Globalization and Contestation, by Ronaldo Munck
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1111 2 Globalization and Contestation 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Globalization is undoubtedly the great overarching paradigm of our era. 4 However, there is still little agreement on what globalization actually ‘is’ 5 and some do not accept that it ‘is’ anything at all. 6 This new book addresses the contestation of globalization by the anti- 7 globalization movement. To contest is to challenge, to call into question, 8 to doubt, to oppose and to litigate; this study shows how globalization is 9 ‘contestable’ in many different ways and how the counter-movements we 20111 have seen emerging over the last decade also ‘bear witness’ on behalf of an 1 alternative human future. Ronaldo Munck presents an overarching frame- 2 work that allows us to understand how globalization and its contestation 3 are inextricably bound up with one another. This volume insightfully 4 explores a number of case studies, including the Battle of Seattle in 1999; 5 the World Social Forum; peasant internationalism and environmental move- 6 ments and reactionary movements including the US Patriot movement, 7 Islamic fundamentalist movements and other nationalist movements. 8 This text will be of great interest to all students and scholars of inter- 9 national relations, politics and of globalization and global governance in 30111 particular. 1 2 Ronaldo Munck is Theme Leader for Internationalisation, Interculturalism 3 and Social Development (IISD) at Dublin City University, Ireland. 4 35 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 Rethinking globalizations Edited by Barry Gills University of Newcastle, UK This series is designed to break new ground in the literature on globaliza- tion and its academic and popular understanding. Rather than perpetuating or simply reacting to the economic understanding of globalization, this series seeks to capture the term and broaden its meaning to encompass a wide range of issues and disciplines and convey a sense of alternative possibilities for the future. 1 Whither Globalization? The vortex of knowledge and globalization James H. Mittelman 2 Globalization and Global History Edited by Barry K. Gills and William R. Thompson 3 Rethinking Civilization Communication and terror in the global village Majid Tehranian 4 Globalization and Contestation The new great counter-movement Ronaldo Munck 5 Global Activism Ruth Reitan 1111 2 Globalization and 3 4 Contestation 5 6 The new great 7 8 counter-movement 9 1011 1 2 3111 Ronaldo Munck 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 35 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library,2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2007 Ronaldo Munck All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Munck, Ronaldo. Globalization and contestation: the new great counter-movement/ Ronaldo Munck. p. cm. – (Rethinking globalizations) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Anti-globalization movement – International cooperation. 2. Globalization – Social aspects. 3. Globalization – Political aspects. 4. Social movements – International cooperation. 5. Protest movements – International cooperation. I. Title. JZ1318.M8586 2007 303.48v2 – dc22 2006020731 ISBN 0-203-96237-0 Mastere-bookISBN ISBN10: 0–415–37655–6 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–37656–4 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–96237–0 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–37655–6 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–37656–3 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–96237–4 (ebk) 1111 2 3 4 5222 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 For Agustín Tosco and the workers and 4 students of the Cordobazo of 1969, who taught 5 me that another world was necessary. 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 35 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 4 45111 1111 2 Contents 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Preface ix 4 5 6 1 Globalization: a new social, political and cultural 7 matrix 1 8 9 Contested paradigms 1 20111 Changing worlds 6 1 Global governance 10 2 Polanyi’s problematic 14 3 4 2 Contestation: societal reactions to the free market 20 5 6 Social movement theories 20 7 New and old social movements 25 8 The good and the bad 29 9 Polanyian perspectives 34 30111 1 3 Transnational social movements: from the First 2 International to the World Social Forum 40 3 4 European internationalists 40 35 Communist internationalists 44 6 Colonialism and contestation 48 7 Contemporary cosmopolitanism 52 8 9 4 The anti-globalization movement: from Seattle (1999) 40111 to the future 57 1 2 Coming out 57 3 Zapatistas 62 4 After the party 66 45111 Anti-capitalism? 70 viii Contents 5 Transnational political fora: actors, issues and prospects 75 Universal human rights 75 Global sisterhood 79 World Social Forum 83 Ghosts in the machine 89 6 Local transnationalisms: workers, peasants and environmentalists 94 Workers united 94 Peasants revolt 98 Reclaiming the Earth 102 Militant particularisms 106 7 Reaction and globalization: nationalists, patriots and Jihadists 110 Nationalism resurgent 110 Patriots against globalization 114 Islamists and Jihad 118 Beyond good and evil 122 8 The great counter-movement: empire, multitude and social transformation 127 Empire 127 Multitude 131 History 135 Strategy 139 Bibliography 144 Index 155 1111 2 Preface 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3111 Globalization is undoubtedly the great overarching paradigm of our era. 4 Globalization casts its glow over all human processes and endeavours. Yet, 5 there is still little agreement on what globalization actually ‘is’ and some 6 do not accept that it ‘is’ anything at all. While this book addresses the 7 complexity of globalization and its contestation by the anti- or counter- 8 globalization movement, it is well to bear in mind the etymological meaning 9 of the word ‘contest’. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines ‘contes- 20111 tation’ as ‘an assertion contended for’ (from the Latin contestatio). To contest 1 thus means to challenge, to call into question, to doubt, to oppose or even 2 to litigate. But it can also be derived from the Latin word contestari (testis 3 meaning witness), to signify ‘bearing witness’. Thus, globalization is 4 ‘contestable’ in many different ways and the counter-movements we have 5 seen emerging over the last decade also ‘bear witness’ on behalf of an alter- 6 native human future. 7 What I propose is a new paradigm or framework that will allow us to 8 understand how globalization and contestation (or anti-globalization, to put 9 it crudely) are inextricably bound up with one another. Writing just when 30111 the long post-war boom was looming on the horizon, Karl Polanyi foretold 1 a great expansion of the free market but also a great social counter-movement 2 that he saw as ‘the one comprehensive feature in the history of the age’ 3 (Polanyi 2001: 80). For Polanyi, capitalism was moving towards ‘an attempt 4 to set up one big self-regulating market’ (Polanyi 2001: 70), nothing less 35 than a global economy where the market ruled supreme. However, there 6 was a counter-movement from within society to protect itself from the 7 anarchy of the market. Powerful social movements and institutions would 8 emerge in a veritable ‘double movement’ to check the actions of the market 9 and reinstate human interests over those of a utopian market economy. 40111 My basic thesis is that we are not now witnessing a ‘clash of civilizations’ 1 (Huntington 2002) at a global level but, rather, a clash between the free 2 market and society. 3 Chapter 1 introduces the great globalization debate, a complex social, 4 political and cultural phenomenon as much as it is about economics. While 45111 opinions are still sharply polarized in terms of the benefits or downside for x Preface humanity, its importance as a new matrix for our era is undisputed. We examine the paradigms in contention, the ways in which it is changing the world around us and the critical problem of ‘governance’, that is, how free market expansion can be managed and made sustainable. This chapter also introduces the Polanyi problematic – the tension between free market expansion and societal reaction – that frames the analysis of the great counter-movement against globalization emerging in recent years. My basic argument is that the Polanyi problematic – duly ‘scaled up’ for the era of globalization – provides us with a powerful yet subtle optic for exam- ining the intertwined processes of free market expansion and societal reactions to it. In Chapter 2 I introduce the various approaches to social movements underlying the ‘contestation’ element of my title. This is also the second element in Polanyi’s ‘double movement’ of free markets expanding and society reacting defensively to protect itself from its effects. Thus, we exam- ine the various theoretical paradigms, such as the resource mobilization approach versus those theories stressing the role of large-scale structural and cultural change as well as identity politics as a basis for mobilization.