communities simultaneo llslyensure that unknownfarmers from faraway places like Costa Rica or Brazil are not exploited Wi lh inhuman wagesand left siek with eancer or infertility. By taking care of our own local food, farms and farmers, those of us who are members of CSAs are slowly learoing to overcome the parochialism of "industrial caters": who are I'cducated" to be oblivious to the harm done by purchasing from multinational agribusiness and others who "Think Bi~' destroying millions of smaU family farms aeross the globe.

Those of us supporting CSAs are trying to abandon lhe global thinking with which "industrial caters" enter their local grocery sto res: buying ugoods" from any and every part of Ihe earth, motivated solely by the d esire to get the "best" returo for their dollar. Of eourse, relearning to think loeally about food (among olher "basics") we are ,Iso frugal: we also want the best return for our dollar. But for us lhis means much more than rnaximizing the number of eggs or the gallons of rnilk with which we can fiIIour grocery bags. We are interested in knowing about the kinds of lives lived by the hel1l whose eggs \Ve eat; we want to know what type of soil our lettuce springs from. And we want to Cl1surc that not only were lhe animals and plants we bríng to our palate treated weJl; we are critically examining our eating habits so that the farmers whoworl for LIS will not die of deadly diseases or beco me infertile beca use of Ihe chemicals me¡ were forced to spray on their fields. We have now read enollgh to knowwhythese il\s oeeur every time we buy grapes from California or bananas froOl Costa Rica. WeaOO know that when our food comes from so far away, we wiU never know the whole story of suffering perpetrated unintentionally by us, despite Ihe valiant efforts of joumah ilke The Ecologist or seholars like Franees Moore Lappé ... nor, for Ihat matler, once we get a partial picture, will we be able to do mueh about il. Therefore, by decreasin, the number of kilometers whieh we eat, bringing our food closer and closer to our local hornes, we know \Ve are "empowering" ourselves to be neither oppressed bylh< blg and powerful, nor oppressors of campesinos and small farmers who live across Ih< globe; and we are also reskilling ourselves to loo k after Ihe \Vell-being of members ol our local community h . th· . . . II L""t . ,w o, 111 elr turn, are slmilarly comnl1tted to our we -IJtU'~ In domg so we are d· . h . .. . ' lscovenng t at we are also savmg money, while bemg more pro-duet lve and effieient·· f . . . . ck · "'". . . savmg on manu actured pesliCldes fertillzers, pa agmg. re .. " eratlon or tran· . ' sportatlOn over long dlstances

Self-s ll fficieney d . d· Ih< . an autonorny are now new political demands, well roote In expen enee o f milli f 1 d· . < . .. th<r . ons o n lans, campest1'los, 'urban margmals and manyo , groups III the sou th f Ih . th l · W lh . em part o e globe. Rerooting and regeneratmg emsn"

e l f own spaces the . ,. . tl d. I ,y are erealing effeetive responses to the "global forces trym! ISp aee thern. [ . .. ]

Escaping Parochialism

Global proposals are ne il· ·fi and intere t f cessar y paroeh lal: they inevitably express Ihe SpeCl c \1.'

S S o a sm aU gro f dl ' w.. up o people, even when they are suppose Y ¡orlO "

From Global lo Local 457

.luurumity. . .. In contrasto if they a re conceived by communities well local proposals reflect the unique "cosmovision" that defines.

"distiJ~gulishes every culture: an awa reness of the place and responsi­in the cosmos. Those who think locally do not lwist lhe humble

to the cosmos into lhe arrogance of pretending to know whal

and to attempt lO control the world. c1aim to "univcrsality" inlrinsic in every affirmaLÍon of lrulh.

dwell in lheir places do not identi fy the limilS oftheir own vision

, hum,," horizon itself. Among Indian peoples. for example. all over 1,'.4jm1ltin1ent. the notion of " lerrito ry" is not associaled with ownership.

If the Earth is lhe mOlher. how can anyone own her? Indian obligation to care for the portion of the cosmos where they have

H~I"",ltftmm the truth of lheir noLÍon of human relations with lheir Mother. R:''''.11Ii1CY do not transform lhat convicLÍon into the a rrogance of knowing.

managing planet Earlh. seeking to impose their own view on

~,,6tions of local thinkers/activists are leaming to effectively counteract 11'¡"'lJllobaI thinking and aclion through a shared rejection. Their shared

''!rOOlJU1~on enemies" (whether a nuclear plant. dam or Wal-Mart) simul-111.l1lir1~ their culturally differentiated perceptions. their locally rooted initia­

of being. When their shared "No" interweaves cross-cultural

,'''II.:GlIInm'·'tments. they relain their pluralism. without faUing into cultural successfully oppose globalism and plurality with radical plu ralism.

:;.. .. Iftr ...... beyond western monoculturalism - now cosmeticized and dis-

1~ ;~ "!lllticulllur¡"iSlm" inside as well as outside the quintessenti aUy westem set­' lI!t_lOm or the office, And they find . in their concrete practices. that aU

are built on shaky foundations (as the Soviet Union so ably demon-1II ':'Ii.leqClllI past); and may. therefore. be effectively opposed through modest

very size of gargantuan. disproportionate and oversized "systems" ~."'.nfh.'"_ and extremely fragile. Saying "No." in contrasto may be one '''·.QIIIIDlel' and vigorous forms of self-affirmation for communities and

I ofreal men and women, A uni fying "No." expressing a shared opposi­~other Slde of a radical affirmation of the heterogeneous and d,fferent,­~Ittd ~pe~ of all the real men and women involved in resi~ting any global

Sayiog No. thanks" to minelless jobs or the m edJCahzatlOn of sOClety IS

":;.1ISpect of the affi rmation of a wide variety of autonomous ways to cope

oroattonahst aggressions upon people's communal spaces. [. ' ,]

"-rof'M.!-',· ulIllKlng and Acting Locally

~ Do malter how wisely conceived. prima faci. seem too smaU 10 coun-tIobai fo " d '" . d . ments The whole af rces now aily Invadmg our lives an enVIron . .

..... lIOttomic development in its colo nialist socialist or capitalist forms. 15 a

... taleof . l " '" d' " - with the use VIo en! tnterventions by brutal forces persua U1g

etonomic lures and "education" _ small communities to surrender.

