Book Review: Andrew Hurrell and Ngaire Woods (eds.), Inequality, Globalization, and World Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, 353 pp., no price given hbk.)
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Ralf J. Leiteritz |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030919 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
960
Andrew Hurrell and Ngaire Woods (eds.), Inequality, Globalization, and World
Politics (Oxford: Oxford Universit y Press, 1999 , 353 pp., no price giv en hbk.).
Globalisation does not lift all boats with the tide. The authors of this volume
strongly opp ose the view that the b enefits of globalisation are shared equally across
and within states. To the contrary, as Hurrell and Woods state in their introduction,
‘globali zation is exacerbating inequalities of reso urces cap abilities, and , perhaps
most import antly, the power to make and break rule s in the internati onal arena’ (p.
1). As often claimed, the di sadvantaged of this process are develo ping countries
and un derprivileged groups wit hin southern state s. Not only in the realm o f
economic relations, but also with respect to political, institutional, and security
aspects, inequalit y has risen in North-Sout h relations with t he onslaug ht of
globalisat ion in the past twenty yea rs.
The individua l chapters of the b ook, inter alia, focus on the p osition of
developing countries in international institutions: the inextricable link between
sovereignty and inequality in international law; the international policy on
environmental degradation; the coincidence of economic liberalization and
increases in income inequality in developin g co untries; and th e differentiated
capacity of states t o respond to the ex panded range of security challenges. Shared
theme of all analyses i s that globalisation i n all its economi c, political and social
facettes has not diminished inequality between developed and developing countries.
Quite the opposite, globalisa tion has even widene d the gap between North and
South and has be come a threat to maintainin g balance in world polit ics.
Analysing vario us fields and concepts in international relations, the au thors make
the clai m that t he winners from gl obalisation are North ern countries and p rivileged
strata of soci eties in developing countries. As a consequence, ‘[l]ess powerful stat es
are, even more than in the past, becomin g “rules-takers”’ (p . 1), increasingly unable
to influenc e, le t alone determine, the day-da y operations of their nation al and
internatio nal affairs. They are no t only hinde red in their econo mic develop ment, but
also contino usly isolated from the management of inte rnational relations.
Without any doubt, the authors make a legitimate, if hardly new, point. In deed,
globalisat ion per se will not auto mactically lead to a better life for all people on
earth, as some overly optimistic or rather n aive observers believe. The pro cess must
instead be regu lated to ensure that the alread y disadvantaged do not ‘sink’ de eper in
the vicio us circle of marginalisati on and hope lessness. However, the case st udies in
this book make clear how diffic ult this endeavour i s. If developed co untries, and
mainstream International Relatio ns one might want to add, stick to their traditi onal
perspective on inequality and world politics, namely to widely ignore o r even to
exploit the issue for the sake o f maintaining ‘order’ in the interna tional system,
there is little hop e for underpri vileged groups.
The volu me leaves the read er with a co nsiderably bleak pictu re of t he
internatio nal sy stem as seen from the pe rspective of developin g coun tries and
underprivil eged groups. However, t his general assessmen t is unfounded. The claim
that economic globalisatio n or l iberalisation put dev eloping countries a nd
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