CONFRONTING GLOBAL
NEOLIBERALISM
Third World Resistance
and Development Strategies
edited by
Richard Westra

ISBN:  9780932863614  $21.95  2009






see below for
SYNOPSIS  EDITOR  CONTRIBUTORS  
TABLE OF CONTENTS

    SYNOPSIS

    With the world’s attention fixed on the travails of leading global economies due to a still unfolding financial crisis
    of gigantic proportions, there has been a studied silence on the fate of the third world as the malaise
    increasingly impacts it. This silence is particularly disturbing because questions of potential pitfalls in the
    neoliberal policy package, which the third world (unlike Western Europe and Japan) was largely forced to adopt,
    were never countenanced. as One third world state after another discovered that international institutions were in
    effect hostile to their governments if they chose alternative developmental models or otherwise resisted the
    neoliberal triage of liberalization, privatization and deregulation.

    This collection is a tour de force, effectively countering not only the neoliberal ideology of development as a
    whole but the marginalizing within today’s mainstream crisis discourse of any discussion of the monstrous
    misallocation of global resources wrought by the so-called “Washington Consensus” and the suffering and
    destruction it has wreaked on third world peoples and economies.

    This edited volume is intended as both a textbook for introductory classes in global development or area studies
    and as a conduit for advanced students, policymakers, NGO activists and an educated readership to gain
    knowledge about the socio-economic conditions existing across much of the world we live in, and the policies
    that brought them about. The specially commissioned and peer reviewed chapters are written by experts in the
    fields of economics, politics, sociology and international studies. Chapter authors hail from around the world
    including: Brazil, Mexico, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand.

    The countries/regions’ neoliberal experience and potential futures covered in this book are: Brazil, China, Cuba,
    Egypt, Mexico, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam), South Africa, South Korea, Syria, Thailand and
    Venezuela.


    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    Notes on the Contributors
    Preface and Acknowledgements

    Introduction: Development Theory and Global Neoliberalism
    Richard Westra

    Part 1 BRIC and the Neoliberal “Emerging Market” Myth

    Introduction to Part 1

    Chapter 1 “Late Neoliberalism” in Brazil: Social and Economic Impacts of Trade and  Financial Liberalization /  
    Paul Cooney Seisdedos

    Chapter 2 Neoliberalism in India: How an Elephant became a Tiger and Flew to the Moon /  Ananya Mukherjee
    Reed

    Chapter 3 Limits to China’s Capitalist Development: Economic Crisis, Class Struggle, and Peak  Energy /
    Minqui Li

    Part 2 Resistance and Alternatives to Global Neoliberalism

    Introduction to Part 2

    Chapter 4 Cuba: A Project to Build Socialism in a Neoliberal World
     / Al Campbell

    Chapter 5 Venezuela’s Oil Based Development in the Chavez-Era
                   /  Gregory Wilpert

    Chapter 6 African Resistance to Global Finance, Free Trade and Corporate Profit-Taking /  Patrick Bond

    Part 3 Miracles or Mirages under Global Neoliberalism

    Introduction to Part 3

    Chapter 7 Miracles and Crisis: Boom, Collapse and Recovery in East and Southeast Asia / John Weeks

    Chapter 8 The Chimera of Prosperity in Post-IMF South Korea and the Gathering Alter-globalization Movement /  
    Seongjin Jeong and Richard Westra

    Chapter 9 Consequences of Neoliberal Economic Globalization in Thailand
                   / Ake Tangsupvattana

    Chapter 10 A Comparative Study of Neoliberalism in Syria and Egypt
                      / Angela Joya

    Chapter 11 The Exhaustion of Neoliberalism in Mexico
                      / Cliff DuRand  

    CONTRIBUTORS

    Patrick Bond, a political economist, is research professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of
    Development Studies where he directs the Centre for Civil Society (http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs). His training was
    in economic geography at Johns Hopkins University, finance at the University of Pennsylvania, and economics
    at Swarthmore College. Patrick’s recent authored and edited books include Climate Change, Carbon Trading
    and Civil Society (UKZN Press and Rozenberg Publishers, 2008); The Accumulation of Capital in Southern
    Africa (Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, 2007); Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation (Zed Books and
    UKZN Press, 2006), Talk Left, Walk Right: South Africa’s Frustrated Global Reforms (UKZN Press, 2006); Elite
    Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa (UKZN Press, 2005); Fanon’s Warning: A Civil
    Society Reader on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Africa World Press, 2005); and Against Global
    Apartheid: South Africa meets the World Bank, IMF and International Finance (Zed Books and University of
    Cape Town Press, 2003). Patrick was the drafter of 15 policy papers for the South African government from
    1994-2001, and before that worked in the NGO sector in Johannesburg for several years. He was born in
    Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1961; grew up in Alabama and Maryland; and moved permanently to Southern Africa
    in 1989 following work in the media (Marketplace Radio and Pacifica Radio) and at the Institute for Policy
    Studies in Washington, DC.