458 Resisting Globalization: Cri tique and Action

Furthermore, some of the eonlemporary threats, as Chernobyl illustrated in a horri~. ing way, do not respeel any frontier - nat io nal, eommunal. or ideological. The '"" decision taken by the Austrians, to ban nuclear plants In thelr own terntory, becom~ irrelevant when some are operating 50 kilometers from their frontiers.

Innumerable similar cases give ample proof thal local peoples often need outsid, allies to create a eritieal mass of political o pposition eapable of stopping those rorces But the solidarity of coalitions an d allianees does not eaH for "thinking globally.' Ir faet what is needed is exaetly the opposite: people lhinking and acling locally, whih forging solidarity with other local forees that share this opposition to the "global think ing" and "global forees" threatening local spaees. For its strength , lhe struggle agains Goliath enemies does not need to abandon ilS local inspiration and firml y rooted loo thought. When local movemenlS or initialives lose lhe ground under their reet, movin¡ their struggle into the enemy's territory - global arenas construeted by global thinkin: _ they beco me minor players in lhe global game, doomcd to lose their battles.

The Earth Summit is perhaps lhe best contemporary iHustration or this sequenc, Motivated by global thinking, thousands of local groups flew aeross the world to Ri· only to see their valuable initiatives transmogrified into nothing more than a rootnot 'o the global agreements, coneeived and now being implemented by lhe Big and th Powerful. Preseient of this failure of "Thinking Big" or global, Berry accuralely p" dieted that the global environmental movemenl, foUowing Ihe "grand highways' take by Ihe peaee and civil righls movemenls, would lose ils vitality and strength, uprool' oul of ils natural ground: !he immediate spaees of real men and women who Ihin

and aet loeaUy. [ ... ]

, , d

57

Balance in an Era of Globalization

Vandana Shiva

bl91l, dleEarth Summ il in Rio marked the maturing of eeologieal awareness on a ¡oo,IaIr. The world was poised lO make a shift to sustainability. However, the Rio 'OCISI llldtbesuslainabi lity agenda were subverted by the free-trade agenda. In 1993, IIIJ., Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was ."in 19951he World Trade Organization (WTO) was established, and world /f¡j¡¡ ptW increasingly dielaled by trade an d commeree. The normative politieaI iI>IlDliImmllo suslainabilily and justiee was replaeed by the rule of lrade and lhe dollilnofexploilation, greed, and pro fit maximizalion as the organizing principIes ,tbtmarlcet, the Slale, and society. Instead of !he sta te regulating!he market for lhe IJOd ofsociety, global eeono mie powers and commereial forees are now regulating 1< sIItt and society for the benefit of eorporations. [nstead of eommeree being ~ lo Slale and soeiety, eco nomie g1obalization is making citizens and their

I'ttnnIaltsaccountable to eorpo rations and global eeonomie bodies. ~globalization is nol merely an eeonomie phenomenon related to redue­

IinlÍtariffharriers and removal of "proteetionist" policies. lt is in faet a normative ""'- lbatreduces all value by eommercial value. Free trade is, in reality, the ruleof <llnDen:e. Both GATT and WTO basieally undo !he Rio agenda. Five years after Rw,

~~ lIOIhave Rio plus five but Rio minus five. . tbeooe bond, the seareh for ecologieal balance in an era of globalization requlfeS

~ assasmau of the social and eeologieal impaet o f globalization. On !he other hand, Ir_lO' . . .' al ' d that puts eeologICal

lDlaglOatIon and a reahzatJOIl of an terna t I ve or er . and . I d th eenter of economJC ""'r. SOCIa and eeonomie justice ralher than tra e at e

~lio' . . . bl h omeno n as is ofren ~..J n 18 oot a natural, evolutio nary, or m evlta e P en ' h __ GI .... _,.,. . e d on the weak by t e ,,-,-, """,","llon IS a politieal proeess !hat has been .oree .' l' ~"."III. Globalization is not the eross-cultural inleraetion of d iverse sOCleues'h ~ IS

IOtJtosition of a particular culture on all o!hers. Nor is globalization !he seare or .,.~ . Era ofGlobalization," in

___ details: Excerpted from Vandana Shiva, "Ecologica1 Balance lJ1 an {N ,ive ¡'rtematiollal ~ Lacer Edwin J. Rui1.. (eds.), Pritlciplcd World Politics: rile Challetrge o arma

&Unlefield, 2000, pp. 130--3, 13S-7, 139--4 r, 145-9.

466 Resisti/Tg Globalization: Critique a/Td Actio/T

eeologieal balance on a planetary seale. \t is the p:.edatio~ ?f one elass, one race, and often one gender of a single speeles on all others. Global m the dommant dlscou", is the politieal spaee in whieh the dominant local seeks control, freeing itself from local, regional, and global sourees of aeeountability arising from the imperatives of eeologieal sustainabili ty and social justiee. "Global" in this sense does not represenl the universal human interest; it represents a particular local and parochial ¡nterest and culture that has been global ized through its reaeh and control, irresponsibility, and

laek of reeiprocity.

The Three Waves of Globalization

loba lization has come in three waves. The first wave was lhe colonization of the Arncricas, Africa, Asia, and Australia by European powers Qver lhe course of 1,500 years. The second wave was the imposition of the West's idea of "development" on non-Western cultures in the postcolonial era of the past tive deeades. The third .. ave of globalizat ion was unleashed approximately tive years ago as the era of"free lrade,' which for so me commentators implies an end to history, but for us in the Third World is a repeat of history through recolonization. Each \Vave of global ization is cumulatire in its impact, even while it crea tes a discontinuity in the dominant metaphors and actors. Each wave of globalization has served Western interests, and each W3ve has created deeper colonization of other cultures and of the planet's life. l· . . [

The Cornrnunity, the State, and the Corporation

Globalization has distorted the relationship between the community, the state, and tl1e econ~~y, or, to use Marc Nerfin's more colorful catego ries, the relationship between the cltlzen, the prince, and the merch. nt. It is privileging the economy and its kl)'

~ctorJ the corporation, insofar as the state and the community are increasinglybecom· mg mere instruments of global capital.

