The David Held et al. Global Transformations is decent enough. Written by pol scientists and an economist. There are chapters on trade, MNCs, and finance, among other non-econ topics. I skip the finance, my students find the book dense.
Cheers, Anthony xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Associate Professor Ph: (253) 692-4462 Comparative International Development Fax: (253) 692-5718 University of Washington Box Number: 358436 1900 Commerce Street Tacoma, WA 98402, USA xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Wed, 30 Oct 2002, Peter Dorman wrote: > Can anyone out there help me find a suitable book for an undergraduate > course that covers, among other things, "globalization"? The ideal book > would have description of the main institutions, economic and political > history since at least 1980, discussion of global economics and economic > outcomes and linkages between economics, politics, and the other > dimensions (military force, race, gender, culture, etc.). The political > stance is largely irrelevant, since the students will be getting plenty > of PE theory and immersion in specific issues elsewhere. > > So far, I've looked at the new Tabb books (Elephant, Uneven Partners), > and I don't find nearly enough substance in them for students new to the > topic. Last night I checked out recent books by Gilpin and Scholte, as > well as a reader edited by Held and McGrew. Scholte and H&M were much > too "soft": very little factual information, with mostly theoretical > debates of interest to globalization academics (is glob new or old, do > states have more power or less, what is the fate of postmodernism, and > so on). Scholte appears to have no background whatsoever in economics; > the closest he comes is second-hand Marxism. Hence no significant > discussion of global finance, etc. As for Gilpin, there's actually too > much economic material -- he's too detailed in his treatment of > technical questions in international economic negotiations. His > neoclassical mindset becomes a problem in that he foregrounds some > issues (like the putative imperative of overcoming protectionism) at the > expense of others that need much more treatment (like alternative > development strategies). > > So none of the above are adequate. I'm open to other suggestions. > Again, I couldn't care less what the analytical bias of the author is, > so long as the relevant material gets covered. Students here (at > Evergreen) seminar on all their readings, and they will take apart > anything we put in front of them (usually). Other readings have already > armed them for the task. A cogent right-wing text would serve our > purposes just as well as a more sympatico left-wing one -- and much > better than a flabby progressive text. > > You can reply offlist if you want, and I will summarize for our vast and > growing public. > > Thanks, > Peter > >
