People passionately disagree about the nature of the globalization process. The failure of both the 1999 and 2003 World Trade Organization's (WTO) ministerial conferences in Seattle and Cancun, respectively, have highlighted the tensions among official, international organizations like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, nongovernmental and private sector organizations, and some developing country governments. These tensions are commonly attributed to longstanding disagreements over such issues as labor rights, environmental standards, and tariff-cutting rules. In addition, developing countries are increasingly resentful of the burdens of adjustment placed on them that they argue are not matched by commensurate commitments from developed countries. Challenges to Globalization evaluates the arguments of pro-globalists and anti-globalists regarding issues such as globalization's relationship to democracy, its impact on the environment and on labor markets including the brain drain, sweat shop labor, wage levels, and changes in production processes, and the associated expansion of trade and its effects on prices. Baldwin, Winters, and the contributors to this volume look at multinational firms, foreign investment, and mergers and acquisitions and present surprising findings that often run counter to the claim that multinational firms primarily seek countries with low wage labor. The book closes with papers on financial opening and on the relationship between international economic policies and national economic growth rates.

This is a must-read volume on globalization in which some of the foremost scholars in the field discuss the latest issues. Truly providing a global perspective, it includes authorship and discussions from the Global North and South, and covers the major facets of globalization: cultural, economic, ecological and political. It discusses the historical developments in governance preceding globalization, the diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to globalization, and analyzes underdevelopment, anti-globalization movements, global poverty, global inequality, and the debates on international trade versus protectionism. Finally, the volume looks to the future and provides prospects for inter-civilizational understanding, rapprochement, and global cooperation. This will be of great interest to academics and students of sociology, social anthropology, political science and international relations, economics, social policy, social history, as well as to policy makers.

This book critically examines the responses of the working classes of the world to the challenges posed by the neoliberal restructuring of the global economy. Neoliberal globalisation, the book argues, has created new forms of polarisation in the world. A renewal of working class internationalism must address the situation of both the more privileged segments of the working class and the more impoverished ones. The study identifies new or renewed labour responses among formalised core workers as well as those on the periphery, including street-traders, homeworkers and other 'informal sector' workers. The book contains ten country studies, including India, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. It argues that workers and trade unions, through intensive collaboration with other social forces across the world, can challenge the logic of neoliberal globalization.

"In the US, in Europe, and throughout the world, globalization, in tandem with technological progress, has left a massive number of people behind, feeling dispossessed, disenfranchised, and angry. Leading the charge of "hyperglobalization" during the second half of the last century, and enforcing the Western framework of austerity in the developing world has been the International Monetary Fund. Along with the World Bank and WTO, many consider the IMF one of the most consequential institutions to have pushed the world economy blindly towards excessive globalization, while not adequately considering its powerful negative consequences. In October 2017, however, the IMF convened with some of the world's most celebrated economists and experts on trade and globalization to have an honest discussion on the most pressing concerns the world faces today as a result of globalization, and how to address the extensive challenges it has created. Edited by chief economist Maurice Obstfeld and senior economist Luis Catao of the IMF, the book brings together a team of respected senior economists with the most promising younger scholars to address five major themes: how globalization affects economic growth and social welfare; potential political implications of an honest discussion of globalization, and that "free trade may not be politically viable"; free trade's role in global inequality; how workers adjust or not when they're dislocated by globalization; and how trade policy influences the way countries develop their economies and societies. The book could represent a historic milestone at which the world's top economists and policymakers have an unprecedented, honest debate about the real costs and consequences of globalization"--

Put quite simply, the twin impacts of globalization and environmental degradation pose new security dangers and concerns. In this new work on global security thinking, 91 authors from five continents and many disciplines, from science and practice, assess the worldwide reassessment of the meaning of security triggered by the end of the Cold War and globalization, as well as the multifarious impacts of global environmental change in the early 21st century.

Two prominent features of the current global economy are the world-wide recession brought about by the recent financial crisis, and the emergence of major economic powers from within the developing world such as Brazil, China and India. The former represents the failure of global regulatory policies and macroeconomic imbalances between surplus and deficit countries; the latter is symptomatic of a partial shift in economic power towards developing nations, who are often collectively labelled the global South. The macroeconomic imbalances are unsustainable in the longer run as they mean greater absorption relative to income in deficit nations; they require corrective action and international policy coordination. Reducing imbalances also requires large developing countries to raise their domestic consumption and also imports from the rest of the world and international financial institutions to operate as a lender of last resort. Furthermore, the engines of global growth, especially for developing countries, may no longer lie solely in the traditional developed country markets in the USA, Europe and Japan, known collectively as the global North. Rather South-South trade is growing rapidly, and that could be an engine of growth for the global economy, including both developed and developing countries. The various chapters in this edited volume address issues surrounding global imbalances and the prospects for growth in developing countries propelled by South-South interaction. This book should be of interest to students and researchers focussing on political economics, international economics, globalization, global imbalance and the world-wide recession after 2008.

History has declared globalization the winner of the 20th century. Globalization connected the world and created wealth unimaginable in the wake of the Second World War. But the financial crisis of 2008-09 has now placed at risk the liberal economic policies behind globalization. Engulfing the entire world, the crisis gave new fuel to the skeptics of the benefits of economic integration. Policy responses seem to favor anti-globalizers. New regulations could balkanize the global financial system, while widespread protectionist impulses might undo the Doha Round. Issues from climate change to national security may be used as convenient excuses to keep imports out, keep jobs at home, and to clamp down on global capital. Will globalization triumph or perish in the 21st century? What reforms make sense in the post-crisis world?International economists Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Kati Suominen argue that globalization has been a force of great good, one that needs to be actively advanced and honed. Drawing on the latest economic analyses, they reveal the drivers and effects of global finance and trade, lay out the key risks to globalization, and offer a practical policy roadmap for managing the challenges while increasing the gains. Vital reading for anyone in business, finance, foreign affairs, or economics, Globalization at Risk is sure to advance public debate on this defining issue of the 21st century.