The appeal of globalization is usually based on lhe idea lhat it implies less red lapt, less centralization, and less bureaucratic control. It is celebrated because it implies the erosion of those bureaucratic impediments that drive up the ecologieal costs oftrade and exchange in general.

During the past fifty years, the state has increasingly taken over the funetions of¡he commul11ty and the self-organizing capacity of citizens. Through globalization, coro poratlOns are takin h f . . . .. .• g over t e unctlOns of the state and C1llzens. Food provlslonffit>\ health care educar" d·· . 1/ . ) IOn, an sOCIal secunty are all being transformed mto corpora pro}ects under the code words of "competitiveness" and "effieiency." PeopIe'srigh" and the public dom . b . I f" 1" . . am are emg eroded by exporting the economie labe o pro . tlonlsm" to co 11 d· . . f·' . ver a omams: ethlcal, social, and politica l. The protectlon o UI~ envlronment and th ., . d bar· . h e protectlOn ofpeople s security are treated as nonlanfftra e ners t at need to be dismantled

While the sta te· b· . . d anJ c .. IS emg reqUlred to step back from the regulation of tra e . ornmerce, It IS bein ' . I . UJII" g mcreasmg y called m to regulate citizens and remove comm

Ecologicnl Balance in an Era of Globalization 467

't?nMt,",c"i',on" 10 free Irade. Thus. the state is beco ming leaner in dealing and global induslry. and it is becoming meaner in dealing with

and in Ihe Soulh. Ihe principIe of "eminent doma in" is stiU applied of people's land and resources. which are then handed over to

~;I;¡~ns. For example. in India, under the new infrastructure policies, ~.pllllitscan enjoy up 10 100 pcr enl equity participation. but the govern-1Il,¡"lIirttbe land. displace people. and deal with "law and order" problems

Slales. Ihe federal. late. and local governments are appropriating • .... and farms lO hand over to la rge co rporalions, In Hmst, Texas, a suburb

l rort .... thegovernmenl approprialed the land ofmore than 100 home owners. ~ lO its largeSl laxpayer. the Northeast Mall, Additionally. 4.200 resi­""",clatroyed in Delroit. Michigan, so lhat General Motors could build a new

* dearly. il is Ihe property of the powerful corporations that is being pro­IPllate in every part of lhe world under the new free-trade regimes, while

¡'1I~oftbe ordinary cilizen has no protection. ,\dii uea io whieh lhe role of the state is aetuaUy increasing is in inteUectual ~(lPRs) , As larger areas are being converted into " inteUeetual property" ~_ from mierobes to mice, from seeds to human eeUlines - the state ' '''lIIasingly ealled on lO police ci tizens to prevent them from engaging in "J'iIrldiYities, sueh as saving seeds and exchanging knowledge. Qur most human ilhatheencriminalized _ in relatio nship to o urselves. to one anther, and to other \l!>S 1Iwgb lPR legislation Ihal is being fo rced on al! eountries and aU people.

~n as Environmental Apartheid

'lIW literaUy means "separate developm ent." However. in practice, apartheid ItIItlppnlpriatelya regime of exelusio n. [t is based on legislation that protects a

minorityand lhat exeludes the majority, It is characterized by the appropna­li6r taources and wealth of society by a smal! minority based on privileg

es of

-. lOe majority is then pushed into a marginalized existence wlthout aecess

llIOIIas necessary for well-being and survival. 'al "-South Africa is the most dram atic example of a society based on raCl, ~ Global' , 1 b l' t' of apartheld , Thls IZatlon has in a deep sense been a g o a Iza IOn , ,' ~ is ' ' t Globahzanon lS

esptelally glaring in lhe context of the enVlronmen . h 1Inv..:_-

th h t al resources oft e

_ --1118 e control over resources in such a way that t e na Uf . . lt .... _ ' U' f the neh lS system-

, ·,-u,allcally taken over by the rich and the po utlOn o

, dampe.¡ 00 Ihe poor ' f -*e-Ri' th destructlOn o ro>' O periodo it was the North that contributed mOst 10 e " h ~_ di . de emlsSlO0 S ave

-" _1. For example 90 percent of historic carbo n OXl t of iIr1ht' d" , d ce 90 percen , ...... 111 ustnalized countries. The developed countrles pro u d has --.ous G 1 bal free tra e

wastes produced around the world every year. o Wh'le the ~ 'pa~m I

eovironmental destruction in an asymmetrlc '

468 Resisting Glabalizatian: Critique and Actian

economy is controlled by No rthern corporations, they are inereasingly exploiting Third World resourees for their global aetivities. \t is the South thal is disproportion· 'Iely bearing the environmental burden of Ihe globalized eeonomy. Globalizalion is

thus leading to an environmental apartheid. The eurrent environmental and social crisis demands thal the world economy

adjust to eeologieallimits and Ihe needs ofhuman surviva \. Inslead, global inslilulion, sueh as the World Bank and the Inlernational Monetary Fund and Ihe wro, are foreing the eosts of adjustment on nature and women and the Thi rd World. Across the Third World, structural adjustment and trade Iiberalization measures are becom· ing the most serious threat to the survival of the people.

While the last five deeades have been eharaeterized by the "globaliza tion" of mal· dcvelopment and the spread of a nonsustainable Western industrial paradigm in the name of development, the recent trends are toward an environmental apartheid in whieh, through global policy set by the holy Irinity, the Western TNCs, supported by lhe governments of the economically powerful countries, attempt to maintain the North's economie power and wasteful lifesryles of the rieh by exporting the environ· mentaJ casts to the Third World. Resource- and poUution-intensive industries are being reloeated in the South through the economics of free trade.

