The Crash of 2008 and the Future of Globalization

Professor Veseth's new book, Globaloney 2.0: The Crash of 2008 and the Future of Globalization, has just been published by Rowman & Littlefield. It is available from online booksellers now and in select bookstores after the first of the year.

Globaloney 2.0 is a major revision of Prof. Veseth's 2005 book Globaloney, which was named a best business book of 2005 by Library Journal.

Here is the a brief description of the book:

The idea that there is no alternative to the global market is dead for now as the world economic crisis has unmasked that “globaloney.” Globalization is in retreat, but history tells us that this is but a temporary reversal. Globalization will return, but in what form? More cycles of boom and bust? Or can globalization be rebuilt on a more feasible and sustainable platform? These are the compelling questions that Michael Veseth tackles in this thoroughly revised and updated edition of his award-winning book.

Veseth shows how pre-crash visions of globalization were based on three powerful myths: that global finance was a stable foundation for a global economy, that global markets homogenized and Americanized the world, and that globalization itself was irresistible—impossible to shape or oppose at any level from the grassroots on up. The world economic crisis has revealed globalization’s Achilles heel: the fundamental instability of global financial markets and the unsettled foundation of economic globalization generally. This realization is a necessary first step, but it alone is not enough. We must rethink the rest of globalization’s myths, Veseth persuasively argues, if we want to move beyond boom and bust to a sustainable global future.

Here is the chapter outline.

Introduction.

1. Globalization? Or Globaloney?
2. Financial Globaloney: Safe as Houses.
3. The Crash of 2008 and the Global Market Myth.
4. Golden Arches Globaloney.
5. The Only Game in Town.
6. Grassroots Globaloney.
7. Slow-balization: Using Globalization to Fight Globalization.
8. Globalization and the French Exception.
9. The Future of Globalization (and Globaloney)

Prof. Veseth will give a Brown Bag talk about his new book early in the Spring 2010 term.