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Argues that the shift in the US policy from supporting authoritarianism to promoting polyarchy in much of the Third World corresponds to the emergence of a global capitalist economy and is meant to ‘make the world safe for capital’. Authoritarianism is seen as an increasingly ineffective mechanism of social control and is replaced by polyarchic regimes that do not pursue any fundamental class redistribution of political and economic power. The author examines some instances of US polyarchy promotion in Latin America.

The history of global economy is characterised by major ebbs and flows. By 1914, an integrated global economy was in place. This was later destroyed by World War I. The global economy was rebuilt between the 1950s and 1970s. From the 1980s, the integration of global capital and commodity markets intensified.

This chapter outlines the aims of the research programme and explains the choice of the five countries that feature in the book. It sets the research programme in the context of broader developments in industrial relations and political economy in the advanced capitalist world. In particular, reference is made to the debates around the impact of globalization on labour movements and the prospects for labour movement revitalization.

This chapter shows how the neoliberal opportunity bargain of individual freedom and national prosperity was supposed to unfold. It first examines the transition from muscle power to brain power, which helped increase productive capacity. It then considers the relationship between nation-states based on the free trade and comparative advantage principles. Here it determines that the increase in the global knowledge economy helped remove most of the sources of conflict and disagreement between nations. The chapter also looks at the increased need for knowledge workers and the importance of keeping faith in the face of economic crashes.

One of the most important themes in history is globalisation, which has connected a world once separated by geography, culture, language, and politics. Globalisation accelerated rapidly from the 19th century. Business enterprises were the principal orchestrators of trade, capital, and knowledge flows, while governments provided the legal and administrative framework.

In this chapter, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, makes a strong plea for a greater sense of economic and moral responsibility on the part of the wealthier nations towards their poorer counterparts. It is also his conviction that for global prosperity to be sustained, it has to be fairly shared, and, as a success story, cites the institutional innovations of the early post‐war era to create an international architecture to advance this goal. However, the contemporary global economic and political scenario is very different, and Brown advocates a reconfiguration of the role of supra‐national institutions, both to meet the specific needs of global capitalism, and to drastically reduce poverty. More particularly, he proposes a new global consensus that will: (1) better enable the poorer countries to participate fully in the global economy and benefit from it; (2) encourage the international business community to adopt high corporate standards for their participation as reliable and consistent partners in the development process; (3) enable the adoption of improved trade regimes designed to improve the participation of developing countries in decision making; and (4) allow a substantial increase in development aid to nations most in need and willing to focus on the fight against poverty. The chapter concludes by stressing the responsibilities of each of the various institutions of global capitalism and, most notably, those of the business community, civil society, governments of both the richer and poorer countries, and individuals throughout the world.

Richard Falk considers the changing role of civil society as an institution influencing the form and content of global capitalism (GC), particularly its goals and values. This is a critical chapter, which, after placing the whole range of NGO (non‐governmental organization) functions within a historical context, acknowledges that, as values and aspirations change, new demands are made on the organizations comprising these institutions. The implications of GC are given especial attention: how far, and in what respects, are NGOs (including global NGOs) twenty‐first century moral guardians (cf. governments and markets); and/or to what extent do they need to be injected with a new or reconfigured code of behaviour suitable to the particular needs of the global economy? Falk believes that global civil society has an important role to play in influencing the course and content of global capitalism, and its underlying ethical ethos. He particularly favours a globalization‐from‐below approach, which he believes provides a useful counter‐force to the globalization‐from‐above approach practised by large firms and governments; in elaborating this view, he makes the case for a normative democracy––which reconnects politicians with moral purpose and values. He then goes on to identify the components of normative democracy, and argues that most of these can best be served not by globalization‐from‐above mechanisms, but rather by those of civil society as it redefines its role as mediating between the logic of capitalism and the priorities of peoples.

This chapter discusses developments in the global securities market from 1900 to the onset of the First World War. By 1914, securities markets played a key role in the financial systems of the most advanced world economies and had established a niche position within the less developed countries. Though far from being the universal means through which government and business raised funds or people employed their savings, securities had achieved a high level of penetration by the most sophisticated borrowers and investors. Internationally, securities markets were instrumental in the worldwide movement of funds that provided finance for major infrastructure projects and development of the earth's minerals and oil.

Brian Griffiths sets out his interpretation of the Christian attitude and response to global capitalism. After identifying the foundations of a Christian perspective, viz. the nature of the world God created, the covenants, the moral law of the Old Testament, and the Incarnation, Griffiths identifies six distinctive components of an acceptable global economy. He then goes on to distinguish between the Christian viewpoint and that of liberal economists who tend to regard the market (as one of the critical institutions of capitalism) as an autonomous entity and independent of any reference to morality; he has little sympathy for those theologians who view capitalism ’as powered by the unremitting stimulation of covetousness’, and indeed, as a Christian, he strongly defends the moral legitimacy of the concept of private ownership, and the freedom of individuals and firms to do business in the market place. At the same time, Griffiths is in no doubt that without a vigorous and clearly enunciated moral framework that embraces Christian values, the risks of extreme poverty, social injustice, and exclusivity, and the threat to the environment (the three downsides of the present state of capitalism discussed in the chapter) will remain. Finally, he avers that individual Christians and the Christian church bear a major responsibility for advocating and promulgating their beliefs and opinions, and also for cooperating with other religious persuasions, to identify ways of upgrading the moral ecology of the constituent institutions of global capitalism.

Building on his 1998 Prebisch lecture, presented at UNCTAD in Geneva, the author focuses on the form and content of a new (i.e. post Washington Consensus) paradigm of development, the role of national governments, civil society, and international agencies in helping to promote such development; and the ways in which the appropriate strategies, policies, and processes may best be conceived and delivered. The first main part of the chapter describes a broader vision for the future course of development, based on a transformation of society. The second explains that not only the Washington Consensus but also earlier development paradigms failed because they viewed development too narrowly; this section includes a brief outline of some of the key factors––including recent events in East Asia and the Russian Federation––that have helped in a realization of the inadequacies of the old approaches. The third section outlines what may be regarded as the key principles of a development strategy based on a holistic concept of development, and the fourth identifies the major components of such a development strategy. The chapter concludes with some general observations, focusing on the importance of a full and fair participation in the global economy in furthering development based on the new paradigm presented.