L,wrence Surnmers, who was the World Bank's chief economist and was responsi­ble for the 1992 World Development Report, whieh was devoted lo the eeonomics of the environment, aetually suggested that it makes economie sense to shift polluting industries to Third World countries. In a memo dated Deeember 12, 199 1,10 senior World Bank staff, he wrote, "Just between you and me, shouldn't the World 8ankb< cncouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the LDCt) Summers justified his eeonomie logie ofinereasing pollution in the Third World on three grounds. Fi~I, since wages are low in the Third World, the economic costs of polJution arising from increased illness and death are the least in the poorest countries. According toSummers. "Reloeation of pollutants to the lowest wage country is impeeeable and we should fu" up to that." Seeond, sinee in large parts of the Third World pollurion is still low, il makes economic sense to Summers to introduce poUution: ('¡'ve always thought thal eountries in Afriea are vastly under polluted; their air quality is probably vasuy ineffi· C1ently low eompared to Los Angeles or Mexieo City." Finally, sinee the poor are poor, they eannot possibly worry about environmental problems: "The eoneem over an ag~nt that causes a one in a mUlion change in the odds of prostate cancer is obviousll" gomg to be mueh higher in a country where people survive to get prostate caneer than m a eountry where under five mortaJity is 200 per thousand." He reeommended th, reloeatlOn of hazardous and polluting industries to the Third World beeause, 111

na.rrow economic terms, life is cheaper in the poorer countries. The economists')ogi( mlght value Jife differentially in the rieh North and the poor South. However, alllif, IS preelOus. It is equally· h· h . h bl·1 preelOus to t e ne and the poor, to the whlte and t e a"· lO men and womeo.

In this eontext, reeent attempts of the North to link trade conditionalities wilh th< envlfonment in platfor h WT . . ms sue as O need to be viewed as an attempt to bUlld OC envlfonmental and eco' h . di h d nomle apart eld. The destruetion of eeosystems and lil" ..

00 s as a result of trad rb l' .. .. . L e 1 eralzatlon IS a maJor envlronmental and SOCial SUb.)lUl to global trade and eo d h . mmeree an tose who control it. The main mantra of globallU·

Ecological Balance in an Era oJ Globalizatioll 469

competitiveness." In the context of the environment, lhis lrans­corporalions competing for the natural resourees lhal lhe poor

World need for lheir surviva\. This eompetition is highly unequal corporalÍons are powerful and the poor are nOl bUl also beca use

ttade allow corporalions lO use lhe maehinery of lhe nalion-slale to from lhe people and prevenl people from asserling and exercis-

that g1obalizalion will ereate more trade, whieh will ereale growth, poverty. Whal is overlooked in this myth is that globalization and

and investmenl ereale growth by destroying the environmenl and lile love!üh()ods. They, lherefore, crea te poverty inslead of removing it.

policies ha ve accelerated and expanded environmental destruc­minions of people from their homes and their sustenanee base.

l)aml~ingin the South

generates more than 275 mili ion tons of toxie waste every year and 1 ~1~"ll1S1'e-el,porti"g country in lhe world. The United States is one of the

has signed lhe Basellnlernational Convention but has not ratified iIiIlh liftv .. ei.ht other eountries); parties to lhe eonvention, such as Jndia, are

.. madei·n hazardous wastes with nonparties to the convention. However, the convention, the United States eontinues its long tradition of

"'IIP.l lloxÍ< wastes, finding loopholes for dumping them on the South. The is thus violating intemational law in sending shipments of its waste,

recyc\ables, to India. :'''IiIII.ha\I of 1996, approximately 1,500 tons of lead wastes were imported 10 ~~_1IICe findings state !hat the amount of toxic lead waste imported from

Il i ,,!!Id UlUJItries into India has doubled sinee 1995. lmports from lhe United South Korea, Germany, lhe Nelherlands, Franee, Japan, and lhe account for about 67 pereent of the total import of lead wastes 10

II " .. ",Or¡anization of Economie Cooperation and Development (OECO) 98 percent of the 400 million metrie tons of toxie waste generated

·d d · . b · h· ed as "reeyclable as cyam e, mercury, an arsemc 15 emg S Ipp ;;:' ',-' .. tiI . ..,.",. attempt to mislead and disguise the true nature of the wastes. In

• no such use or demand to reeover sueh toxie ehemicals beca use ,t lS ..... 1'he. .. t ~ ,mported waste ofren ends up in baekyard smelting orgamzatlons, no

sector as stated by !he government. Many of the im porting umts do lbetechnology or the expertise to proeess the ehemieals lhey are importmg;

-!'madvertently cause more harm to lhe environment and lhel! conll~u--: Ibeir ignoranee eoneeming the ehemieals that they are deahng wlth.

ed such units operate in Maharashtra alone. Ulunt . . ... d· ms) 10 Indian "reey-

___ o nes are offenng lueratlve pnees (m ln lao ter ~ t k·· . "1 d· . being used as a

o ta e thelr matenal for "proeessmg. 0]3 IS

470 Resisting Globalization: Critique alld Actioll

dumping ground by the Northern industrialized eounlries beeause the eosl oftreating and disposi ng waste in a suslamable manner m the Norlh has beeome hlghly expeo· si ve. Costs have beeome so high beca use of stringent laws lhat ban dumping, bumin~ and burying waste. Dumping in the deve\oping world therefore beeomes justified 00

grou nds of eeonomie effieieney. . ' The eost of burying one ton of hazardous waste m the Umted States rose from SI5

in 198010 $350 in 1992. In Germany, il is eheaper, by $2,500, to ship a ton ofwaste lo a developing country than to dispose of it in Europe. Countries sueh as Germanv find il eheaper to expor! their waste to a landfiU lhan to recyc\e it themselves. Because india does not eharge any landfill eosts, the profits made in wasle trade has made the

industry even more attractive. in 1966, the Researeh Foundalion for Seienee, Teehnology and Ecology (RFSTEI

filed publie interest litigation seeki ng aban on all hazardous and toxie wastes into India. in response, on May 6, 1997, the Supreme Courl of India imposed a blanket ban on the imp0r! of all kinds of hazardous and toxie wastes into the eountry. Tht eourt also direeted state governments to show cause why immediate orders shouldllO! be passed for the closure of more than 2,000 unauthorized waste-handling units identi· fied by the central government in various parts of the eountry. The Supreme Coun direeted that no import be made or permitted of any hazardous waste that ~ airead¡ banned under the Base! Internalional Convention, or to be banned after lhe date

speeified therein by the eourt. A eourt slatement established that 2,000 tons of hazardous wasles were being gener·

aled every day in India without adequate safe disposal sites. This ban applies to stat, governments as well as the central government to give authorization for lhe impon.· tion of hazardous wastes.

