How to manage the global economy - and, more fundamentally, whether humanity wishes it to go in an ever more market-oriented, transnational corporation-dominated, and capital-footloose direction - is the most important international question of our time. In this short and trenchant history of those bodies -- the World Bank, IMF, WTO, and Group of Seven -- which have promoted this economic globalization, Walden Bello: - Points to their manifest failings; - Examines the major new ideas put forward for reforming the management of the world economy; - Argues for a much more fundamental shift towards a decentralized, pluralistic system of global economic governance allowing countries to follow development strategies sensitive to their own values and particular mix of constraints and opportunities. “Deglobalization is a superb dissection of contemporary capitalism's multiple crises, a powerful indictment of the US's brutal re-subordination of the global South in the interest of its MNCs and banks, an unanswerable demonstration of the unreformability of the IMF and its sister institutions, and a stirring call to arms for the movement for economic justice by one of its major theorists and organizers.” ― Robert Brenner “Among the expanding constellation of activists, academicians, and thinkers who believe that mainstream economics... does not have an answer to people's needs, Walden Bello is a prominent star” ― Bangkok Post “This short concise volume is a guidebook no activist should travel without.” ― Briarpatch Magazine, May 2003 “The most respected anti-globalization thinker in Asia” ― Le Soir (Belgium) “Walden Bello is the world's leading no-nonsense revolutionary. With plainspoken history and compelling evidence, he ruthlessly exposes the opportunism, plunder, and backroom bullying that passes for global capitalism. But this is more than a critique: Bellos expert diagnosis is that the patient is sicker than we think, and the time to act is now.” ― Naomi Klein, author, No Logo “Clear analysis and impressive scholarship have made Bello one of Asia's key progressive thinkers. Insistence on people-centered development grounded in ecological sustainability sets him apart from the elite consensus on Asia” ― New Internationalist “Bello's analyses and suggestions for action are refreshingly clear and direct, and he gives a valuable account of the re-subordination of the South over the last quarter-century. 'Deglobalization' is to be recommended above all for the invigorating energy with which it sets out an oppositional agenda.” ― New Left Review “Walden Bello's work has been consistently outstanding, highly informative and full of insight.” ― Noam Chomsky “Whatever subject he tackles, Walden Bello is always thoughtful, trenchant and constructive. He's also an authentic hero of the global justice movement.” ― Susan George Walden Bello is a human rights and peace campaigner, academic, environmentalist and journalist who has made a major contribution to the international case against corporate-driven globalization. He is currently the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South, as well as an adjunct professor of sociology at the State University of New York, Binghamton. He was formerly a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, and has previously held positions at the University of the Philippines, UCLA, and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. His previous books include Dilemmas of Domination: the Unmaking of the American Empire (Zed 2005), and Capitalism's Last Stand? Deglobalization in the Age of Austerity (Zed 2013). Deglobalization Ideas for a New World Economy By Walden Bello Zed Books Ltd Copyright © 2004 Walden Bello All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-84277-545-5 Contents Acknowledgements and Dedication, ix, Foreword: The Crisis of the Globalist Project and the New Economics of George W. Bush, xi, 1 Introduction: The Multiple Crises of Global Capitalism, 1, 2 Marginalizing the South in the International System, 32, 3 Sidestepping Democracy at the Multilateral Agencies, 59, 4 The Crisis of Legitimacy, 66, 5 The Vicissitudes of Reform, 1998–2002, 77, 6 Proposals for Global Governance Reform: A Critical Analysis, 91, 7 The Alternative: Deglobalization, 107, Selected Readings, 119, Selected Organizations Monitoring Multilateral Organizations and Global Governance Issues, 122, Index, 127, CHAPTER 1 Introduction: The Multiple Crises of Global Capitalism This book is about the genesis and development of the current system of global economic governance and alternatives to it. It focuses on institutions that go under the rubric of multilateral institutions, specifically the G-8, the Bretton Woods institutions, and the World Trade Organization. While governance – a nice neutral word – is often described as the function of these institutions, a more appropriate description of their role might be maintenance of the hegemony of the syste