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Book
Review |
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Schaeffer, Robert K. Understanding Globalization: The Social Consequences
of Political, Economic, and Environmental Change, second edition (Lanham, Md.; Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc., 2003). 336 pp, $27.95.
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Robert K. Schaeffer has written an erudite, thoroughly researched, and lucid
discussion of issues related to the question of globalization in the contemporary
world. The book is full of interesting data, insightful commentary, and astute
analysis of global change over the last thirty five years. Schaeffer is ambitious
in the scope of the issues he attempts to discuss, tackling everything from
currency to climate change to drug trafficking. It is an interesting and informative
read for anyone curious about recent events in world history, economics, politics,
or sociology. Yet the book is also often frustrating. An emphasis on economic
developments to the exclusion of other issues related to globalization, an
excessive focus on the United States and the North-South divide, and reliance
on some out-dated data, hinder Schaeffer's arguments. |
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In his introduction, Schaeffer quickly surveys the literature on globalization,
taking issue with much of it for either being too narrowly focused, too broad
in the conclusions it draws about the effects of globalization, or misguided
in its dating of the beginning of globalization. The reader is left a bit
uneasy at the outset, because Schaeffer never gets around to precisely defining
globalization, except to say that it refers to the growth and spread of investment,
trade, production, and technology around the world. Most scholars agree with
Schaeffer when he describes, in the introduction, the multiplicity of factors
involved in globalization. Where Schaeffer is more original is in his insistence
on the 1970s as the transformative moment in the history of recent globalization.
Schaeffer also wants to distinguish himself from other students of globalization
by arguing that globalization cannot be considered uniformly. "The attempt
to generalize or universalize about globalization is mistaken," Schaeffer
writes, arguing instead that globalization has "diverse consequences" that
"are not uniformly positive or negative but simultaneously good for some and bad for others." (11) |
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Despite such original claims, it is precisely on these that the book disappoints.
On the one hand, Schaeffer is unconvincing in his effort to establish the
early 1970s as the beginning of globalization. This is because he places so
much primacy on the devaluation of the US dollar and rising interest rates
in the United States and Europe in the 1970s. To be sure, Schaeffer develops
a fine case for the wide ranging consequences of these developments around
the world in the 1970s and after. However, he only rarely acknowledges that
the very processes of globalization that he discusses were well underway before
the early 1970s. Instead Schaeffer argues that the abandonment of the Bretton
Woods system in the 1970s has led to increased economic instability in the
world, because fluctuations in the value of currencies have led to volatility
in the prices of commodities and labor. But he ignores similar periods of
currency volatility, uneven foreign investment, and volatility in the prices
of commodities that have had global repercussions in previous periods in history.
One need think only of the export boom in Latin America between 1870 and 1930,
the concomitant foreign investment in the region, and the subsequent bust
in the prices of Latin American goods from beef to guano, which resulted in
political change and instability across Latin America during the 1930s and
1940s. There are many parallels between this history and the story Schaeffer
tells about debt crisis and political change in Latin America during the 1980s
and 1990s. Even when Schaeffer does recognize historical precedent, such as
in his discussion of the global drug trade in Chapter 13 (which he dates as
far back as the 19th century), he undermines his argument that
the beginning of the processes of globalization began in the 1970s. |
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On the other hand, although Schaeffer warns against generalizing about the
processes of globalization, his study focuses primarily on economics, and
thus the subtitle of his book turns out to be rather misleading. US monetary
policy in the 1970s is the foundation of contemporary globalization for Schaeffer,
and it is economic change that seems to interest Schaeffer the most. Indeed,
he focuses on changes in technology, culture, and gender in their global context
only in so far as developments in these areas occurred as a result of the
economic developments of the 1970s. Moreover, Schaeffer neglects to include
in his study any discussion of the impact of advances in transportation (such
as standardized shipping containers) or communication (the Internet and the
use of cell phones). Regardless of the impact of the macroeconomic changes
Schaeffer identifies, these other kinds of developments are significant because
they have revolutionized the ability of people in various parts of the world
to interact with each other, with both positive and negative consequences
for all. |
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One final frustration with the book is its emphasis on the United States
and the North-South divide. Schaeffer places so much primacy on the effects
of dollar devaluations and rising interest rates in the United States and
Western Europe in his chapter on the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s