Today, toxie waste dumping has beco me a national issue, and several nongovem· mental organizations are working specifieally on the banning of toxie waste impon and dumping and related issues. Srishti, Greenpeaee, Toxics Link Exchange, PubIK Interest Researeh Group, WWF-India, and the RFSTE are Delhi-based mOI'ement that are concerned with hazardous wastes and toxics issues and thal, in particular, art

opposing the importation of toxie wastes. Furthermore, sorne of us are invoh"'" ereatlng awareness within India as to the aetions of transnational and local indUStrIO who often openly defy ". ..' ._~ . eXIstmg envlfonmentallaws regardmg lffiportat.lOn, treaUI-handhng, and disposal of hazardous wastes. [ ... ]

P CeoUple'.s Mo:vements for the Protection of Biodiversity and O ectIve Rights

New social and en . l . th

'd vuonmenta movements are emerging everywhere lO responst e Wl espread d t . f nd bi d" es ruetlOn o the environment and of the livelihoods thal dep< o IvefSIty and in r' d . d' '. esponse to pIracy of our indigenous resourees an In Iger

mnOvatlOn. In India h" . ' ' h I ' t e mtneate hnk between people's livelihoods and blodIrer as evo ved over cent . E .. . 1: .. 1

treati b ' d' . unes. eonomlC liberalization is threatening to sever thlS WU'

ng 10 Iverslty as a ' . P

eople's li lih raw matenal for exploitation oflife forms as propertl "'" ve oods as . . . .L an mevItable sacrifice for national economlc grOWUI

Ecological Balance in an Era ofGlobalization 471

11 also eroding the level of governing control that people have over

,r.wl.I9'l5. the tribal people from different parts of India were in Delhi on force the government to recognize their decIaration of "self rule."

Ili :~!-t~Front for Tribal Self-Rule, a national organization of organizations of 111 ' ,:!IIl!P.ICOI~dulCted a civil disobedience movement since October 2, 1995, for

III'!". of self-rule. As they sta te,

the cross of virtual slavery ror rnuch too long in spite of indcpcndcnce. ¡¡.,ltilb,rre also in a similar state. Yet, nQW that everything is c1ear and there is

Ibe establishment as a1so amang members of parliamcnt ancl cxperts. lhe 1:,1II1II1101 be delayed. We will not tolcrate this. Even othcrwise, on the issuc of ...-.uwe need nOl be solicitous. 11 is a natural righl. In lhe hicrarchy of dcmo­..... gram·sabha is above aU, even parliament. This is what Gandhi preaehed; ll.Ibeyany law which compromises Ihe position of gram-sabha. In any case wc ~ ... IiIi·c.h self-rule with effeet froOl October 2, 1995. We wiU have command

Ikl.,of~netribal people was successful. Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas)

H~:¡¡Gll!mlto effeet in December 1996 represents a landmark piece of legislation nlt¡ ltIrtowlc:dgillg the legal rights to self-rule of the tribal people are concerned.

aud (d) of the aet state the following:

ordinarily eonsist of a habitation or a group of habitations, or a ora group of haOllets comprising a community and managing its affairs

rJIIdance with traditions and customs. l' IQf!IIl-l1wha shall be eompetent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and

ofthe people, their cultural identity, community resources and the cus­

lIIOtIe of dispute resolution.

1 1" ~lIalt¡ltion ofthe Panchayati Raj Act in Scheduled Areas has already set the b the reeognition of communities as competent authorities for deClSlOn

rtsource use, cultural values and traditions, and community rights to

:"",1!Io1"''' as the building block of a decentralized democracy. lOO vilIages in and around the thick forests of Nagarhole in Kamataka ~ self-governments to safeguard their livelihood under the provisions

JiII1ed by the Parliament that came ¡nto effect on December 24, 1996: the ~ the Panehayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. How­

has yet to be passed by the Karnataka Assembly to ¡mplement it in

haveformed gram-sabhas and established task forces to implement the In some of the villages, they have erected gates at the entranec, and

the tribal community/village has been entrusted with the power 10

472 Resisting Globalizatioll: Critique alld Aclioll

give permission to any outsider to enter their village. The villagers are freely coUming the mino r forest produce, and even they a re adjudicating the problems themselves

rather than going to the police o r court.

The Movement for Declaratíon of Community Rights to Biodiversity: The Case of Pattuvam Panchayat

Nationwide people's movements have Sllccceded to date in stalling any legislation passing pa rliamen t that wOllld pro mote lPRs o ver biod iversity. 5uch opposition sigoi­fies the degree of dem ocratic dissent be ing generated at lhe grassroots level to 1", affecling people's livelihoods and rights over their resources. People s movemen~ against erosio l1 , explo itation, and usurpation of biodiversity are numerous and wide­spread th roughou t the country. A smaU community in southern Kerala has taken, bold step to protect its biodiversity. On April 9, 1997, in a remote part ofKerah. hundreds of local people gathered to declare their local biodiversity as a communi~" owned resource that they will collectively protect and that they \Viii not allow to bt privatized through patents on derived products or varieties.

The community is known as the Pattuvam Panchayat. The Panchayat has set upi~ own biodiversity register to record all b iodiversity of species in the region. 1t hasstattd lhat no individual, TNC, Dr state or central government can use their biodiversit'l" without the permission of the Pattuva m Panchayat. The people of Pattuvam h"e taken a pathbreaking step by declaring the ir biodiversity a community resourceo'-" which lhe community as a who le has rights. T his step demonstrates a commitmentt( rejuvenating and protecting their b iodiversity and knowledge systems from theexploit­ative fo rces o f economic liberalizatio n.

Movements are occurring in other parts of India as weU whereby cornmunilies are:

declaring the biodiversity and knowledge as the common heritage of local commUDJ­tles. For example, in Dharward in Kamataka and in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradol> declaratm l1 cerem o nies have been held announcing that biodiversity is a cornmum reso urce and that privatization of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge th"'", patents is theft. [ . . . ]

Navdanya: Seeds of Freedom

1 have started a natO I . - U lOna m ovement fo r the recovery of the biologlcal and mte ecn commons by savi - d .. - - h 1-h . ng natlve see s from extll1ctlOn Seed is the fi rst hnk m t < c am_ It is also the first step toward freedo m in fo~d _ Global ization is leading tO t. control over what di " o f f . we eat an w lat we grow. The tiny seed is becommg an mstnJll'

eeedom ID thls em · f . "N ' ._ • . d. ergmg era o to tal control Oue slogan IS, atlve ~ m Igen . 1 . ous agncu ture - local markets ."

