The Endgame of Globalization

by Neil Smith

The Endgame of Globalization argues that US actions since 9/11 represent the final stage in the US's century-long effort to complete the project of making US-led globalization a concrete reality across the world. Smith structures the book through three historical moments: 1) the attempted creation of a global Monroe doctrine between 1898 and 1919; 2) the Roosevelt administration's creation of the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank, the IMF, and the U.N.; and 3) globalization - the US-led effort to establish a new global regime based on free trade, deregulation, and privatization. In conclusion, the book links what has been going on in the Middle East to this larger project. Consequently, the anti-globalization forces which received so much attention prior to 9/11 need to be seen in a new light, as their perspective is a fundamental component of the opposition to America's globalist endgame.

227 pages, ebook

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

Several different Neils Smiths tend to collect here.

For the linguist, see Neilson Voyne Smith
For the author of Boo, and Bang Crunch, see Neil Smith

Reviews

[Dejan Basic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stellar analysis, a panorama of the continuity of 'grand' US policy across the last 100 or so years.. Imperial ambitions and it's inevitable nationalist contradictions

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

The argument of the book is essentially that capitalist expansion seeks markets by consolidating the last few peripheral states remaining outside the neoliberal order. Specifically it does this through analysis of the US invasion of Iraq. As the title suggests, the argument of the book is that such military actions, and the forced opening of markets, is the final process in the worldwide spread of capitalism.

[Ty · Rating 3 out of 5]

It makes great points and it goes through lots of forgotten or often dismissed history (or history that is disconnected from contemporary events).

But unless you are a socialist, read at the peril of whatever comforting feelings you may have about your liberal/conservative notions of social justice/capitalism.