Global Village or Global Pillage: Economic Reconstruction from the Bottom Up

Rating:
Summary: Countering the race to the bottom
Review: This book combines perfectly the thorough criticism of academic literature and the accessibility of popular writing to clearly communicate how multinational corporations have played different population bases against one another and what those groups are doing to build a common set of standards to counter the race to the bottom. Written in plain language with hundreds of citations, Global Village is a book that unites scholar and layperson in an exploration of the spreading marketplace while avoiding both dogma and tediousness.

Rating:
Summary: Important Voice but Naive Faith
Review: This book is a more political version of Ben Barber's Jihad vs. McWorld. It is thorough and broad on the Political/Economic front, and rather weak on the cultural front. The authors have a good understanding of the unchecked and immorally wielded power of the IMF, and see a margin of hope in strategic cooperation of NGOs. I believe their faith in the potential of these groups to effectively challenge the powers is naive, and could be refined with a deeper understanding of the totalitanian participation of mass culture in the designs of the IMF. Culture is a powerful shaper of worldview, and is inherently conservative (In the sense of resistant to evolution). A holistic approach is needed. Global Pillage is an important book, and is fairly readable, but would be hard for a newcomer to the movement to understand. It is well researched and thoughtful, and successfully avoids any taste of Ivory Tower irrelevance. I recommend this book, with the warning that real change will require a holistic cooperation to engage the society beyond the political realm.