Globalization and Its Discontents
Globalization and Its Discontents (original Globalization and Its Discontents ) is the title of a property, book by Joseph E. Stiglitz, from the year 2002. In it, the neoliberal economic globalization is criticized. The book has been translated into over 30 languages.
Main theses of the book
Stiglitz beginning chapters with titles promised What global institutions and Broken Promises give already the thrust of the book before. It is his intention to refer the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) on their promises, their programmatic foundation in 1944. The promises of the past are broken, course corrections in the global economy are necessary. The history of the Bretton Woods agreement he mentions only briefly; He deals mainly with the current policy, especially the policy of the IMF in the 90s.
Stiglitz denounces in his book, especially the policies of the IMF since the 80s as a major obstacle on the path to prosperity and development to. The market- radical ideology of the IMF, its central thesis, not only did no successes in the fight against poverty boast, but exacerbates the contrary, the global gap between rich and poor.
Globalization concept
Globalization Stiglitz defined as "the closer integration of countries and peoples of the world " (p. 25). As their causes he calls
- Technical progress (in particular the " enormous reduction in transportation and communication costs ")
- Policy decisions to reduce barriers to integration.
His assessment of globalization is neutral: "Globalization itself is neither good nor bad" (p. 38). Your current negative impacts he sees is determined by the global power relations that it a powerful minority ( the "special interests of trade and financial world," the " richest industrialized countries "; p. 36) enable "at the expense of the vast majority " (p. 37 ) to benefit from the growing interdependence. These stakeholders realize their influence by hardly democratically controlled international economic organizations whose leadership positions they held since 1981. Some East Asian countries, " the globalization on their own terms, and opened at the pace that displeased them " (p. 38), who in his eyes from the ties increase " benefited enormously ".
Asian Crisis and Transformation in Eastern Europe
The main pillars of this thesis is his analyzes of the Asian crisis of 1997 and the rapid slowdown of the Russian economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union (chapters four and five). In both cases, as Stiglitz, meet the IMF blame. His crisis management have not worked eindämmend in Asia but have decisively contributed to the worsening of the crisis - the few countries, such as China, who have not abided by the recommendations of the IMF were able to protect themselves from the effects of the crisis or mitigate its effects.
Stiglitz traces the erroneous advice to a purely market-centered policies of the IMF, which forced the developing and transition countries, their financial markets rush to liberalize and eliminate all capital controls. These measures should facilitate more rapid investment, but mainly facilitated capital flight and foreign exchange speculation. With the deregulated financial markets, the States would have been delivered in full to the world market - they wanted to prevent capital flight in a crisis or protect their currency against speculation, so they could this not through legislation, but only by its own action on the market, such as through support purchases for their own currency reach. To make this support purchases, they were again at the mercy of the IMF. The band- its loan commitments to conditions that were based on purely fiscal criteria, namely monetary stability ( no inflation ), the priority of debt repayment and positive trade balances. Thus, countries were forced to interrupt, for example investment in the education system or subsidies for basic foodstuffs adjust to the IMF to present a balanced budget can. Social unrest such as in Indonesia were the result.
Stiglitz also disputes the thesis, subsidy cuts and other measures of the IMF are necessary cuts to stabilize the economies and also to secure the prosperity of the populations in the long term. Especially the example of Russia and recommended by the IMF shock therapy, which means the fastest possible and more or less uncontrolled privatization of the Soviet economy, he proves the failure of the IMF recipes.
The economy has been privatized before even close to the framework of a market economy were created. Stiglitz calls above all legal certainty, a functioning tax system, public confidence in democratic institutions, functioning supervisory bodies for banks and companies. The hasty privatization of state enterprises in Russia and liberalized capital markets made it possible to contrast the new " owners " of the former collectives to smash this, the individual components to sell and create the income abroad. Economic incentives for productive use of the old state-owned enterprises did not exist, the settlement, however, promised immediate billions in profits.
This could be due to the liberalized capital markets immediately in U.S. dollars are exchanged, the ruble lost purchasing power and inflation galloped.
The mitigation of the IMF in turn was to provide always new billions in loans (so-called " bail- outs " ), which support the ruble, the government of Boris Yeltsin and the predatory privatization could continue driving. The anticipated economic balance stood until today, and the credits disappeared as well as the privatization proceeds to the Swiss accounts of a new oligarchic clique.
However, Stiglitz challenges the view, which is essentially dependent on the U.S., the IMF would have operated this economic dismantling Russia's cynical and deliberate; he leads the failed policies rather back on the solidified the ideology interests of the financial world on low inflation and fears of a sovereign default or a controlled bankruptcy. Stiglitz refers to the IMF quite openly as dominated by the interests of the financial world, the World Trade Organization (WTO ), however, as an organ of trade interests.
With the majority represented by the IMF interests of finance capital, he declared his one-sided, always the same recommendations in every economic crisis, for any economy: inflation control at all costs, avoid state bankruptcy, further privatizations. Because of the financial capital there is no worse nightmare than inflation and sovereign default, which ( could be the whole economy but under circumstances conducive ) always billions in losses for the creditors mean - while privatization usually shed a state guarantee, and guaranteed revenue. Coupled with the wrong recommendations of the IMF drove its bail- outs and emergency credit the developing and transition countries thus deeper into the debt crisis, rather than be controlled.
Stiglitz's recommendations
Stiglitz recommends a return of the IMF to its real task: the intervention in crises in the world economy. The forced liberalization of capital markets as a condition for loans received and other interventions in the internal economic constitution of the developing countries, he refuses, they are contrary to democratic principles and mostly served only the interests of the creditors in the industrialized countries. An important step in this direction is to him therefore the abolition of strict political terms, with which the IMF has linked its loans. They are the central instrument for enforcement of the IMF's agenda and put the sovereignty and democratic control of the dependent states actually repealed. The terms are to be replaced by selective loans: Countries with own successful stabilization concepts for assistance, the initiative would remain on site.
Be no longer avert the crisis, moratoria and bankruptcies should increasingly used instead postpone the crisis by further loans and ultimately to increase the national debt. To mitigate the social consequences of the debt crisis, Stiglitz also requires the help of the industrial countries to build functioning social security systems in the poorer regions of the world as well as debt relief for heavily indebted countries.
Expenditure
- Globalization and Its Discontents. W. W. Norton, New York 2002, ISBN 0393051242; ibid 2003, ISBN 0393324397 ( paperback ); Penguin, 2003, ISBN 014101038X ( paperback )
- Globalization and Its Discontents. Translated from English by Thorsten Schmidt. Siedler, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-88680-753-3; Federal Centre for Political Education, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-89331-466-0; Goldmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-44215-284-4 ( paperback )