    Al Campbell is a professor of economics at the University of Utah in the United States. His research interests
    are focused on theoretical and empirical issues concerning the political economy of contemporary capitalism
    and its transcendence. His work has appeared in numerous international peer reviewed journals including
    Review of Radical Political Economics, Science and Society and Critique.  

    Paul Cooney Seisdedos received his doctorate in Economics from the New School for Social Research in
    1990. He has worked at the United Nations and at several universities, including the University of Buenos Aires
    in the early 1990s, Queens College in New York and currently at the Universidade Federal do Pará in the
    Brazilian Amazon since 2006. He has conducted research and published in the areas of economics and
    environmental science. His research includes the following topics: NAFTA and the issues of labor and the
    environment in maquiladoras, analysis of the neoliberal experiences in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, the
    general law of capitalist accumulation in Latin America, international transfers of value and unequal exchange,
    competition and monopoly, and air transport of pesticides and dioxin. His current areas of research include
    globalization and accumulation in the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation and ecology, the free trade zone of
    Manaus, as well the current crisis and the role of fictitious capital. He has publications in several scholarly
    refereed journals, such as: Latin American Perspectives, Revista de Economia Contemporânea and the
    Revista de Economia, UFPR. He is also a member of the editorial board of the international journal Capitalism,
    Nature, Socialism and has served on the steering committee and as treasurer for the Union for Radical Political
    Economics.

    Cliff DuRand is a founder and Research Associate at the Center for Global Justice located in San Miguel de
    Allende, GTO Mexico.  He holds a Ph.D. in Social Philosophy from Florida State University and taught
    Philosophy at Morgan State University in Baltimore for 40 years.

    Seongjin Jeong is a professor of economics and the Director of Graduate Program of Political Economy at
    Gyeongsang National University, South Korea. He is also the Editor of MARXISM 21, a representative Marxist
    journal in South Korea. He received his PhD from Seoul National University, and has written widely on Marxism
    and the Korean economy, including articles in Review of Radical Political Economics and Rethinking Marxism.
    Some of his works, especially Marx and the Korean Economy (2005), Marx and Trotsky (2006), and Marxist
    Perspectives on South Korea in the Global Economy (Ashgate 2007), a volume he co-edited and contributed to,
    are received as major contributions to the development of classical Marxism in Korea. He has also translated
    some Marxist works into Korean, including books by Robert Brenner, Alex Callinicos, Tony Cliff and Roman
    Rosdolsky.

    Angela Joya is a PhD candidate in the department of Political Science at York University. She is currently
    completing her dissertation titled “Building Capitalism in Egypt: A Study of the Construction and Housing
    Sectors, 1991-2004”. She has recently published an article titled “Syria’s Transition, 1970-2005: From
    Centralization of the State to Market Economy” in the journal Research in Political Economy.  She has also
    written and published on US imperialism in the Middle East. Her future research project will examine the
    internationalization of the State in Afghanistan.

    Minqi Li received his PhD in economics from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2002.  He taught political
    science at York University, Canada, from 2003 to 2006.  Since 2006, he has been teaching economics in
    University of Utah.  His recent book: The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy was
    published by Pluto Press and Monthly Review Press in 2009.

    Ananya Mukherjee Reed is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at York University,
    Toronto, Canada. She is also director of the International Secretariat for Human Development (ISHD) at York.  
    Her most recent book is, Human Development and Social Power: Perspectives from South Asia (London:
    Routledge, 2008). The book attempts to develop a critical conceptualization of human development by focusing
    on the three dimensions of political-economy, difference and agency.  Her earlier publications include an edited
    volume Corporate Capitalism in Contemporary South Asia: Conventional Wisdoms and South Asian Realities
    (Basingstoke: Palgrave 2003); Perspectives on India’s Corporate Economy: Exploring the Paradox of Profits
    (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2001); and numerous articles in international refereed journals.

