"William I. Robinson has earned a reputation as one of the leading critical analysts of capitalist globalization
as a system of power. This book--both rigorous and readable--develops his thesis that we are witnessing a world-historical
transition into a new phase of capitalism, with new forms of power, resistance and struggle. Whether or not you
agree with Robinson's controversial thesis, you will agree that this book represents formidable scholarship and
raises crucial political questions for the twenty-first century."
--Mark Rupert, Syracuse University
"This is a fine, succinctly argued, presentation of a critical theory of 'global capitalism.' The author regards
globalization as a new phase in the history of capitalism--specifically, in the development of a transnational
global economy. This book is particularly striking with respect to its cogency, vitality and great commitment to
a democratic global order."
--Roland Robertson, University of Aberdeen
Publisher Web Site, June, 2004
Summary
In this book, sociologist William I. Robinson offers a theory of globalization that follows the rise of a new
capitalist class and a transnational state. Growing beyond national boundaries, this new class comprises a global
system in which Japanese capitalists are just as comfortable investing in Latin America as North Americans are
in Southeast Asia. Their development of global, interconnected industries and businesses make them drivers of world
capitalism.
Robinson explains how global capital mobility has allowed capital to reorganize production worldwide in accordance
with a whole range of considerations that allow for maximizing profit making opportunities. As a result, production
systems that were once located in a single country have been fragmented and integrated externally into new globalized
circuits of accumulation. What this means, however, is not simply that factories are located overseas where labor
might be cheaper, but rather that the whole production process is broken down into smaller parts and each of those
parts moved to a different country, depending on where investment might be highest. Yet at the same time, this
worldwide decentralization and fragmentation of the production process has taken place alongside the centralization
of command and control of the global economy in transnational capital.
In turn, this economic organization finds a political counterpart in the rise of a transnational state. The leaders
of global businesses and industries think about themselves and how they live in new ways. Hegemony in the twenty-first
century, Robinson argues, will be exercised not by a particular nation-state but by this new global ruling class
through the machinery of this transnational state. Robinson observes, for example, that global elites, regardless
of their nationality, increasingly tend to share similar lifestyles and interact through expanding networks of
the transnational state. Globalization is in this way unifying the world into a single mode of production and a
single global system and bringing about the integration of different countries and regions into a new global economy
and society. But the new global capitalism is rife with contradictions, such as the growing rift between the global
rich and the global poor, concludes Robinson. The twenty-first century is likely to harbor ongoing conflicts and
disputes for control between the new transnational ruling group and the expanding ranks of the poor and the marginalized.
Sure to stir controversy and debate, A Theory of Global Capitalism will be of interest to sociologists and economists
alike.