Democratizing the Global Economy: The Battle Against the Work Bank and the International Monetary Fund
Author: Kevin Danaher
List Price: $15.95
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ISBN: 1567512089
Publisher: Common Courage Press (01 May, 2001)
Sales Rank: 285,524
Average Customer Rating: 3.25 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
A little fluffy but still worthwhile
Kevin Danaher, editor of *Democratizing the Global Economy*, says that there are three strategies for workiing towards an economic structure that isn't controlled by secretive corporate elites. The first way is to shift public priorities from profit maximization to civic and environmental responsibility; the second is to insist on corporate accountability; the third is building a new grassroots-based structure within the shell of the old corporate structure. Education, advocacy, creation of alternatives: three ways to buck the global system. *Democratizing the Global Economy* claims to focus on the first of these: education. It offers a variety of essays that fall into three categories: how to protest corporate globalism, the structure and influence of the World Bank and IMF, and future directions for the anti-globalism movement. The essays vary in quality. Robert Weissman's "Twenty Questions on the IMF" is a genuinely instructive piece outlining the relationship between the IMF, Congress, and the World Bank. Noam Chomsky's co-authored "A Letter to the U.S. Congress," on the other hand, seems thrown in only to include Chomsky in the volume's list of contributors. Most of the essays tend to be rhetorical rather than analytical or statistical. One sometimes has the impression of being harangued at a public meeting, and as a consequence is fired up without being instructed.
Still, the book is well worth reading. I would suggest, however, that it be read in conjunction with some more analytical treatments such as Marjorie Kelly's *Divine Right of Capital* or Charles Derber's *Corporation Nation*.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Great Stories, but little vitals
I purchased this book in order to help me on my High School Senior Thesis, which is on the subject of Third World Debt. While the stories are great, little information is devoted to actual numbers and specific examples of World Bank/IMF actions. Also, the stories from participants from the WTO protests in Seattle and the World Bank/IMF protests were interesting, but come from a very liberal, "My rights are more important" attitude.
Rating: 1 out of 5
More Mindless Dogma and Propaganda
This book neither advances a scholarly discussion of the potential advantages or dangers of globalization nor illuminates a discussion of the development needs of the more than three billion people in the world who live in desperate poverty. Like Danaher's earlier effort in 1994, this book is just a compilation of one-dimensional accusations and slogans attempting to discredit the World Bank and IMF and provide some intellectual basis and justification for the circus-like protests he and his fellow radicals and anti-capitalists have participated in for more than a year. The Bretton Woods institutions are far from perfect, but at least they are trying to make a difference in the fight against poverty in the world. The writers represented in this book have interesting points of view, but their views are clouded by the effort to discredit approaches with which they differ. Poverty and the challenges ahead need all the help and attention that can be mustered. It would be interesting to contemplate how much more useful the energies Dahaher and others expend in condemning the World Bank and IMF might be if they were channeled toward work in the field with operational NGOs and other private organizations to accomplish real results. This book is not worth the time of serious development activists, although I'm sure those who are looking for one-dimensional answers and direction for their street protests will find convenient slogans for their posters and justification for the paving bricks they throw through shop windows. Similar Products
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