Globalization Matters Engaging the Global in Unsettled Times

At the turn of the twenty-first century, globalization - both the process and the idea - bestrode the world. Widely acclaimed by political and economic pundits as the most important phenomenon of our time, it took the world by storm. Two decades later, it has come under sustained attack by the re-invigorated forces of the extreme right and radical left. Does globalization still matter in our unsettled world? Responding in the affirmative, this study develops and applies a new framework of an 'engaged theory of globalization' to analyze some of today's most pressing global challenges: the rise of national populism, ecological degradation, rapid urbanization, new sources of insecurity, and the changing landscape of higher education. Offering a comprehensive appraisal of globalization in our unsettled times, the authors explain why and how transplanetary interrelations continue to matter in a world that is wavering between globalist expansion and nationalist retrenchment.

1. Introduction: what is happening to globalization?; 2. Mapping a new genealogy of 'globalization'; 3. Rethinking the dominant framework of globalization theory; 4. Considering the subjective dimensions of globalization; 5. Outlining an engaged theory of globalization; 6. Excavating the long history of globalization; 7. Examining the promise of global studies; 8. Making sense of the populist challenge to globalization; 9. Confronting the global urban imaginary; 10. Living in the unsettled world of the Anthropocene; 11. Concluding reflections; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

Manfred B. Steger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa and Global Professorial Fellow in the Institute of Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. He is the author or editor of twenty-seven books, including: The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (2008), Justice Globalism: Ideology, Crises, Policy (2013), and Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (2017).
Paul James is Professor of Globalization and Cultural Diversity at the Western Sydney University, where he is Director of the Institute for Culture and Society. He is Scientific Advisor to the Mayor of Berlin, and a Metropolis Ambassador. He is an editor of Arena Journal and author or editor of thirty-five books including Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism (2006).