Before Seattle: The historical roots of the current movement against corporate-led globalisation

The purpose of this article is to enrich the understanding of the precursors to today's global citizen movement against corporate-led globalisation and to draw on that history for its relevance to the contemporary period and movement. In doing this, we provide snapshots of three dynamic waves of economic integration that provoked cross-border resistance: 1) the period of European colonialism, with case studies of the anti-slave trade and the international workers' movements; 2) the early post-World War II period (1940s-60s), when a vibrant debate erupted about how developing countries should relate to the world economy; and 3) the 1970s, when Southern governments banded together to pose alternative rules and institutions, and when popular resistance to different aspects of economic integration spread in many nations.     

The capitalist conjuncture: over-accumulation,financial crises,and the retreat from globalisation

This article argues that the key crisis that has overtaken today's global economy is the classical capitalist crisis of over-accumulation. Reaganism and structural adjustment were efforts to overcome this crisis in the 1980s, with little success, followed by globalisation in the 1990s. The Clinton administration embraced globalisation as the ‘Grand Strategy’ of the USA, its two key prongs being the accelerated integration of markets and production by transnational corporations and the creation of a multilateral system of global governance, the pillars of which were the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The goal of creating a functionally integrated global economy, however, stalled, and the multilateral system began to unravel, thanks among other things to the multiple crises created by the globalisation of finance, which was the main trend of the period. In response partly to these crises, partly to increasing competition with traditionally subservient centre economies, and partly to political resistance in the South, Washington under the Bush administration has retreated from the globalist project, adopting a nationalist strategy consisting of disciplining the South through unilateralist military adventures, reverting to methods of primitive accumulation in exploiting the developing world, and making other centre economies bear the brunt of global adjustments necessitated by the crisis of over-accumulation.     

Politics at the margins: alternative sites of political involvement among young people in Cameroon

This paper analyses young people’s political discourses and experiences, highlighting their disillusionment with the postcolonial state. Drawing on ethnographic data and interviews with young people in the city of Bamenda, the article argues that young people’s perspectives and discourses on politics constitute alternative forms of political involvement and resistance. Their actions, inactions and discourses about politics and political personalities are informed by their specific identities and positionalities. However, taken collectively, these voices reveal current national anxieties about the postcolonial state whose legitimacy is widely believed to have eroded.     

From agricultural modernisation to agri-food globalisation: The waning of national development in Thailand

Agriculture has been central to accounts of Thailand's modernisation and the rise of the national development project between the 1940s and the 1970s. However, the role of agriculture in the waning of national development is rarely explored critically in the Thai context. This paper focuses on agriculture and the role of the state in the shift from national development to globalisation. The first part of the paper examines the beginnings of Thailand's modern agricultural sector, before turning to the state-sponsored diversification of agriculture in the 1950s. The paper locates shifting state responses to agriculture in the late 1950s and 1960s in the context of specific political and historical social forces, before exploring the emergence of agri-food exports in the 1970s and the rise of agribusiness in the 1980s and 1990s. The paper concludes by commenting on the significance of the Thai state's role in the national development project and the globalisation project.     

Chinese capitalism: Cultures,the Southeast Asian region and economic globalisation

Globalisation is often presumed to be an economically, socially and culturally homogenising force. The deterioration of capitalism's major rival in the early 1990s has paved the way for a truly global economy in which all participants increasingly operate under the general logic of capitalism-that is, a market-orientated system of production and exchange, private ownership and a flexible labour market predicated upon self-interest. Yet, while the pressures of globalisation are obviously formidable and increasingly felt by all, economic societies remain diverse and have responded to these pressures in unique ways. This article makes its case for the continued diversity of capitalism by emphasising the unique mode of economic organisation that has emerged in Southeast Asia; one rooted in the demands of globalisation as well as in the cultural foundations of the Overseas Chinese. The evolution of ethnic-Chinese business networks, which define Southeast Asia's political economy, constitutes a unique reaction to the pressures of globalisation and has laid the basis for a distinct articulation of capitalism in the region.     

National development and the globalisation discourse: Confronting 'imperative' and 'convergence' notions

The Bonn Agreement of December 2001 lays the foundations for a political transition in Afghanistan after 23 years of war. The agreement excludes the defeated party, the Taliban, while seeking to commit the remaining groups to a long-term and loosely defined peace process. With Afghan regionally based political-military groups defined largely along ethnic lines, and closely linked to external powers, rebuilding national authority will be a slow and conflictual process. Rebuilding the coercive capacity of the state is essential to overcome strong centrifugal tendencies, yet must be timed so as not to get ahead of the restoration of legitimate political authority. International assistance can support the political recovery by being conscious of the need to neutralise the 'spoilers' of the peace process. Making haste slowly in aiding economic recovery can prevent armed competition for power at the centre. To promote this kind of transition, and promote Afghan influence in the peace-building process, the international aid community must fundamentally reorient the strategies and methods of past involvement in the country.     