that his argument recalls the claims of dependency theorists who wrote on
US-Latin American relations in the 1970s. His chapter on commodity prices
focuses almost exclusively on the "North" and the "South," and though he identifies
exceptions in passing (for example, he points out on page 127 that Colombia
escaped the economic crises that plagued many countries in the "South" by
shifting its coffee production to Arabica beans which were more highly sought
after in the "North"), he too frequently lumps the countries of the "South"
together, neglecting the differences between them. One interested in exploring
the effects of globalization for diverse peoples might have noted the experiences
during the 1980s of countries of the "South" such as Chile and Peru, which
weathered the storm of the debt crisis rather differently. While Chileans
enjoyed political and economic stability during this period (even through
the transition from dictatorship to democracy), the road has been far more
rocky and tenuous for their Peruvian neighbors who have dealt with recurring
labor strikes, political corruption, and economic instability. |
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Thus, while Schaeffer shows clearly that workers and farmers in America and
developing countries may have been effected differently by the processes of
globalization, he at times falls into the same trap of generalization for
which he criticizes others. Schaeffer is clearly frustrated with those who
proclaim globalization "good" or "bad," and his desire to explore the different
effects of globalization is admirable. But after reading the book, the reader
is left with the feeling that for Schaeffer, globalization has had essentially
two sets of results: mixed results for the United States and Western Europe,
and negative consequences for the developing countries of the world. This
is a very general and uniform conclusion. Moreover, Schaeffer's exploration
of the processes of globalization is not, in fact, "global": rather, it focuses
mainly on the United States and Western Europe and those parts of the developing
world that were immediately influenced by the west. Conspicuously absent from
Schaeffer's book, except for passing references, are any significant discussions
about Russia, China, and even Africa. It is particularly striking that Schaeffer
spends so little time discussing the economic changes that have taken place
in the Chinese economy over the last fifteen years, which have been largely
influenced by the processes of globalization. |
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| Finally, out-dated data on a topic of such currency is unavoidable to some
degree, but Schaeffer frequently uses empirical data, much of which could
have been updated in this edition of the book. Data on world carbon dioxide
emissions is from 1994 (183), and public opinion data from Russia on the merits
of communism are also from that year (303). By 2003, the ration of US carbon
emissions and Chinese carbon emissions per capita had narrowed, from ten to
one, which Schaeffer cites, to about 7.3 to one. And in 2000, the Russian
Public Opinion Research Center reported that only 36% of Russians were dissatisfied
with the political and economic progress that had been made in Russia since
1991. This is in stark contrast to Schaeffer's note that two-thirds of Russians
felt better off under communism. Numbers such as these should have been updated
in the second edition of the book. |
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| Despite these criticisms, the book remains informative and useful for those
seeking an introduction to the processes and issues related to globalization
in the last thirty to sixty yearsÑespecially those who are interested in economic
developments. Schaeffer makes an intentional effort to write the book in a
way that allows each chapter to stand on its own. This structure has two merits.
First, Schaeffer's argument about the importance of currency valuations and
interest rates, which is complex, is made very clear throughout the book.
Those unfamiliar with the global ramifications of rising or falling interest
rates, for example, will find the book easy to read due to Schaeffer's lucid
explanations and his willingness to restate and redevelop key points in several
places throughout the book. A second strength of this structure, particularly
for teachers and students, is that it allows the book to be read in bits and
pieces. This can be frustrating for those reading the book for Schaeffer's
larger arguments, though some chapters, such as Chapter 7 on "Food, Trade,
and Hunger" are quite effective in providing both a great deal of detail and
integrating the topic into the larger themes of globalization. That said,
this structure will allow those who cannot, or who choose not to, read the
book in its entirety to select those topics which they find most compelling
or pertinent to their interests. |
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| Robert Schaeffer's Understanding Globalization
is a valuable read for its breadth and its clarity. Students in advanced high
school courses, undergraduates, and general readers will find Schaeffer's
book an accessible and valuable introduction to global economic developments
and, to a lesser extent, their political and cultural repercussions since
the 1970s. The text would make a nice end piece to a course in world history,
particularly if students can recognize and critique the emphasis Schaeffer
places on US monetary policy. Finally, individual chapters on food, democratization,
and the drug trade make worthwhile pieces for discussion on their own, and
also could serve as jumping off points for further research. |
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| John A. King, Jr.
Ransom Everglades School |
