The Case Against the Global Economy

A great political debate is emerging over the many unexpected and profound consequences of the rush toward the global economy and its effects on jobs, human rights, cultural diversity, democracy, and the natural world. The world's political and corporate leaders are restructuring the planet's economic and political arrangements in ways that directly affect humans and the environment more than anything since the Industrial Revolution. New, giant globalizing institutions such as the World Trade Organization, GATT, and the World Bank, created with scant public debate or scrutiny, have moved real power away from citizen democracies and nation states to global corporate bureaucracies, with grave results.

The Case Against the Global Economy is the first comprehensive point-by-point analysis of the new global economy, its premise and its full social and ecological implications. The work gathers 43 leading economic, agricultural, cultural, and environmental experts who charge that free trade and economic globalization are producing exactly the opposite results from what has been promised. In the end, it is clear that we need to reverse course, turning away from globalization toward a revitalized democracy, local self-sufficiency, and ecological health. With an introduction by Jerry Mander and David C. Korten.

Essays include: Wendell Berry, "Conserving Communities"; Vandana Shiva and Radha Holla-Bhar, "Piracy by Patent: The Case of the Neem Tree"; Ralph Nader and Lori Wallach, "GATT, NAFTA, and the Subversion of the Democratic Process"; William Greider, "Citizen GE"; Jeremy Rifkin, "New Technology and the End of Jobs"; Helena Norberg-Hodge, "The Pressure to Modernize and Globalize"; David Korten, "The Mythic Victory of Market Capitalism"; Kirkpatrick Sale, "Principles of Bioregionalism"; Herman E. Daly, "Free Trade: The Perils of Deregulation"; Richard Barnet and John Cavanaugh, "Homogenization and Global Culture"; and Maude Barlow and Heather-jane Robertson, "Homogenization and Education," among many others.

"A provocative and welcome counter-argument to the conventional wisdom that economic gobalization is in the best interests of mankind."--Orville Schell, Dean, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley

A great political debate has emerged over the many unexpected and profound consequences of the rush toward the global economy. The world's political and corporate leaders are restructuring the planet's economy and political arrangements in ways that will affect humans and the environment more than anything since the Industrial Revolution. Global institutions such as GATT, the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, and the World Bank, created with scant public debate or scrutiny, have moved real power away from citizens and nation states to global bureaucracies, with grave results.

The Case Against the Global Economy is the first comprehensive point-by-point analysis of the global economy, its premises, and its social and environmental implications. The work gathers forty-three leading economic, agricultural, and environmental experts who charge that free trade and economic globalization are producing exactly the opposite results from what has been promised.

Contributors include William Greider, Jeremy Rifkin, Ralph Nader, Vandana Shiva, David Korten, Wendell Berry, Kirkpatrick Sale, Herman E. Daly, Richard Barnet, Helena Norberg-Hodge, and more than thirty other analysts of the global economy.