Globalization: A Basic Text, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 6STRUCTURING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

• Before Bretton Woods
  • A prior epoch of globalization
  • Economic development during and after WW II
• Bretton Woods and the Bretton Woods System
  • International Trade Organization
  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
  • World Trade Organization (WTO)
  • Other organizations
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • World Bank
• The End of Bretton Woods
• Changes in, and Critiques of, Bretton-Woods-Era Organizations
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
• European Union (Common Market)
  • Euro Zone
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
  • Mexican corn
  • The reaction to NAFTA in the US
• MERCOSUR
• OPEC
• The Multinational Corporation (MNC)
  • The developing world’s multinationals
• World Economic Forum
• The Myth of Economic Globalization?
• Chapter Summary

Because of the importance of the economy in globalization, we devote two chapters to it. In this chapter the focus is on economic structures, while in the next the focus shifts to economic processes and flows. However, it is useful to reiterate the point that this is a largely artificial distinction since structures are composed of processes and processes can be structured.

We will show how the economic structure known as the Bretton Woods System emerged and shaped global economic flows for decades. In response to newer global developments, this system has been superseded by several new global institutions, which are the focal point of many conflicts that will be explored in subsequent ...