Global Instability

by McBride, Stephen; Dobuzinskis, Laurent; Cohen, Marjorie Griffin; Busumtwi-Sam, James

• ISBN13: 9781402009464
• ISBN10: 1402009461
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

Global Instability: Uncertainty and New Visions in Political Economy presents a series of papers that address the political consequences of globalization for states and their populations, while exploring the issue of alternatives to the model of globalization we are presently experiencing. The focus moves from the world of international agreements to the national and sub-national dilemmas that are posed by attempting to manage a set of global developments within a given territory. The initial chapter, by Daniel Drache, explores a still-born post-war international organization, the International Trade Organization, that offers a different vision of how a globally integrated economy might operate. A number of papers then explore the challenges posed by today's globalization, including currency instability in an environment of financial deregulation, the rights conferred on investors by the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the progressive liberalization of trade in services built into the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The difficulties faced by states are analyzed in a number of chapters that address industrial and social policy issues. A final group of papers explores some theoretical alternatives to a globalized world. Responses at the level of institutions as well as ideas are canvassed and the urgency of the problem is highlighted by Duncan Cameron's concluding article which argues that we are already living in which he terms a 'quasi-democracy.' The various chapters attempt to ground their analysis of instability, uncertainty and change in the real problems that globalization creates for states and peoples, and for those who might attempt to devise alternatives. As a group, these papers offer a unique and timely synthesis of key themes in the political economy of globalization suitable for senior undergraduate and graduate students in political science, economics, and business.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	vii
List of Contributors	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
Global Instability: Uncertainty and New Visions in Political Economy	1	(8)
Stephen McBride
Laurent Dobuzinskis
Marjorie Griffin Cohen
James Busumtwi-Sam
PART I INTERNATIONAL PRESSURES
When Labour and Investment Standards Almost Mattered: A Putative History Lesson in Trade Politics that Ought Not to Be Forgotten	9	(20)
Daniel Drache
Monetary Instability: Are National Currencies Becoming Obsolete?	29	(14)
Benjamin J. Cohen
Reducing Barriers to Investment: Is the NAFTA Investment Regime an Appropriate Model?	43	(22)
Maureen Molot
Liberalizing ``Trade in Services'': Ideas in International Political Economy	65	(24)
Russell Alan Williams
PART II DOMESTIC RESPONSES
Local Industries in a Global Market: A Comparative Study of the Cape Breton and Queensland Coal Industries	89	(18)
Bradley Bowden
Andrew Molloy
The Future of Industrial Policy in a WTO World	107	(22)
Marc Lee
Turning the Titanic: Policy Making After Neoliberalism	129	(18)
John Wiseman
Re-Invention and Transition of the Mexican State	147	(16)
Jose G. Vargas Hernandez
PART III ALTERNATIVES (AND THE NEED FOR THEM)
Democracy, Complexity and Non-Territorial Publics: The Case for Forest Trusts	163	(18)
Gus diZerega
Old Wine in New Bottles? Civic Republicanism and the Challenge of the Global Era	181	(20)
Laurent Dobuzinskis
Dimensions of Globalization. Cultural And Institutional Novelties, Ethical Needs	201	(18)
Andrea Migone
Quasi-Democracy	219	(14)
Duncan Cameron
Index	233