Presents lessons and activities covering the topics of social justice and globalization.

The world currently faces a number of challenges that no single country can solve. Whether it is managing a crisis-prone global economy, maintaining peace and stability, or trying to do something about climate change, there are some problems that necessitate collective action on the part of states and other actors. Global governance would seem functionally necessary and normatively desirable, but it is proving increasingly difficult to provide. This accessible introduction to, and analysis of, contemporary global governance explains what it is and the obstacles to its realization. Paying particular attention to the possible decline of American influence and the rise of China and a number of other actors, Mark Beeson explains why cooperation is proving difficult, despite its obvious need and desirability. This is an essential text for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying global governance or international organizations, and is also important reading for those working on political economy, international development and globalization.

Globalization was the buzzword at the end of the 20th century from the summit meeting to the media to the classroom. This book assesses the nature and extent of globalization, the key debates surrounding it and its impact on and significance for world politics.

What is the hottest American export since 9/11? The contributors to this provocative volume contend that it is Western style globalism-the dominant free market ideology that determines everything from most-favored-nation status to the declaration of war. In this much-needed post-September 11 analysis, an interdisciplinary team of authors shows how central concepts like globalization, liberty, free markets, and free trade are increasingly being subordinated to and lumped together with the war on terrorism led by the U.S. and its allies. The authors here-hailing from all five continents--contend that globalism is being adapted to particular social and political contexts in various parts of the world. Nonetheless, the impact of globalization with an ideological twist can be devastating as military operations and propaganda supplant transnational trade initiatives as the focal point of global exchange. And ironically, the post-9/11 framework contains a major ideological contradiction: Social forces otherwise profiting from expanded global mobility and interchange must come to grips with necessary limitations on certain aspects of globalization. This volume was handcrafted to outline the major lines of inquiry proposed for the new Globalization series, edited by Manfred B. Steger and Terrell Carver. Writing in accessible, engaging prose, the contributors to this anchor volume consider themselves critical globalization theorists who seek to provide readers with a better understanding of how dominant beliefs about globalization fashion their realities and how these ideas can be changed to bring about more equitable social arrangements. Books in the series will share the same perspective and goals.

In rethinking and reframing the American national narrative in a wider context, the contributors to this volume ask questions about both nationalism and the discipline of history itself. The essays offer fresh ways of thinking about the traditional themes and periods of American history. By locating the study of American history in a transnational context, they examine the history of nation-making and the relation of the United States to other nations and to transnational developments. What is now called globalization is here placed in a historical context. A cast of distinguished historians from the United States and abroad examines the historiographical implications of such a reframing and offers alternative interpretations of large questions of American history ranging from the era of European contact to democracy and reform, from environmental and economic development and migration experiences to issues of nationalism and identity. But the largest issue explored is basic to all histories: How does one understand, teach, and write a national history even as one recognizes that the territorial boundaries do not fully contain that history and that within that bounded territory the society is highly differentiated, marked by multiple solidarities and identities? Rethinking American History in a Global Age advances an emerging but important conversation marked by divergent voices, many of which are represented here. The various essays explore big concepts and offer historical narratives that enrich the content and context of American history. The aim is to provide a history that more accurately reflects the dimensions of American experience and better connects the past with contemporary concerns for American identity, structures of power, and world presence.

Using a variety of methodological approaches, contributors offer a range of disciplinary, ideological, and theoretical perspectives on globalization in the economic, political, and cultural domains. In addition to considering the role of numerous agents in the process, they address its impact on nation states; emancipatory, feminist, and environmental movements; and migrant communities and their participation in and opposition to the phenomenon. Earlier versions of the 14 papers were delivered at an April 1998 conference at Michigan State University.

The Sathya Sai global civil religious movement incorporates Hindu and Muslim practices, Buddhist, Christian, and Zoroastrian influences, and "New Age"-style rituals and beliefs. Shri Sathya Sai Baba, its charismatic and controversial leader, attracts several million adherents from various national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. In a dynamic account of the Sathya Sai movement's explosive growth, Winged Faith argues for a rethinking of globalization and the politics of identity in a religiously plural world. This study considers a new kind of cosmopolitanism located in an alternate understanding of difference and contestation. It considers how acts of "sacred spectating" and illusion, "moral stakeholding" and the problems of community are debated and experienced. A thrilling study of a transcultural and transurban phenomenon that questions narratives of self and being, circuits of sacred mobility, and the politics of affect, Winged Faith suggests new methods for discussing religion in a globalizing world and introduces readers to an easily critiqued yet not fully understood community.