Through saving th . . " f ,, _ e natlve seed , we are becoming free of chem!cals. By practA

a ree agnculture . . such ' ' we are saymg no to patents on tife and to biopiracy. Gandhl -reslstance "Saty 1 " h in wh - h' _ agra la : t e struggle fo r truth. Navdanya is a "5eed Sa~1, IC tt tS the mo t - I s margma and poo r peasan ts who are findin g new hop<-

Ecological Balance in at/ Era of Globalizatioll 473

Seed Satyagraha is 10 declare the "common intcllcctu.1 rights" loollllmuni·ü·es who have gifted the wo rld the knowledge of the rich

diversity. The innovations of Third World communitics misht md objectives from the innovalions in the commereial world of the

be discounted just beca use they are different. Bu t wc are gOlllg are creating alternatives by building commu nity sccd banks,

seed supplies, and searching for sustainable agricu lture options

different regions. become, for us, the site and the symbol of freedom in the ase of

monopoly of its diversity. It plays the ro le of , andhi's spi nmns of recolonization through free trade. The" harkha" (sp innins

ID important symbol of freedom not beca use it was big and powcrful ~1.I,usllllall and could come al ive as a sign of resistancc and creativity in

'11" .... ¡¡¡ ... rt.and poorest of families. In smallness lay its power. The secd too II.llijhodies diversity. lt embodies the freedom to stay alive. And secd is still Ilt:.l!~IIpe11)' of small farmers in India. In the seed, cultu ral diversity con-1:¡s'.DIo¡icaI diversity. Ecological issues combine with social justice, peacc,

lIIIIia ofglobalization and their assoeiated violenee are posing so me of the ..wnenges to ordinary people in India and throughout lhe world. While liIIIbas been pessimistic, outlining the charaeter and strength of globalization -,tothwan citizen accountability, I take heart in the resistance movements .... !he last few sections. Continuous g10balizing efforts may threaten

!he vibrancy and diversity of life forms, and ecologieal well -being in ~,the human spirit, inspired by justiee and environmental protection, le6dlyrepressed. Despite the brutal violenee of globalization, we have hope

·~a\tematives in partnership with natme and people. [ ... ]

58

Tomorrow Begins Today Subcomandante Marcos

Through lI1y voice speaks the voice of Ihe EZLN.

Bro/hers alld sisters of the w"ole world Brothers and sisters ai Africa, America. Asia, Europe, mld Ocemúa . Brotlzers and sisters attending the First Intercontineutal Encuentro for Hummuty

agaiflst Neo[iberalism:

WELCQME TO THE ZAPATISTA LA REALIDAD.

Welcome to this territory in struggle for humanity. Welcome to this territory in rebel!ion against neoliberalism. l· .. ]

Welcome, all men, women, children, and elders from the five continents who responded to the invitation ofthe Zapatista indigenous to search for hope, for hUIr ity, and to struggle against neoliberalism. l ... ]

In the world of those who live and kili for Power, there is no room for human 00 There is no space for hope, no place for tomorrow. Slavery or death is the choic< their world offers al! worlds. The world of money, their world, governs from lhe exchanges. Today, speculation is the principal source of enrichment, and at lhe time the best demonstration of the atrophy of our capacity to work. Work is no k necessary in order to produce wealth; now al! that is needed is speculation.

Crimes and wars are carried out so that the global stock exchanges may be pillag one or the other.

Meanwhile, millions of women, millions of youths, millions of indigenous, m of homosexuals, millions of human beings of al! races and colors, participate

Original publication d t"1 Ex 'l_ B

. e al s: cerpted from Subcomandante Marcos Ollr \Vorld Is Our Wt'apon egms Today") el . R ' '. .

. ' osmg emarks al the Flrst Intercontinental Encuentro for HumaOlty and AgamsI · Ism, August 3 1996 S . • ,even Stones Press, 2001, pp. 115-23.

s

TOlllorrolV 8<'111/15 Todlll' 175

as a devalued eurreney, always worth less ami les" lhe currcn<y

a profil.

of markets erases borders for speculation and "ime and mu!tirlie bcings. Countries are obliged lO erase lheir n,lIion.11 bordees Cm

'tJ1,,1k, but to multiply their internal borders.

~~Iilí lloesn'l turn many countries into one counlry; it lurns c.llh wunlry

l~leÓiipoll~ityand internationalization turns itself into a nlghlllhHc "f w.lr. ~lIIwlr,again and again, so many times thal nati ns .lre pul"cri/cd. In tlm

l.j~lIIIl plhali¡zes to overeome the obstad es to its war of conques\. N.Hlon •• 1 are turned into the military underlings of a new world w.1r .Il\.linsl

lUpidcourse of nuclear armament - destined to annihll.llC hum.lnilv 111

, •• 1 ... :>L_. turned to the absurd militarization of every aspeet in lhe life uf IItl.itits - a militarization destined to annihilate humanily in mJny blows. 11i~ .... .,¡ in many ways. What were formerly known as "nation,,1 aflllies"

• mere units of a greater army, one lbat neoliberalism arms to Ic"d 1Ii:¡1_Iv.The end of the so-ealled Cold War didn' t stop the global arm, ra'c,

\he model for the merchandising of mortality: weapons oC all kinds allkinds of criminal tastes. More and more, nol only are the so-ealled armies armed, but also the armies' drug-traffieking builds up to ensure

or less rapidly, national soeieties are being militarized, and armies -Ulatcd to proteet their borders from foreign enemies - are 1 urning their

.. --.- around and aiming them inward.

1"I"ilefor neoliberalism to beeome the world's reality without lhe .rgument up by institutional and private armies, without the gag served up by

~l_d.", blows and assassinations served up by the military and the poliee. I¡IIasion is a necessary premise of the globalization neoliberalism

I!oIiJeralism advanees as a global system, lbe more numerouS grow the theranks of the armies and national poliee. The numbers oC the impris­

'-PPeared, and the assassinated in different eountries also grows.

