People Before Profit
The New Globalization in an Age of Terror, Big Money, and Economic Crisis
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Globalization's Dark Side: Redesigning a System That Has Failed Us
The issue of globalization—its promises, and more often, its shortcomings—commands worldwide attention. Recent events, from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to the rise of anti-globalization movements and the deteriorating global economy, illuminate the dark side of globalization and underscore the urgent need to redesign its basic principles.
In People Before Profit, Charles Derber argues that for a safe and economically secure future, we must debunk the myths about our current form of corporate-led globalization and re-orient ourselves on a more democratic path. By challenging popular misconceptions, what Derber terms the "globalization mystique," he reveals a dynamic system that is constantly being invented and re-invented—and can be again.
Globalization does not have to be a "race to the bottom" where the poverty gap grows ever wider. In fact, Derber's hopeful and detailed vision of reform, including practical suggestions for every concerned citizen, shows that globalization has the potential to be an authentic agent of democracy, social justice, and economic stability. The challenges are great; the new globalization will require deep and difficult changes, as well as a new politics that shifts power away from the elite. But the seeds have already been planted and the new globalization is beginning to emerge.
In a moment rich with opportunity, People Before Profit is an essential contribution to the most important debate of our times, written in clear, straight-forward prose for everyone seeking a better world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sociologist Derber (Corporation Nation) has a breezy writing style, slightly more academic than that of Thomas Friedman, whom he invokes often in this critique of the increasing trend toward globalization. Where Friedman sees globalization as an inevitable process, Derber believes we can still change globalization's direction, eliminating its market-driven excesses to provide truly universal economic development. The goals he proposes ending global poverty, promoting local democracy and culture, making businesses socially accountable and creating a framework for genuinely collective peace and stability aren't new, nor is his observance that people all over the world are coming together to achieve those goals, but what his analysis lacks in originality, it makes up in accessibility. Despite Derber's optimism that American citizens will sympathize with the emphasis of "third-wave" activists on combating corporate corruption and influence over government, he does admit his insistence that "we cannot have global democracy in a world so thoroughly dominated by the United States" is likely to meet with mainstream resistance. Reaction to that frank assessment is likely to overshadow other discussion, such as Derber's cogent explanation of the threats that the WTO and IMF pose to local sovereignty, especially with regard to labor and environmental legislation, and his 25 suggestions for "what to do right now," simple actions that almost anyone can take to become politically aware and active. It's clear Derber wants to do more than preach to the choir and less clear that the public is ready to listen.
