The Globalization and Development Reader: Perspectives on Development and Global Change, 2nd Edition

Preface and Acknowledgments

You may wonder, “Why do we need yet another book about globalization and development?” “Globalization” – the spread of economies, cultures, and power across national borders – has become a buzzword which is usually evoked unquestioningly. It is used so sloppily that it often produces little illumination. Because it is widely seen as inevitable and nearly inalterable, globalization is often presented as a force that must be embraced without reserve, but doing so benefits some people while putting others at grave risk. The term “development” is loaded enough to turn off thoughtful people of many ideological stripes. Leonard Frank once called development “a whore of a word,” since it hid within its rosy and altruistic-sounding exterior the selfish interests of imperialistic governments, expansionist firms, careerist professionals, and international “humanitarian” agencies that benefit from the neediness of poor nations. So do we simply throw these terms in the rubbish bin?

We don’t believe so. These terms, when used carefully, are useful not only to policy wonks, corporate visionaries, academic types, or empire-builders, but to everyone concerned about the world’s future, and their own. Our goal in compiling the selections for this book and its previous edition has been to demystify the social impacts of large-scale global economic change by offering non-specialist audiences carefully selected and manageable excerpts of both classic and current path-breaking ...