Socialist Register 1999: Global Capitalism vs. Democracy

“Globalization” has come to define our age. Stock market fluctuations, the fortunes of political administrations, and conditions for working people—all rise and fall with the tide of global capital flow.

While recognizing that globalization must be taken seriously, the essays in this collection set out to challenge ideas that only serve to mystify globalization, notably the perception that the state is now irrelevant.

A number of country and area studies examine the effects of increasing global pressures on particular economies, from Germany to Cuba, and from Latin America to East Asia. Other essays take up the consequences of globalization in particular spheres: international money, the media, and workplaces. And theoretical contributions discuss democracy, government, and economics in an epoch of global capital Global Capitalism Versus Democracy will appeal to readers seeking a nuanced assessment of the world economy and geopolitics.

Contents

Preface

• HUGO RADICE Taking Globalization Seriously
• URSULA HUWS Material World: The Myth of the Weightless Economy
• CONSTANTINE TSOUKALAS Globalization and the Executive Committee: The Contemporary Capitalist State
• DAVID COATES Labor Power and International Competitiveness: A Critique of Ruling Orthodoxies
• BIRGIT MAHNKOPF Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The German Model Under the Pressure of Globalization
• MITCHELL BERNARD East Asia’s Tumbling Dominoes: Financial Crisis and The Myth of the Regional Model
• ATILIO BORON State Decay and Democratic Decadence in Latin America
• HAROLDO DILLA Comrades and Investors: The Uncertain Transition in Cuba
• ADAM TICKELL Unstable Futures: Controlling and Creating Risks in International Money
• JOACHIM HIRSCH Globalization, Class and the Question of Democracy
• BORIS KAGARLITSKY The Challenge for the Left: Reclaiming the State
• COLIN LEYS Democracy, Market Supremacy and the Media
• SHEILA ROWBOTHAM The Tale that Never Ends

Leo Panitch is professor of political science at York University in Toronto. Colin Leys was for many years professor of political science at Queen’s University in Canada.