Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization

Michael Veseth

Rowman & Littlefield, 2005 - Political Science - 267 pages

Whats the truth about globalization and whats just globaloney? Michael Veseth believes that much of what people say and write about globalization is really globaloney - rhetoric built on a few vivid images and exceptional cases that distort more than they reveal about the world around us. Globaloney separates rhetoric from reality by taking close-ups of the classic globalization images and comparing them with unexpected alternative visions. Do Michael Jordan and Nike really define globalization? Why not David Beckham and World Cup soccer? Is globalization McDonalds and McWorld? Why isnt the global wine market a better metaphor? And what can we learn about how globalization works at the grassroots by comparing the elitist, publicity-hungry Slow Food movement with the massive but usually unseen international trade in worn and wrinkled second-hand clothes? By the end of Globaloney, Veseth has explained how globalization reflects its terroir-its local color, why the French so love to hate it, and that, as the title of one chapter proclaims, You can blame it all on Adam Smith. through its wealth of examples, demonstrates that globalization is not one big thing but many different yet related, particular things. Globaloney is an irreverent but important look at how globalization really works.

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Globaloney: unraveling the myths of globalization

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Clare Booth Luce coined the term globaloney in 1943 to describe Vice President Henry Wallace's vision of the postwar world. Using this as a starting point, Veseth (international political economy ...

Contents

• The Globaloney Syndrome: 11
• Blame It All on Adam Smith: 39
• Michael Jordan and NBA Global Fever: 59
• The Beautiful Game and the American Exception: 87
• Globalization as McWorld: 121
• Globalization versus Terroir: 145
• Grassroots Globaloney: 175
• Globalization and the French Exception: 205
• Notes: 233
• Bibliography: 251
• Index: 257
• About the Author: 267

About the author

Michael Veseth is Michael Veseth is the Robert G. Albertson Professor of International Political Economy at the University of Puget Sound and author of many books that approach national and global issues from innovative and controversial angles, including Selling Globalization and Mountains of Debt, the latter of which was reviewed in The New York Times Book Review and The Economist. Veseth is the founding director of the international political economy program at Puget Sound and an academic advisor to the interactive educational website for the PBS/WGBH series, "Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy." He lives in Tacoma, Washington and lectures widely.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Globaloney: Unraveling the Myths of Globalization; G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series; Globalization (Lanham, Md.); Globalization - Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Globalization Series
• Author: Michael Veseth
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005
• ISBN: 0742536580, 9780742536586
• Length: 267 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / Globalization; Political Science / International Relations / General