Spaces of Globalization

Reviews / Votes

...This book...does, very effectively I believe, begin to challenge some of the myths, generalizations and simplifications associated with globalization theory, and to assert the power and the analytical importance of understanding the local....This is an excellent and welcome text, measured both in terms of the quality and authority of the contributions, as well as offering an intellectual breath of fresh air to the globalization thesis swamp. --Peter M. Ward, Planning Forum, 1997

This fine book tackles the myth of globalization head on, joining a handful of recent works that put in question many widely held assertions about the economics and politics of the new global economy. Editor Kevin Cox has assembled a strong, coherent set of essays by some of the finest minds in contemporary economic geography, whose voices carry far beyond the boundaries of the discipline. Global capitalism has not one but many geographies, none of which have been erased by the rising tides of international finance and neo-liberalism. But tectonic shifts have been reassembling what was once solid ground for workers and businesses, leaving many at sea. The insights of this book are like life-rafts against the intellectual and moral drift of glibly global politicians, opinion makers, and news commentators. This should be required reading for every newspaper essayist from The Economist to the Wall Street Journal who ventures hasty opinions on the global economy, as well as standard fare in economics departments and business schools. --Richard A. Walker, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley

These broad-ranging and innovative essays explore the myths and realities hidden beneath the much-hyped idea of 'globalization'. In a major contribution to critical human geography and radical political economy, the authors put 'space' in its 'place'. Drawing on detailed conceptual critiques, historical and comparative analyses, and fine-grained case-studies, they consider where, when, and why economic flows are still closely bound up with territory, scale, and place. In breaking with conventional conceptual dichotomies and paradigms, the authors shows the real variety, complexity, and interdependence of flow economies and territorial economies and explores how these are socially constituted and regularized. A further valuable aspect of several essays is their critical engagement with the 'politics of place' and its implications for radical politics. --Bob Jessop, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK

We are inundated with fearsome talk about an uncontrolled and uncontrollable global economy in which capital and goods spin about the world, detached from territory, and therefore from the regulatory powers of the territorial nation state. This excellent collection brings sanity to the globalization talk. It shows that tendencies toward localization, or territorial dependence, have developed alongside increased international economic mobility. It thus illuminates the complexities of the current transition, including the complex interplay between economic and political developments which needs to be understood if we are to gain leverage for the political direction of market developments. --Frances Fox Piven, coauthor of Why Americans Don't Vote
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