Globalization : neoliberal challenge, radical responses /

What justifies yet another book on globalization? This one begins as a concise, nicely written summary of the sorts of radical views--the ills of globalization and the forces behind them--that motivated the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. By chapter 3 the book becomes a primer on Marxist analysis of "long waves" in capitalist development rooted in Ernest Mandel's writings, defining economic and political trends over 50-60 year cycles. Globalization, the author holds, is neither inexorable nor wholly technologically determined. Instead, it represents in part a series of political decisions restructuring the role of government and creating new international organizations with far-reaching authority. Globalization can therefore be controlled and slowed if its opponents organize effectively toward this end. This book is suitable for the general public and undergraduates. Although the author presents facts and attempts fairly thorough documentation, economics graduate students and professional economists will likely cringe at occasional inconsistencies, lapses in logic, apparent misunderstandings of economic principles, and some citations to nonauthoritative sources. Still, Went's book fills a need for anyone seeking a clear, concise statement of a particular radical view, or a short introductory critique of globalization. Public and academic library collections. M. Larudee; University of Kansas