Globalisation and Anti-globalisation Print E-mail
 
Lecturer: David Miller

Class times and locations:
Presentations/Screening:

Computer workshops:
Contact details: Room 505, Graham Hills Building, Phone 0141 548 3794, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


Online sources:

The best place to find out about capitalist globalisation and the movement against it is online. A list of resources for this is available here. This list will be updated throughout the course and will act as the basis for group projects.


Globalisation Group Project:

The workshops will prepare the students for their group project (groups of between 3 and 5) which will take the form of an investigation of some aspect of globalisation or an analysis of a particular organisation, campaign or issue.

It is anticipated that group projects will be posted on the web. To ensure fairness each student will prepare an individual report which will be used to assess individual performance. Word count of between 2000-3000 words.

The group project is intended to allow students to develop and guide their own learning reflecting their own interests. It is a participative form of teaching in which the precise topics are defined in consultation and collaboration between students and the course organiser.

Some basic parameters

The project should focus on one institutions or organisation or on a specific issue. Appropriate examples include:
 
    • Specific corporations or corporate front or lobby groups
    • Specific activist or NGO groups or campaigns
    • Specific government campaigns or issues

A sample group report from earlier this year is provided here as a guide to the kind of thing that can be produced. There is no prescription that your report should look like this, but this is a report which gained a first class mark. Click here:

Screenings:

A selection of screenings will be available and will be screened as and when agreed by the class.

Full lecture outline

27 September:

1. Globalisation and its discontents: approaches in social and cultural theory

This lecture surveys the alternative ways that globalisation has been understood and asks the key question: is it happening?

Key reading:

Beck, U. (2000) What is Globalization?, Sage.

Ellwood, W. (2001) The no-nonsense guide to globalization, Verso. Esp Ch1, 2, 4, 5

John Bellamy Foster 'Marx and Internationalism'. Monthly Review, July, 2000 http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1132/3_52/63858952/p1/article.jhtml

Held, D. and McGrew, K (2001) The Global Transformations Reader, Polity, Ch 1-8

Sklair, Globalization Chapter 1, 2, 3

Sklair, Transnational Capitalist Class Ch 1, 2, 3

Leslie Sklair 'Competing conceptions of globalization' Journal of World-Systems Research, Vol V, 2, 1999, 143-162. http://jwsr.ucr.edu/archive/vol5/number2/html/sklair/

Lecture 1 Handout


5 October

2. The strategies of globalising capital: corporations, classes and consumerism

Key reading:
Bobbitt, Philip (2002) The Shield of Achilles, Penguin, Ch 10, 12, 13, 24-27.

Bobbitt, P. (2002) 'Blair, the pioneer of a new order', New Statesman, 30 September. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FQP/4607_131/93208470/p1/article.jhtml

Bobbitt, P. (2003) 'The nation state is being replaced by the market state', New Statesman 13 January: 29-31. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FQP/4620_132/96892385/p1/article.jhtml

Balanya et al (2000) Europe Inc., London: Pluto Press. See also the Corporate Europe Observatory website

George, S. et al (2001) Anti-Capitalism: A Guide to the movement, Bookmarks. p11-26, 27-42

McArthur, J. (2000) The Selling of 'Free Trade', University of California, Ch 2, 4, 6

Monbiot, G. (2000) Captive State: The Corporate Take-over of Britain, London: Macmillan. Ch 1, 2, 10

Palast, G. (2003) The Best democracy money can buy, Ch 4, 5, 7

Greg Palast, 'The WTO's Hidden Agenda' Special to CorpWatch Friday, November 9, 2001 http://www.GregPalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=105&row=1

Greg Palast 'GATS GOT HIS TONGUE' The Observer, London Sunday, April 15, 2001. http://www.GregPalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=77&row=1

Greg Palast 'Tony rushes in where Bill fears to tread' The Guardian Thursday, May 25, 2000 http://www.GregPalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=70&row=1

Scott, J. (1991) Who rules Britain?, Blackwell.

Sklair, Globalization Chapter 4, 5

Sklair L.(2000) The transnational capitalist class and the discourse of globalization Published with the permission of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, http://www.theglobalsite.ac.uk/press/012sklair.htm

Useem, M. (1984) The Inner Circle, Oxford University Press.