476 Resisti/lg Globalization: Critique a/ld Actioll

each house, each person, each is a large or small battleground.

On lhe o ne side is neoliberalism, with all its repressive power and all its machineI)'of

death; on the other side is the human being.

There are those who resign themselves la being one more number in the hugeexchangt of Power. There are those who resign themsclves 10 being slaves. He who is himself masler to slaves al so cyn ically waIlcs the slave's horizonlalladder. In exchange for Ih< bad life and crumbs ¡hat Power hands out, there are those who seU themselves, resign

themselves, surrender themselves.

In any part of the world, there are slaves who say lhey are happy being slaves.ln '"' part of the world, there are men and women who stop being human and take th<1r place in the giganlic market that trades in dignities.

But there are those who do not resign themselves, there are those who decide nol tt conform, there are those who do not seU themselves, there are thase who do not sur· render themselves. Around the world, there are those who resist being annihil'lal ~ lhis war. There are those who decide to light. In any place in the world, anytim"an man or any woman rebels to the point of tearing off the clothes resignation has _ 01/'

for them and cynicism has dyed gray. Any man or woman, of whatever color, in _-!u •. ever longue, speaks and says to himself or to herself: Enough is enough! - i \" Basta!

Enough is enough of lies. Enough is enough of crime. Enough is enough of death. Enough is enough of war, says any 111an or woman.

Any man or woman, in whatever part of any of the five cantinents, eagerly drcid<> reSlst Power and to construct rus or her own path that doesn't lead to the loss ofdi and hopeo

I Any man or Woman decides to live and struggle for his or her part in hislOn ..

onger does Power d' t h' h . . l' d

. lC ate IS or er steps. No longer does Power admmlSter d, eClde death.

Any man or woman d d .. . d' respon s to eath Wlth hfe, and responds to the mghtnWt reammg and strugglin . g agamst war, against neoliberalism, for humanity .,.

For struggling for b . The ~ . a etler world, all of us are fenced in and threatened Wlth ence lS reproduced gl ball 1 every h p o y. n every continent, every city, every counuY

ouse. ower' s fence of I . . gratefuJ. war e oses m on the rebels, for whom humamo' ti

TOl11orrow Bcgllls Todll}' 177

bistory repeatedly has given us the length oC it' long trajectory,

fenee is broken.

eaeh other out. They walk toward one another. ,.lIdIotller and together break other fences. l~~,side and cities, in the states, in the nations, on the contlnel"', the

1~,¡iJ ItCO!¡niz, eaeh other, to know themselves as equals and diffcrent. They l ¡:rai,!!lár filtil!Uillg walk, walking as it is now necessary to walk, that is to say,

u.6GflWlDvworlds found itself these days in lhe mountains oC the Mexi an

of many worlds opened a space and established its right 10 cxist, " "'''lIrofbei'r IR neeessary, stuck itself in the middle of the earth's reality 10

~"lbeworlds that rebe! and resist Power. '1áIlbeworlds that inhabit this world, opposing cynicism. '.htrtlggles for humanity and against neoliberalism.

tbat we lived these days. !hat we found here.

Now it must search for a place to

the useless enumeration of the numerous internationa]

eaeh of us a position, a task, a title, and no work?

JIII, a ~efleeted image of the possible and forgotten: the possibility and ... 'ftis.ing and listening; not an echo that fades away, or a force that

ltaching its apogee.

478 Ilesis,ing Globalization: Critique alld Actioll

Let it be an echo that breaks barriers and re-echoes.

Let it be an echo of our own smallness, of the local and particular, which reverberato in an echo of QUf own greatness, lhe intercontincntal and galactic.

An echo that recognizes the existence of the other and does nol overpower or attmtpt

lO silence it.

An echo lhal takes ilS place and speaks ilS own voice, yet speaks lhe voiee of tht

Olher.

An echo lhal reproduces its own sound, yet opens itself to the sound of Ihe other.

An echo of Ihis rebe! voice lransforming itself and renewing ilself in other voiees. An ccho that turlls itself into ITI31lY voiees, into a network of voiees that, btfort

Power's deafness, opts lo speak lo ilself, knowing itself lO be one and many, aekno edging ilself lo be equal in its desire to listen and be listened to, recognizing itself .. diverse in the tones and levels of voices forming it.

Let it be a network of voiees that resist the war Power wages 011 them.

A network of voices thal not only speak, bul also struggle and resisl for humanity against neoliberalism.

A network of voiees that are born resisting, reproducing their resistance in other qw and solitary voiees.

A nelwork that covers Ihe five continents and helps lO resisl the dealh lhat Po promises uso

In Ihe greal pocket ofvoices, sounds continue lo seareh for Iheir place, fitting in others.

The great pockel, ripped, continues to keep the best of ilself, yel opens ilself to IS better.

The grcat pocket continues to mirrar voiees; it is a world in which sounds mad)(~ tened to separately, recognizing Iheir specificity; il is a world in which sou"¡' mclude themselves in one great sound.

The . multiplication of resistances, the «1 am Ilot resigned," the "1 am .t r contlnues.

The world with the Id h . , rnany wor s t at the world needs, contmues.

Humanity recog .. . If b h

'. nlzmg Itse to e plural, different, inclusive, tolerant of iudt. ope, contmues.

The human and reb l' I k

e VOlee, consu ted 011 the five continents in order to ba: networ of' d' VOlees ao reslstance, co ntinues.

59

Porto Alegre Can for Mobilization

World ocial POrlll11

ilDalOUlnd the world have gathercd here at lhe World Soóill "onun 11\

and NGOs, movements and organizalion~, inlcllcclU,lh ,,,,ti building a great alliance to creale a new society, tliffereot fmm

wherein lhe free-market and money are considered the unly Davos represents the concentration of weahh, the globahntioo uf

Itdl~lcti'( lO of our earth. Porto Alegre represents the hope that ,1 ncW human beings and nature are the center of our concern.

movement which has grown since Seattle. Wc challenge lhe cine _1Cl'lI1:i'c processes, symbolised by the World Eco nomic Forum in

IIlshare our experiences, build our solidarity, and demonstratc our

neoliberal policies of globalisation . men, farmers, workers, unemployed, professionals, studcnts,

peoples, coming from the South and from lhe North, conllnlt peoples' rights, freedom, security, employment and educalion. Wc

lhe hegemony of finance, the destruction of our cullures, lhe knl~wled,!e. mass media, and communication, the degradalion of

. 'lest:ruclti·, ln of the quality of \ife by multinational corporations and policies. Participative democratic experiences - like that of Porto

I 1!1I11twih .. a concrete alternative is possible. We reaffirm lhe supremacy of and social rights over the demands of finance and investors.

