Contents:
Introduction
1. Globalization or the coming-of-age of capitalism Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt and Jacques Hersh
Part I. The intellectual challenge: discourse, ideology and reality
2. Globalization in question David Harvey
3. The future of global polarization Samir Amin
4. Globalization and social change: drowning in the icy waters of commercial calculation Manfred Bienefeld
Part II. Critical perspectives on the role of politics
5. The space for politics: globalization, hegemony, and passive revolution Anne Showstack Sassoon
6. Globalization and the revival of traditional knowledge Andrew Jamison
7. The concept of materialist state theory and regulation theory Joachim Hirsch
Part III. East Asia: the last bastion of dirigisme
8. Globalizing India: a critique of an agenda for financiers and specualtors Amiya Kumar Bagchi
9. Globalization and class politics in South Korea Kwang-Yeong Shin
10. Globalization, democratization and labour social welfare in Thailand Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt
Part IV. Geopolitics and intersocietal conflicts
11. States and governance in the era of 'globalization' Philip McMichael
12. Civilization conflicts and globalization: a critique Jacques Hersh
13. From the rubble of modernism, the rise of global civilization? Mark Juergensmeyer
Part V. Globalization and forms of resistances
14. Overturning globalization: rethinking the politics of resistance Barry K. Gills
15. Lessons from Ladakh? local responses to globalization and social change Martijn van Beek
16. Conceptualizing a new social contract Ellen Brun

The themes in this book concern former Soviet-type societies: 1) Is the capitalist world system willing and able to absorb these newcomers or are they condemned to 'Third-worldization'? 2) Is the neoliberal advice of simultaneous political democratization and economic liberalization a viable path? 3) Is the East Asian model of authoritarianism and governed markets a better option? 4) Can the revolution of rising expectations be harnessed into a new structure of accumulation based on class polarisations? 5) Are there lessons in Chinese market-socialism? In this topical and timely collection, these questions are answered by an interdisciplinary and international team of specialists

Several aspects of Soviet Third-World relations in a capitalist world are looked at in this book. These include tracing the roots of the Third World within the Marxist tradition, and discussing Soviet attitudes to the capitalist world market as they have evolved from the Bolshevik era to today.

Provides a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the ongoing process of development and societal transformation in a dynamic region of the Third World. Written by a team of specialists from the fields of development studies, sociology and political economy, the book looks at some of the fundamental problems facing South East Asia by addressing the following issues: the social constellations; class, culture and political legitimation; and industrialisation and labour regulation.