Lecture 2 Handout


12 October

3. The Anti-globalisation movement, history and strategy


Walden Bello 'From Melbourne to Prague: the Struggle for a Deglobalized World' Talk delivered at a series of engagements on the occasion of demonstrations against the World Economic Forum (Davos) in Melbourne, Australia, 6-10 September 2000. http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/WB0900.html

Walden Bello 'Porto Alegre: Counteroffensive against globalization', Focus on the Global South January 2002 http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/PACOAG.html

Key reading:

Callinicos, A. (2003) An anti-capitalist manifesto, Polity, Part 2.

George, S. et al (2001) Anti-Capitalism: A Guide to the movement, Bookmarks. Foreword

Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, London: Flamingo;

Wapner, P. (1996) Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics, State University of New York Press.


19 October

4. The death of democracy? Politics and corporate power

Key reading:
Balanya et al (2000) Europe Inc., London: Pluto Press. See also the Corporate Europe Observatory website

Bobbitt, P. (2002) 'Blair, the pioneer of a new order', New Statesman, 30 September. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FQP/4607_131/93208470/p1/article.jhtml

Bobbitt, P. (2003) 'The nation state is being replaced by the market state', New Statesman 13 January: 29-31. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0FQP/4620_132/96892385/p1/article.jhtml

Carey, A. (1995) Taking the Risk out of Democracy, University of New South Wales Press.Ch 5.

Leys, C.(2001) Market Driven Politics, London: Verso. Ch 2, 3, 4 and 7.

Monbiot, G. (2000) Captive State: The Corporate Take-over of Britain, London: Macmillan. Ch 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Palast, G. (2003) The Best democracy money can buy, Ch 1, 2, 7

Teeple. G. (2000) Globalization and the decline of social reform, NY: Humanity Books.


26 October

5. Corporate social responsibility; smokescreen or sign of progress?

Key reading:
Christian Aid, Behind the mask. The real face of corporate social responsibility 21.01.04 http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/indepth/0401csr/

Greenwash + 10 The UN's Global Compact, Corporate Accountability and the Johannesburg Earth Summit ByÊKenny Bruno CorpWatch January 24, 2002 http://www.corpwatch.org/campaigns/PCD.jsp?articleid=1348

Lubbers, E. (Ed) (2002) Battling Big Business, Green Books. Ch 1,2,3,6,7

The Fake Parade BY JONATHAN MATTHEWS ENVIRONMENT | 12.3.2002 http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=254

Judith Richter 'Codes in Context TNC Regulation in an Era of Dialogues and Partnerships' Corner House Briefing No.26, February 2002 http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/briefing/26codes.html

Sklair, Transnational Capitalist class, Ch, 6, 7, 8

David Miller, 'Unspinning the globe' Red Pepper June 2003 http://www.redpepper.org.uk/June2003/x-June2003-globalpr.html


2 November

6. Corporate power in Scotland

Key reading:
David Miller, 'Corporate power, institutional corruption' Scottish Left Review, Issue 18, Sept/Oct 2003, p6-7. http://www.scottishleftreview.org/Currentissue/I18DM.htm

David Miller (2002) 'A question of privilege', Scottish Left Review, Issue 13 November/December: 12-13. http://www.scottishleftreview.org/Pastissues/SLR%20I13%20Nov-Dec02.pdf

Monbiot, G. (2000) Captive State: The Corporate Take-over of Britain, London: Macmillan. Ch 1.

Hope, C. (2003) 'What influences Scottish Business?', in Hassan, G. and Warhurst, C (eds) Anatomy of the New Scotland: Power, Influence and Change, Mainstream; Edinburgh. [chapter 14]

Hassan, G. (2003) 'Anatomy of the New Scotland: Power, Influence and Change' in Hassan, G. and Warhurst, C (eds) Anatomy of the New Scotland: Power, Influence and Change, Mainstream; Edinburgh. [chapter 1]

Collier, A. and Hassan, G. (2003) 'Scottish Banking, Finance and Insurance' in Hassan, G. and Warhurst, C (eds) Anatomy of the New Scotland: Power, Influence and Change, Mainstream; Edinburgh. [chapter 15]

Scott, J and Hughes, M. (1980) 'Conclusion: The Transformation of Scottish Capital' pp258-265 in The Anatomy of Scottish capital, McGill Queens University Press: Montreal.

Brown, A. and McCrone, D. (1999) 'Business and the Scottish Parliament Project, Report', March, Edinburgh: Governance of Scotland Forum.

