Neo-Liberalism, State Power and Global Governance

This volume explores some of the ways in which neo-liberalism has affected both the exercise of state power and the conduct of global governance in the cont- porary global economy. While the contributors have approached their subject from a variety of social science perspectives, their research is united by a number of underlying themes. First, neo-liberalism has failed to deliver a framework for state power and global governance capable of delivering stability and enduring prosperity. Second, the role of the politics in general, and the state and global governance in particular, should be defined more broadly than the simple neo-liberal construction of institutions for the market. There is an urgent need for the re-balancing of state power and global governance in favour of the public domain of the state and citizenship, in order to redress some of the inequalities bequeathed by three decades of liberalization, privatization, and de-regulation. Third, the degree to which globalization has undermined the policy autonomy of the de- cratic state has been overstated in many cases. While many poorer developing economies have been presented with a developmental fait accompli, for many more affluent polities, neo-liberal globalization has been a deliberate policy choice. As a consequence, any analysis of the impact of neo-liberalism upon state power and global governance must acknowledge the importance of context, including the role played by society, historical traditions, and culture, in mediating the effects of neo-liberalism.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Neo-Liberalism, State Power and global Governance in the Twenty First Century, Simon Lee and Stephen McBride. - Part I. National Differences in the Face of Pressures to Converge. - Chapter 2. European Economic Integration: The Threat to Modell Deutschland, Michael Whittall. - Chapter 3. Stranded on the Common Ground? Global Governance and State Power in England and Canada, Simon Lee. - Chapter 4. Assessing the Globalization-Decentralization Nexus: Patterns of Education and Reform in Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Nicaragua, Michael McNamara. - Part II. Transnational Policy Prescriptions - Chapter 5. Tracking Neo-liberalism: Lbaour Market Policies in the OECD Area, Stephen McBride, Kathleen McNutt and Russell Williams. - Chapter 6. Social Economy Policies As Flanking For Neoliberalism: Transnational Policy Solutions, Emergent Contradictions, Local Alternatives, Peter Greafe. - Chapter 7. Assessing the Convergence Thesis of Legal reforms in Emerging Market Economics, Linda Elmose. - Part III. Labour: A special Case in the Global Economy? - Chapter 8. Governing International Labour Mobility: Past Practice and New Directions, Christina Gabriel. - Chapter 9. Neo-liberal policies and Immigrant Women in Canada, Habiba Zaman. - Part IV. The Need for Reform. - Chapter 10. The Logic of Neoliberalism and the Political Economy of Consumer Debt-led Growth, Johnna Montgomerie. - Chapter 11. World Trade and World Money: The Case for a New World Currency Unit, Duncan Cameron. - Chapter 12. Multilateral Institution-building in a Neoliberal Era: The Case of Competition Policy, Marc Lee. - Chapter 13. The TWO and Global Governance, Theodore H. Cohn. - Chapter 14. The World Trade Organisation and Social Justice, Colin Tyler. - Chapter 15. The OECD: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century, Richard Woodward. - Chapter 16. Conclusion: The Need to Rebuild the Public Domain, Simon Lee and Stephen McBride.