Towards a World Community or a Class Project?
!
Bh arat Ram aswami
GLOBA LIZATION AND DEVELOPM ENTSTUDIES:CHA LLENGES FOR THE 21" CENTURY Edited by Frans J Schuurma n
Vistaar Publications, New Delhi, 2001, pp . Rs 275 .00
GI.OBA LIZATION UNM A SKED: IMPERIALISM IN THE 21" CENTURY By James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer
Madhyam Books, New Delhi, 2001, pp. 183, Rs. 200.00
T
he iden of a world communiry has been visible 1'01'many decades in rhe fo rm or the United Nations and its affilia ted organizations, fn re rn a rio nal agreemenrs such as on trad e, en viro n mcm, disarmame nt and biod iversity have bolstered the notion or globa lgovernance.While these rrcaries themselves are usually contentious, there are fewer disagree ments on rhe need 1'01' forums 1'01' globa l cooperation even when countr ies co mplain about the un eq u al distribution or b:lrgaining power.
If glo baliz;lIion were limited lO pa rt icipatio n in world aillirs i hro ugl: coulHry gove rnme nts, it would at worst provoke a yawn. But there are ot her tbings happening as well - trad e, internet . cell pho nes, satellite television, movies, terrorism and lvlcDonalds. Argu ab ly, these take
US also in th e direct ion of a wo rld community which lor many people is nor just less welco m e bur also worthy ofspirited resisumce. These
"glo balizing" activities, 1'01' wa nr ofa better rerrn. arc largely bccau s« or private' actionsand morivared by privat e interests. Covernmcnrs can control or promote these act ivities. The Iocus of irucrnario nal treaties in recent years has been to define the extent to wh ich gove rnme nts can regul a te trade, copyright , invcsrrn en rs and (foreign) med ia.
The book edited by Fra ns Sch uu rrnan is a collectio n or essays tha t were originally pre
senr ed ar a worksho p at the Univers ity or Nijrnegen (N etherlan ds) on rhe sign ificance or globaliza t io n 1;)1' the field of develop men t st udies. Unlike rhc subject ofstu d y, the collecrio n or aut ho rsin thisvolum eisvery non
global. o r rhe 13 autho rs, nine arc acade m ics based in Net herlands, two are drawn [rom Brirain and there is a solitary rep resen ta tive each from Germ any and rhc US.
In the in trodu cto ry essay, Schuurman poses the ch allenges of globa lizar ion for develo pmen t srud ies. According to the au t hor, the domi na nt paradigms are en d ange red because globalizatio n (a) unravels I he supposed hom oge neity of the Third World, (b) questions the unco nd ition al belief in the concept of prog ress and (c) undermines the nation state as an analytical frame or reference. In anothe ressay, Sch u u rm an allulllJlSa synthe tic review or the way in whic h theorist s in rhe development stu d ies tradit ion have defi ned globalizario n and evaluated i" enco u n te r with the n.uion-sr.ue.
For stud ents in the field, the rwo essays by Sch u ur ma n wo uld probably be the most useful chapte rs of the book.
Essays in rhe first pan of the book contin ue rhe theme of global izatio n and developme nt stud ies. Altho ugh Sch uurma n scrs the stage , th e orhdr essays in the firsr pan do not syste m
aricnlly follow thro ugh the issues framed by the intro d ucto ry cha pte r. Albro w conclu des that develo p men t stud ies must go in the direction or global studies but is sile n t on how such "global stu d ies" mi{~hl work in pract ice. Simi larly, De Ruijrer is occup ied with notions that are better dcscriprions of glo baliza tio n. The aut hor co n~ ludes , "Development stud ies refers to the co- existenc e of man)'worlds,each with its own 'log ic'. A new narrative lias emerged in whic h multiplicity, dive rsity, specific ity, ambig uity .and ambivalence are key-terms"." Like man)' of the othe r pap ers in this collection, this paper is co n tent wit h argui ng rhc case lor description rather rhan de monstrate t hc an alytica] value or thenew labels 1'01'the develop men tprocess and po lic ies.
