Customer Reviews

How to Rule the World: The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy

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This book is both terrific and important -- crisply written, sophisticated but accessible, and extremely valuable for progressives in the United States who want to reanimate the global justice movement here.

First and foremost, Engler persuasively argues that the Bush administration has pursued a policy of unilateralist, nationalistic, and militarized "imperial globalization" that differs from the "corporate globalization" model of the Clinton years. Doing so, Engler pleads that we recognize differences of opinion and strategy -- and the opportunities these fissures and tensions create -- among global elites. The key question Engler poses is: as the Bush model runs aground, will we simply go back to the globalization of the 80s and 90s, or can there be alternatives? A lot of evidence suggests that there is a real chance to develop alternatives: many Democrats now oppose neo-liberal free trade; more importantly, there has been, in the years since 9-11, a tremendous rollback of neo-liberalism in the Global South. Engler educates us about these alternatives, and challenges us to revitalize the global justice movement based on an informed understanding of recent trends, crises within the pro-globalization community, and the activism in the Global South.

Written with the precision of a scholar, the flair of a journalist, and the heart of an activist, this book is vital reading for so many communities: academics, policy makers, activists, and anyone who wants an up-to-date account of the state of the global economy. I can't recommend it more strongly.

Jeremy Varon

Mr. Engler describes the efforts of the greatest economic engine in the world (still), known to many as the United States, to determine and control the future of developing countries, whether by cloaked capitalism (Clinton-Blair third way neo-liberalism) or fiat (G.W.Bush aka Teddy Roosevelt). But, as he documents, that effort is failing, whatever its motivation, as the United States loses control not only of its economic fiefdoms in South and Latin America but of its own population, as its efforts to control the world incur domestic debt and keep its own middle class stagnant and the poor yet more impoverished. Like the history of its predecessors, the British, French, Dutch and Flemish empires, it is a modern ride on the Appian Way with the real reasons for the fall of the empire explained, unlike that other book which explained every battle of the Roman Empire but left the reader wondering why it actually failed. As with Americans, new to this outcome, the Brits and others have yet to acknowledge their diminished, yet mostly comfortable status as now just a nation. But Americans, unused to their diminished supermacy, are certainly feeling its effects.

Mr Engler looks at the details, the intracacies of finance and their implications for the target countries, but his thesis is the nature of a changing world where economic development and, moreover, its native control, in the Southern American hemisphere (Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Boliva, Cuba) engenders independence and dooms (despite the WTO and the World Bank) a century of American hegemony. His discussion of debt cancellation, the H&R Block of international finance, more than his other examples, reveals the vulnerability of North American attempts to control fledgling South American governments. While Engler's focus is the popular movements in Central and South America, he does consider the East, never under the American thumb, but quarantined by the West, with China now holding most of America's debt the United States incurrs trying to keep its power everywhere. Our economic dependence upon the East that the Unites States has never had to entertain in a marketplace it had always exploited, but now readily accepts, whatever the consequences, as long as a buck can be made does not bode well for capital owners of the homeland. Oh, it must make those bulwarks of British Imperialism, the last vultures of the underdeveloped world, just shudder the thought of those despicable yellow people in implicit control. They and we can commisserate over our oriental tea.

Oh, you can bet there will be consequences. And Engler, knowing that the closer one gets to an issue, the more one loses the luxury of unbridled ideology, takes issue with the conclusions of commentators and analysts, both right and left, providing a studied guide to where the road may lead in the deep, deep woods of the twenty-first century.

With not much to add to the other reviews, this book has great depth and gives insightul knowledge of how the war in Iraq as well as The battle against the WTO, World Bank and IMF, needs to be thought out differently.
The author doesn't spend his time attacking or belittling some of the common held views of the left, he simply adds to the argument, a refreshing thing when several books on the above subjects just keep repeating the same ideas. I highly recomend this book, if only for the chapter on Thomas Friedman. Another book to read is Jeff Faux's "The Global Class War" which is quoted in this book a few times.

Engler's ideas are intelligent, interesting, and extremely relevant. His style is very clear and accessible. "How to Rule the World" is highly recommended reading for anyone concerned about US foreign policy and the global economy.

Has government become superfluous? Should the populace cede control to corporate culture and lobbyist (the dread military-industrial complex). In the hectic pace of modern life, are too many otherwise articulate people falling prey to cocooning in front of 42" digital TV's where political discourse appears to be devolving into polarity and fearmongering? Never! Mark Engler makes a compelling case for seeing a way beyond all that, as well documented in other reviews. The Democracy Road hasn't always been a smooth ride. It relies on a vision shared by people in all walks of life. While cyncism may be warranted, it doesn't have legs like hope and persistence does. Those Self Evident Truths

The specifics of the book have been covered in previous reviews, so I won't belabor them. Just want to note my agreement that this book is excellent. Unlike many political writers, Engler offers more than overheated rhetoric and common sense observations. There is a genuinely compelling argument here, one that is far more convincing than most generally accepted doctrine on the subject. An absolute must-read.

Mark Engler looks toward a third way, a democratic way, toward globalization, to replace the corporate way of the Clinton years and the imperial way of the Bush years. Engler is an activist writer who declares "If we are content with neither rule by military might nor rule by the rich, then we must demand a democratic alternative" (p. 300).

Yet Engler does not give us a clear vision of this alternative: democratic globalization. We see the global networking of activists seeking to overturn the old order, as in the world social forums and the Seattle WTO demonstrations (I've been active in both). We also see the rebellion against neo-liberalism and the IMF in new governments throughout Latin America. What is missing is the structure of a new democratic global order with institutions which are powerful enough to supplant corporate globalization and imperial globalization.

Engler does look at suggestions for reforming the WTO or revitalizing some of the UN bodies, but he wonders how activists will be able to overcome the entrenched corporate and imperial interests. Instead what we need is a clear vision, something that will mobilize people when the time is right. With the global financial crisis, we now have such an opening. But without a clear vision, the only things that are mobilizing people are bailouts and bonuses.

Instead we need to aim for a global currency, issued by a global bank, controlled by a global financial regulator, backed by resources and other things of real value, and governed democratically. The latter could include broad policy, structure, and leadership determined by a directly elected parliamentary assembly informed by a variety of interests and expertise. All of this and more could be built step by step over a period of many years, gaining experience and support.

But the financial crisis is but a mild symptom of the grave peril humanity is facing from rapid resource depletion and environmental degradation. Mr. Engler needs to lead us toward far bolder thinking.