Creating a Failed State

The U.S. and Canada in Afghanistan

John W. Warnock

By the end of 2001, the United States and its local allies had chased the hated Taliban government out of Afghanistan. A process had begun to create a new constitution and elect a democratic government, and the United Nations was leading a broad coalition starting reconstruction and development. Canada made major commitments to this project, but the Taliban are back. The war restarted and looks to have no end in sight. As John Warnock so deftly explains, this situation is only understandable within… (more information)

Deglobalization (Second Edition)

Ideas for a New World Economy–Updated Edition

Walden Bello

This is a short and trenchant history of the organizations — the World Bank, IMF, WTO, and Group of Seven — which have promoted economic globalization and which are now trying to manage the unmanageable. Walden Bello points to their manifest failings, seen in recurrent financial crises, the ever widening gulf between developing and industrialized countries, the persistence of gross inequalities and mass poverty. He examines new ideas for reforming world economic management, and argues… (more information)

Global Capitalism & American Empire

Sam Gindin, Leo Panitch

The American Empire has usually come in through the back door rather than the front door: its own empire of business was made plausible and attractive by the American state’s insistence that it was not imperialistic. The USA presented itself as the scourge of the old colonialism, spreading democracy and freedom of opportunity, rather than an old-style Empire of armed conquest. Its informal empire, uniquely combining, as Thomas Jefferson put it, ‘extensive empire with self-government… (more information)

Globalization and Development

A Glossary

Michael Mason

This comprehensive and up-to-date glossary provides the definitions needed to navigate the labyrinth of terms and phrases used in development literature. Unlike traditional dictionaries, this guide places definitions within the historical context of the literature. Mason has also included information on development institutions and on many of the journals and publications that have emerged in the development field. (more information)

Imperial Overstretch

George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire

Roger Burbach, Jim Tarbell

George W. Bush has fundamentally changed America’s place in the world. In some neo-conservative circles the word “empire” is back in fashion, and a great republic that broke away from the British Empire is now supposed to be proud of its new imperial role. This book explains how the neo-conservatives and the petro-military complex have hijacked US foreign policy. It examines the price that Americans will have to pay for this new era of unlimited US military might—a never-… (more information)

The Socialist Register 2002

A World of Contradictions

Edited by Colin Leys, Leo Panitch

The contributors, from many countries, discuss the contradictions that exist world wide and the resulting human suffering and misery that emerges. Contrary to the idyllic picture being painted by the promoters of globalization, we learn that workers are without work, that cultural, political, gender and racial conflicts abound, and that contradictions between countries and regions lead to an ever widening gap between the “haves” and the “have nots’”as health care and… (more information)

The Socialist Register 2005

The Empire Reloaded

Edited by Colin Leys, Leo Panitch

In the Socialist Register 2005, the contributors examine, through a multitude of lenses, how the American Empire works. They take a comprehensive look at who holds the balance of power and how this affects stability. What is most interesting is the way these essays look at the impact that the new American Empire has had and is having throughout the world. The topics discussed include how the shift in global political relations has influenced gender relations, the media and popular culture. (more information)

The Three Waves of Globalization

A History of a Developing Global Consciousness

Robbie Robertson

A new reading of western history argues that human interconnections achieved global proportions for the first time 500 years ago, producing three waves of destabilizing globalization. The first wave, post-1500, devastated America and contributed to European wars and revolutions. In the nineteenth century, the rush to monopolize wealth and power escalated into rivalries between classes, nations, empires. After 1945, a new global social architecture with transnational capital as its main factor… (more information)