Theseco nd hall' orrh e book cons isrsor essays on speci fic aspects of glo ba lizat ion such as hum an rights, multin ati o nal s and the cnv iro n rnc n r. Perhaps the pap ers rhar best illustra te the meth od s of cu ltura l theo rists are the chapters by Mari an ne March and and An ne . Sisson Runyan and by T ine David and Franc ien Van Oriel both ofwhich examine the counce
lio n between globa lizatio n and gender. Bo th papers rejec t what the)' call nar row mate rial ist percep tio ns or gende rana lysis that con fin es itself to the im pac t of globa lizat ion on the econo m icstatus ofwom en. The Marchand and
Runyan pap er exam ines the gende red cons tr ue
lion s of globa lizat ion by analysing the rela tio ns or dom ination thatare sustai ned by gende red symbolism and metapho rs. David and Van Oriel em phasize the mu ltidi me nsio na lity of gende r. As an instance of it, they sho w tha t the concern about fem ale-h eaded househo lds in poven)' analysis rep roduces the "old discourse of the male breadw inner" and ignores the othe r dimensions or gende r.
James Pe tras and He n ry Velrmcyer have written an old fashio ned Marxist tract and makes 1'01' an iniercsring contrast with the postmo dern insp ired wrirings in develo p me nt stud ies. Ir isasiftherog of post modernis m lifts
The Book Review Februa ry 2004 I 25
If global ization were limited to participa
tio n in world affairs th roug h country governme nts, it would at w orst provoke a yawn
.But there are ot her things happening as w
ell - trade, internet ,cell phon es, satellite television, movies, terrorism and McDonalds. Arguably, these take us also in th e direction of a world comm unity...
1O reveala sparsebu tclea r-as-d ayligh t la nd scape. Globalizat ion is nothin g bur a class project - it isthe agenda ofindividu alswho seek to advance rhe inte rests of a new in rcrna
tiona Icapita list class, For th is reason . th e authors prefe r anot her term rhar the y sa}' has greater explanato ry pow er: imper ialism.
For a Mar xist, an irnpo rra nr issu e is to situate globa lizat ion with in the histo ry or cap ita lism . Perras and Vclrmeyer, howeve r, do nOI dwell too much onsuch issues thatarc likely 1O be of in terest only to other Ma rxist s.
As globalizat ion is an ex te nsio n of capita lism and class str ugg le lO a wid er scale, there are not ma ny "ne w" th ings 1'0 explain, The autho rs . refer to the comi ng crisis poin t in globa lization
but wisely desist from a det a iled analysis excep r ro poinr out tha t globalizat ion has yet to en ter its "fina l phase".
True to its title, rhe emphasis in the book is
10 blow th e cover or imperi alists masqu eradin g [heir polic ies and program mes as globa lizat ion, Particular attent ion is given to the expe rience of La tin America. privat izat io n programmes, the prom oti on ofdem ocr acy in rhe Third World by the developed cou nt ries and to foreign aid projec ts. The poorrecord ofthe public sectoris attrib uted to bureau cra tic statism while Ch ina is regarde d as a disast er wait in g to happen. NGOs receive a special blast for ac tin g as a 'neo -comprado r' group that trad es "in domestic poveny rot indi vidual perk s". The aurhors particu larly dislike the noti on or civil sociery that NGO s use to claim spac e for the ir acti on s, because th at is just a cover lip or class antago nisms. Theau tho rscon cl ude withth eir vision or a socialist pa radi se. Expec red ly, it begins with state ow ne rshi p or alleco nom icenterp rises and produ ct ive assets. Ye r the autho rs believe tha t it can be so design ed tha t cons ume rs and local cit izens will be rhe ones that drive eco
no mic dec isions. It will be no haven 1'0 1' the slo thfu l- incom petent wo rkers wo uld be fired; absentee workers will have their salaries dock ed . Does that sound like somerh ing fam iliar? The market for insran ce?
Bharat Rarnas w am i is a Professor in the Planning Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi. Cur
rently, he is on leave at the India Development Foun
dation , Gurgaon.