UNEQUAL PARTNERS

A deconstruction of globalization that veers toward manifesto.

The increasing tendency of modern corporations to invest and conduct business without regard to national boundaries (and preferably with minimal interference from national governments) is controversial, but seldom viewed as an unequivocal evil. Most people balance moral qualms about sweatshop labor or environmental decay against arguments that globalization offers needed jobs to the third world and is a necessary first step to development. Tabb (Economics/Queens Coll.; Political Science/CUNY Graduate Center) seeks to dispel such ambivalence. Globalization, he argues, is little more than covert imperialism. Transnational corporations have taken advantage of legal loopholes, corrupt rulers, and an ignorant public to rob the developing world of its wealth. This process has been facilitated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, both of which act as agents of the developed world and, more specifically, the US. Neither the IMF nor the World Bank, Tabb claims, can “point to any part of the world to show an example of policy success.” Worse, they have actively promoted policies that have exacerbated the AIDS epidemic, increased debt, and damaged the environment. These statements contain much truth, but Tabb is so vehemently partisan that he’s difficult to take at face value. He considers no arguments that do not support his point. For example, he simply dismisses out of hand the possibility that pollution and income inequality are painful first steps toward socialized democracy. On the other hand, his view of World Trade Conference protestors is decidedly optimistic, despite their noteworthy lack of a clear agenda and their inclusion of racist and violent groups. It all becomes a bit hard to swallow. As a critic once said of British historian Lord Macaulay, Tabb fails to give his readers credit enough to reach their own conclusions.

Preaching to the choir.