    Ake Tangsupvattana is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University,
    Bangkok. He is also Associate Dean for Academic and International Affairs and was a University Council
    Member. He obtained his BA in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and MA in Political
    Theory and Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Essex, England. His major research interests are in
    globalization, governance, the relations between politics and business, the role of transnational corporations,
    especially in the context of corporate social responsibility. His recent international publications are as follows:
    “Driving the Juggernaut: From Economic Crisis to Global Governance in Pacific Asia” in Pacific Asia 2022:
    Sketching Futures of a Region, Japan Center for International Exchange (2005); ‘Thailand Election 2005:
    Towards Authoritarian Populism or Participatory Democratic Governance’ in Elections in Asia: Making
    Democracy Work?, Marshall Cavendish International (Singapore) Private Limited (2006); Co-principle
    researcher “National Integrity Systems: Transparency International Country Study Report – Thailand 2006”,
    Transparency International.

    John Weeks is Professor Emeritus of Development Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies,
    University of London.  He is author of numerous books on development, political economy and economic
    theory.  His research in Southeast Asia has been on Indonesia and Vietnam.  In addition to his academic work
    he is the principle author of macroeconomic studies for the United Nations on Vietnam, Zambia and Moldova.

    Richard Westra  has taught at universities around the world including Queen’s University and Royal Military
    College, Canada; International Study Center, East Sussex UK;  the College of The Bahamas, Nassau, and
    Pukyong National University, South Korea.. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Focus on the Global
    South/Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, and is
    currently Designated Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Law of Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
    His work has been published in numerous international scholarly refereed journals including Journal of
    Contemporary Asia, Review of International Political Economy, Review of Radical Political Economics and
    Historical Materialism. He is author of Political Economy and Globalization, Routledge 2009.  He edited
    Confronting Global Neoliberalism:  Third World Resistance and Development Strategies (Clarity, 2009) and co-
    edited and contributed to Political Economy and Global Capitalism: The 21st Century, Present and Future,
    Anthem 2007 and Marxist Perspectives on South Korea in the Global Economy, Ashgate 2007.

    Gregory Wilpert is adjunct professor in political science at Brooklyn College’s Graduate Center for Worker
    Education and is founder and editor of the website Venezuelanalysis.com. He received his Ph.D. in sociology
    from Brandies University in 1994 and in 2000 received a Fulbright grant to teach and do research at the Central
    University of Venezuela. He ended up living in Venezuela for eight years, where he wrote articles on Venezuelan
    politics for publications such as the New Left Review, Le Monde Diplomatique, Z Magazine, NACLA Report on
    the Americas, among many others. He is the author of Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The History and
    Policies of the Chávez Government, Verso  2007.

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    REVIEWS

    "This edited volume provides a very good overview of key debates on contemporary development strategies and
    alternatives.  As a rule, the chapters are devoted to state-based strategies. However, there is also material on
    relations between states, classes and social movements, and several chapters provide excellent and intriguing
    critiques of development strategy..... The preface recommends the volume as a textbook for introductory
    courses on global development or area studies, as a source of inspiration for activists and practitioners resisting
    neoliberal policies and as a source of knowledge for ‘advanced students, policymakers, ngo activists and an
    educated readership’ (p. 13). The book generally succeeds on the first two criteria and, in some cases –
    particularly the chapters on Venezuela and South Korea – should provide important arguments for area
    specialists."
                                                                                                             THOMAS BARNES, Capital & Class 2012 36: 182

    "The Westra anthology Confronting Global Neoliberalism begins with a brilliant essay by its editor contrasting
    orthodox and heterodox accounts of the world market.  The central ideas of dependency theory, neoclassical
    theory, orthodox Marxism and postcolonial ("postmodern") theory are concisely presented and accurately
    analysed...Great attention is paid to the specificity of historical developments in the different regions... These
    studies confirm a central thesis of Westra's introduction:  Neoliberalism is first and foremost a political project of
    the Global North to maintain its hegemony in the world market.  Anyone concerned with understanding combined
    and uneven development in the global economy today would profit immensely from reading this superb
    collection."
                                                                                       TONY SMITH, Against the Current, January/February 2011