Institute of Governance, University of Edinburgh (2003) 'Business and the Scottish Parliament, Second report'

Moore, C. and Booth, S. (1989) Managing Competition; Meso-Corporatism, Pluralism, and the Negotiated Order in Scotland, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scottish Office (1999) Pathfinders to the Parliament: A Business Agenda for the Scottish Parliament, March. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents-w8/pttp-00.htm


9 November

7. Cultural imperialism and 'global culture'

Key reading:
Held, D. and McGrew, K (2001) The Global Transformations Reader, Polity, Ch 17-21.

Sklair, Globalization Chapter 7, 9

Sklair, L. (2001) The Transnational Capitalist Class, Blackwell, Ch 8

Tomlinson, J. (1999) Globalization and Culture, Polity, Ch1, 3, 6.

Global Policy forum links on culture and globalization: http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/index.htm


16 November

8. Everything for sale? Advertising, media and the Culture Ideology of Consumerism

Key reading:
Ewen, S. (1982) Channels of Desire, McGraw Hill, part 2 and 5

Ewen, S. (1988) All Consuming Images, Basic Books.

Ewen, S. (2001) Captains of Consciousness, Rev Ed. Basic books. Part 1 Ch 5, 6 And: p187-220

Sklair Globalization Chapter 5, 7, esp p 164-180

Thomas Frank (1998) The Conquest of Cool : Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism, University of Chicago Press on the marketing of rebellion and 'cool', Ch 8, 11.Excerpts available at: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/259919.html

Thomas Frank The Rise of Market Populism: America's New Secular Religion, The Nation, October 30, 2000 http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20001030&s=frank

Frank, T. (2001) One Market under God, Anchor Books.


23 November

9. Indymedia and the internet: Is this what democracy looks like?

Key reading:
Atton, C. (2001). 'Approaching alternative media: Theory and methodology'. Paper presented at OurMedia preconference to International Communication Association (ICA) conference, Washington, DC.

John D.H. Downing, 'The Seattle IMC and the socialist anarchist tradition' Paper presented at OurMedia preconference to International Communication Association (ICA) conference, Washington, DC.

Hyde, G. (2002) Independent Media Centers: Subversion and the alternative press, First Monday 7(4), http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_4/hyde/

Nicholas W. Jankowski & Marieke Jansen 'Indymedia: Exploration of an Alternative Internet-based Source of Movement News' Paper Prepared for Conference Digital News, Social Change and Globalization Hong Kong Baptist University 11-12 December 2003. Download 

Miller, D. (2004) Tell me lies, Pluto. Ch. 27, Faisal Bodi: Al Jazeera's war; 29, Yvonne Ridley: Turning my back on the mainstream 30. David Crouch: Working in and against the system 31. Alistair Alexander: Disruptive Technology: Iraq and the Internet 32. Noam Chomsky: The anti-war movement.

Resources on Indymedia and alternatives to the mainstream:

OurMedia: a global network of activists, academics, and practitioners working toward stronger alternative, community and citizens' media http://www.ourmedianet.org/ Papers on indymedia in English: http://www.ourmedianet.org/eng/papers.html

Indymedia UK - Indymedia Scotland - Indymedia Scotland.org - Indymedia global links


30 November

10. Alternatives: Socialism, Anarchism, reformism or barbarism?

Key reading:
Calinicos, A. (2003) An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto, Polity. Parts 2 and 3.

Ellwood, W. (2001) The no-nonsense guide to globalization, Verso.

Monbiot, G. (2003) The age of consent, Flamingo, Ch2, 3, 7

Movement Building 2004: What Do We Want? An Exchange Between Michael Albert and George Monbiot Begun Dec. 12 2003 - Concluded ...On the Occurrence of the Publication of their new books: Albert: Parecon: Life After Capitalism & Monbiot: The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order http://www.zmag.org/monbiotalbertdebate.htm

Movement Building 2004: Vision and Strategy An Exchange Between Michael Albert and Alex Callinicos Begun Dec. 8 2003 - Concluded ...On the Occurrence of the Publication of their new books: Albert: Parecon: Life After Capitalism And Callinicos: Anti-Capitalist Manifesto (This exchange also appears at Britain's SWP site... http://www.swp.org.uk/VISION/index.htm) http://www.zmag.org/calllinicosalbertdebate.htm

Sklair, Globalization Chapter10, 11, 12

Next >