Author: Jon Shefner
Author info: Professor of Sociology
Publication Date: September 2011
Publisher: Penn State Press
Synopsis: If ever there was a tangible demonstration of the desire of people worldwide for a new world order, it was the enormous turnout in Washington, D.C., for the 2008 presidential inauguration and the rejoicing throughout the world at this signal of change in the offing. The neoliberal project was dealt a critical blow in the waning months of the Bush administration by the crushing tide of recession sweeping the globe. But the hegemony of the United States and of the international institutions it has used to maintain its economic dominance has been in decline for some years now, suggesting the need to explore alternative ways to carry out globalization’s imperatives. In Globalization and Beyond, leading scholars take up the challenge of examining the current state of economic crisis and the variety of ways in which different countries (as well as different groups) are responding to it.