Demystifying Globalization

Globalization, within academic, political and business circles alike, conjures an ever growing diversity of associations, connotations and attendant mythologies. In this volume a distinguished array of international academics assess the contribution of the globalization thesis, in its various guises, to our understanding of social, political and economic change in contemporary societies. They expose, challenge and demystify many of the exaggerated and overgeneralized claims made about globalization, whilst developing a distinctive 'third wave' perspective on the world we inhabit and the processes currently reconfiguring it.

Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction: Demystifying Globalization; C.Hay & D.Marsh PART I: WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION? Unpacking Globalization: Approaches, Evidence and Data; A.Busch Izations of the World: Americanization, Modernization and Globalization; P.J.Taylor State Sovereignty, Globalization and the Rise of Soft Capitalism; N.Thrift PART II: GLOBALIZATION, REGIONALIZATION AND NATIONAL DIVERSITY Globalization and its 'Other(s)': Three 'New Kinds of Orientalism' and the Political Economy of Trans-border Identity; N.L.Sum Globalization and Regionalization in Central Europe: Positive and Negative Responses to the Global Challenge; A.Agh In, But Not Of the World? Japan, Globalization and the 'End of History'; J.Clammer Globalization and European Integration; D.Wincott Index

Colin Hay is Professor of Government and Comparative Public Policy at Sciences Po, Paris and Affiliate Professor of Political Analysis at the University of Sheffield, where he co-founded the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). He is the author of a number of books including The Failure of Anglo-Liberal Capitalism and The Political Economy of European Welfare Capitalism (with Daniel Wincott). He is editor of the journals Comparative European PoliticS and British Politics (both published by Palgrave Macmillan) and New Political Economy (Taylor & Francis).