Lecture Eight Evaluating Globalization: Policy and Normative Issues

Neoliberalism Rejectionism Reformism Transformism

Creating a market-led globalization Governance agents are supposed to build up an enabling environment for global market forces and then let the private sector deliver the social good with maximum efficiency

Major policies
Liberalization of cross-border transactions Deregulation of market dynamics Privatization of both asset ownership and social service provision Tight limits on public spending

The problems of neoliberalism

Fails to address the deeper social forces that are at work in globalization, i.e., the logic of surplus accumulation and exploitation in capitalism Downplay the problem of structural inequalities, , e.g. class and country inequality Economic determinism that neglects the political and cultural factors in understanding the dynamics in capitalism

Blocking the development of globalization Reverse the trends of transplanetary relationship Rebuild society on the basis of selfsufficient local and national communities

The problems of rejectionism

Romantize the pre-globalized past, like the poverty and social inequalities in class and gender within a national framework Neglect the benefits of globalization, e.g. the technological developments that facilitating a more productive life Impracticable after the transplanetary connections have already developed in a large scale

Against the neoliberalist approach of globalization Aims to limit the harms and enhance the fruits of globalization, e.g., setting social safety net, environmental protection policies, corporate citizenship Reforming the existing capitalist governance agencies (like state, substate and macro-regional and transworld institutions) to execute policy interventions in the globalization process The major tool is the democratic system and its policy
Policy formulation with mass participation, e.g. popular referendum Urge to enhance the transparency of regional and global governance agencies

The problems of reformism

Underestimate the power of structural inequalities Overly elitist in formulating measures, preserving the existing governance agencies as the tools of reform Overly focusing on materialist issues of globalization and sticking with the democratic system that is western in nature, neglect the cultural and ideational issues

Also against the neoliberalist approach of globalization Aims to change the social structure in order to bring about new policies and regulations To transcend the capitalist social order by advocating new social values and institutions

Socialist: challenging the capitalist order and advocating a more egalitarian system of distribution Anarchist: challenging the complex bureaucratic system and advocating a de-centralized, small-scaled, nonhierarchical, non-professional decision-making mechanism Problems of transformism
Lack of specific plan of social development and concrete policy agenda Serve only as critical ideas for revealing the shortcoming of capitalist globalization

Ambitious reformism: maximize possible gains from globally oriented social democracy and looks to transformist inspirations to make up for shortcomings in this reformist approach Social security
Ecological security: Strengthen the existing suprastate mechanisms in regulating environmental problems, e.g., Strengthen the power of United Nations Environment Programme to achieve the status similar to World Trade Organization Job creation: Implementing job support initiatives like those education and training programs for better equipping labor in the process of economic restructuring ; Multi-lateral agencies for job-creating global public work projects for the underprivileged groups

Social equality
Class inequality: Develop global anti-monopoly mechanism and establish global antitrust authority to ensure competition Country inequality: Reforming the voting system in the Bretton Wood institutions (World bank & IMF) to allow the poor countries to have more say on the supportive policies

The significance of politics in individual level in the age of globalization The knowledge and practice in the politics of globalization

Scholte, Jan Aart. 2005. Globalization: a Critical Introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Date: Dec 18, 2012 Time: 15:00 17:00 Venue: G01