11.~~""ji_ that we strengthen our movements, we resist the global elile and

";""'DdIOcJaOlol,.;1 justice, democracy and security for everyone, without diSlinc­" and a1ternatives stand in stark contrast to the destructive poli-

~~Ircinforcf!" sexist and patriarchal system. It increases the feminisation

•• ,': ..... ,_. aU forms of violen ce against women. Equality between ~ central to our struggle. Without this, another world wil! never be

Excerpted from World Social Forum. «Porto Alegre Call for Mobilization," 2001.

480 Resisting Globalizatiol1: Critiqlle al1d Actioll

N I·beral globalization inereases raeism , continuing the veritable genocideof "" eo l k Afr· . "

. s of slavery and eolonialism whieh destroyed the bases of blae lean m .... tune I . th . l· s We eaH on aH movements to be in solidarity with Afriean peop es 111 e eontl1l<Ll Ion . . and oUlside, in defense oftheir rights to land, citizenship, freedom, peaee, and equ.ili lhrough the reparation ofhistorieal and social debts. Slave tradeand slavery areclU!"'

against humanity. . . . . ' . We express our special reeognition and solIdanty wlth mdlgenous peoples In

historie struggle against genocide and ethnoeide and in derense of their rights, na

resources, culture, autonomy, land, and territory. Neoliberal globalisation destroys the environment, health and people's livingen

ronmen!. Air, water,land and peoples have beeome eommodities. Life and health mI be reeognized as fundamental righls whieh must not be subordinated to eeono

policies. The external debt of the countries of the South has been repaid several times

IIlegitimate, unjust and fraudulent, it functions as an instrument of dornma depriving people of tbeir fundamental human rights with the sole aim of inere international usury. We demand its unconditional cancellation and the reparatiol historical, social, and ecological debts, as irnmediate steps toward a definitive r tion of the crisis this Debt provokes.

Financia! markets extraet reSQurces and wealth from communities and nation . subjeet national eeonomies to the whims of speeulators. We can for the d osure havens and the ¡ntraduetian of taxes on financia] transactions.

Privatisation is a mechanism for transferring pubLic wealth and natural rt'SOu to the private sector. We oppose a11 forms of privatisation of natural reSQur(t\ public services. We eall for the proteetion of aeeess to resourees and public necessary for a decent life.

Multinational corporations organise global production with massive uneru

ment,low wages and unqualified ]abour and by refusing to reeognise the funda, worker's rights as defined by the ILO. We demand the genuine recognition oftht to organise and negotiate for un ion s, and new rights for workers to faee the gl tion strategy. While goods and money are free to cross borders, the restriction movement of people exaeerbate exploitation and repression. We demand an eud such restrictions.

We eaH for a trading system whieh guarantees fuU employrnent, food secur terms of trade and local prosperity. Free trade is anything but free. Global tr ensure the aceelerated aeeumulation of wealth and power by multinational c tIons and the further marginalisation and itnpoverishment of small farmers. and local enterprises. We demand that governments respeet their obligatior mternatlOnal human right . t d· . s ms ruments an multtlateral envJronmentaJ agrt< We eaU on people everywhere to Support the mobilizations against the ereaU< Free Trade Area in the Ame . . .... . . ricas, an Il1ltlatlve whICh means the recoloruzation Amenea and the dest t · f fu d . . ruc Ion o n amental sOCIal, economlC, cultural and mental human rights.

The IMF, the World Bank and regional banks, the WTO, NATO and oth<1 allianees are sorne of the l il al . mu t ater agents of neohberal g1obalisation. We -

Porto Alegr<' ellll Jo, \f M, al' 11

in national policy. These in,tiluli"n hd' n I 111m and we will continue to prole,t again I Ih 11 ni ur

has led 10 the concenlration of la no ()\, n r hlp 1II:5)'SI.em, which are environmentally ,lIld 1311

growth backed by large . cale infr,1 Irll tur d 1I P displaces people from Iheir land and de Ir", thetr 11\ IIh

h:stolred, We caH for a demoeralic ,'gr.uian r,fI,rm I ni," I hands of the peasanls. We promllll' U,I.IIII hl gr! IIh r I

.. IFue"" stocks are the heritage of humannv, \'ic d m lIullmll lhe patenting of life be aboli,hed.

Illlrpofl'te g1obalisation reinforce e.eh olher \(1 Ullt! 'rmlll d 1111

totally refuse war as a way to solve conflill' ,HIt! we "ppl Ih trade. We eall for an end lO Ihe repre",un ,111.1 "'11\10 h I un

condemn foreign mililary intervenlion 10 Ihl' mlrrnal ffi In n redtmaJ,d lhe lifling of embargoe, and sanltlon u .1 10 IrUIII I

our solidarity wilh Ihose who suffer thesr lIIll qu n \ ritltervlmlion in Lalin American Ihrough Ihe I'I.m ( olnmh'J IIItt¡:thCllin@ofalliances.and the implemenlJliulI uf ",mmll" 11 n

alocems. We will continue 10 mobili/e un Ihem ulIl,l Ih n I lhal we are now in a beller posilion 10 undcrl"k, Ih Ir

a world without misery, hunger. discrimill,lIlnn ,'lit! \lnlen e, equity, respect and peace. [ ... ]

bmulated are parl of the alternatives being eI,lIle",III'd hy ",al world. They are based on the principie Ihal hUI1\,'1I hl'lI1l\' ,n,1

and in the commitment to Ihe welfarc and humall nghl "f

in the World Social Forum has enriched undCr'I,lIldilll! uf Cd h we have been strengthened. We caU on all people, Jrollllll Ihe

lo build a better future. The World ociall'orllm nf Porh, ' •• QU, .. peoples' sovereignty and a just \Yorld.

as endorsing Ihe CaU, from 28 countries]