Surviving the suicides of significant others: a case study

Psychological pain has been reported to be major contributing factor for completed suicide, and classical suicidology based its wisdom on this construct. In this paper we report the case of a patient whose family experienced a high number of suicides apparently due to an escalation of psychological pain in the family members after the successive suicides. We also briefly discuss the problem of helping survivors after the suicide of loved one.     

Varieties and crises of neoliberal globalisation: Argentina,Turkey and the imf

Argentina and Turkey are two important ‘emerging market countries’ that experienced a major economic crisis during the same year. Focusing on the period leading up to the respective 2001 crises in the two countries, this article attempts to place the two experiments in historical perspective and provide an understanding of the common elements as well as the diversity of the neoliberal restructuring process in semi-peripheral settings. The article also attempts to identify some of the key mistakes made by the imf, which was, in part, responsible for the crises experienced. A central conclusion is that ‘new’ or unconsolidated democracies find themselves particularly vulnerable when they are suddenly and prematurely exposed to financial and capital account liberalisation. The outcome is a highly fragile, debt-led growth path with costly consequences. Indeed, although both countries have managed to accomplish impressive recoveries in the post-crisis period, given their past trajectories and the heavy debt burden that they face, it is too early to say that the recovery process will be translated into sustained and crisis-free growth. The regional environment in which the two countries find themselves might be particularly important in this context, with the powerful EU anchor a possible important advantage in the Turkish context.     

Neoliberal globalisation,the nation-state and financial crises in the semi-periphery: A comparative analysis

The process of neoliberal globalisation has been associated with successive financial crises in the context of the 1990s, raising serious doubts concerning the sustainability of rapid growth in an environment of uncontrolled movements of short-term capital. The article probes into the origins of the financial crises in the semi-periphery through a structured comparison of three key recent crises in the world economy, namely the Mexican and Turkish crises of 1994 and the Asian crises of 1997. Whilst the magnitude of the capital flows and the dimensions of the subsequent crises are strikingly different, there are nonetheless important elements common to all three cases studied. One such common element involves the overdependence of the countries concerned on the short-term financial flows, in a setting characterised by premature capital account liberalisation in the absence of adequate regulation. It is striking that, contrary to the conventional IMF wisdom, financial crises have occurred in spite of 'sound fundamental', namely fiscal equilibrium and low inflation. The recent financial crises highlights a paradoxical situation: the need for effective regulation at a time when the capacity of the nation state to undertake the type of regulation needed severely circumscribed. Hence, the establishment of an effective regulatory framework at the global level emerges as a major requirement if successive financial crises, with significant economic and social cost, are to be avoided in the future.     

Surviving the political consequences of neoliberal policies

In many countries in Latin America and also western Europe, leftist parties have succeeded in winning repeated re-election even though they have implemented neoliberal economic policies when in government. According to the existing literature, these parties should suffer electoral punishment since they are diverging from their traditional policy course and their electoral promises, and their neoliberal policies are potentially costly for their core support groups. Analysing the cases of left-of-centre parties in Spain and Costa Rica, this article argues that policy implementation strategies, together with strategic use of institutional rules, help to obfuscate the policies' impact, deflect blame, and make re-election possible. The reform of welfare and the way we live now: a critique of Giddens and the Third Way     

The challenge of the creative Third World

This article is a contribution to recent literature on the shape of the polycentric world order. It argues that the Third World remains a valid concept for describing the interests and ideas that shape the foreign policies of many key non-Western states. However, the Third World has changed in a fundamental way. The article describes the historical emergence and contemporary manifestations of a ‘creative’ Third World in contrast to the ‘protest’ Third World of the past. It describes the nature of this shift and how it is reshaping Western leadership. It argues that the main challenge for the West is to create a coherent pluralism in international order that embraces this creative Third World.     

Putting gender into health and globalisation debates: New perspectives and old challenges

Debates continue about the impact of globalisation on human well-being. However, they are often based on little empirical evidence. This is not surprising, given the contested nature of the term 'globalisation' itself, the different ways in which health and well-being can be measured and the diversity of globalising trends in different parts of the world. The aim of this paper is to clarify some of these issues by looking at the recent experiences of women across a variety of social settings. It will begin with the development of a gender-neutral framework for analysing the links between globalisation and health. This will be followed by a more detailed examination of how sex and gender have shaped women's experiences of global change in ways that have been hazardous to the health of many of the most vulnerable. It will go on to identify the opportunities for improvement that these same changes have opened up and will conclude by discussing the ways in which many women are using these opportunities to reshape their lives in healthier ways.     

Meeting the challenge: state revenue raising

Recent trends in state tax revenue reveal that overall reliance of states on taxes have been declining for the last 43 years. Faced with reduction in tax revenues, states have restructured their tax systems to meet public demand for more services. State income taxes are the one type of tax that has risen consistently. What causes state policy makers to rely on this type of tax? This research addresses this question.