UNEQUAL PARTNERS: A Primer on Globalization

The world is heading toward "corporate globalization," according to Queens College economics professor Tabb. Multinational entities use unrestrained economic power to decide political, social and ethical questions. Like the global justice movement, the loose coalition of protesting groups whose exploits Tabb reviews in the opening chapter, the book itself conveys a deep, energetic opposition to unbridled corporate power, but isn't always able to articulate clear policy positions. It comes out against many things, e.g., AIDS, environmental destruction, cultural homogenization, poverty, money laundering and exploitation. These problems are described only in broad strokes, without a discussion of solutions. Also absent is the admission that choices have to be made: labor unions often disagree with environmentalists, for example, and standard-of-living issues sometimes conflict with the survival of indigenous cultural practices. Tabb's discussion focuses entirely on enemies: governments that don't stand up for justice, corporations and multinational entities that are accountable only to an undefined elite, and individual decisions (as represented in elections and free market choices) that are antithetical to the idea of civil society. This is a book for energizing people who believe in good guys and bad guys and already know who's who. (May 1)

Forecast:There's no strong selling angle for this book. The author's The Amoral Elephant covers the same ground, and Marjorie Kelly's The Divine Right of Capital offers a stronger argument of Tabb's position.