Overview

Combining theory with compelling case studies, this book examines the globalizing world of democracy. Noted critical scholars Stephen J. Rosow and Jim George argue that democracy must be understood not as a unified concept but as a diversity of political responses to specific conditions and political struggles. Doing so reveals how democracy is taking multiple forms around the world in response to neoliberal globalism and the increasing pace and complexity of everyday life. The authors show how the current phase of globalization is destabilizing the dominance of Western democracy promotion as resisters challenge common understandings and forms of democracy. Explaining the theory behind neoliberal globalization and democracy promotion, they consider its impact and struggles against it in South Africa, post-Soviet Russia, India, and Venezuela and other “pink tide” states in Latin America. Rosow and George also examine how digital communications networks, the centralization of security, and the fluid movements of people and ideas are destabilizing traditional democratic theories. At the same time, they give rise to concepts of democracy that focus on new forms of citizenship and democratic participation, a cosmopolitan democratic constitutionalism, cross-boundary political activism, and local and community-based economic and democratic practices.

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9781442218093

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Reviews

In their rigorous and historically grounded account, Rosow and George demonstrate what it means to do political theory. From classical Athens to the Occupy movements, their text ranges across time and space to remind us that democracy is not liberalism and that politics is not easy. An outstanding introduction to one of the most important concepts in modern political life. -- Anthony F. Lang Jr., University of St. Andrews This challenging and stimulating work forcefully critiques the assumptions of post-Cold War democratic political theory and neoliberal economic ideology. Stephen J. Rosow and Jim George present imaginative new ways of rethinking democracy and its relationship to globalization through historical and current examples. By highlighting how promoting democracy and neoliberal economic policies follows limited and limiting agendas, they articulate a more subtle and socially relevant picture of what potential democratic possibilities might mean in the globalized twenty-first century. -- Daniel Warner, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

In their rigorous and historically grounded account, Rosow and George demonstrate what it means to do political theory. From classical Athens to the Occupy movements, their text ranges across time and space to remind us that democracy is not liberalism and that politics is not easy. An outstanding introduction to one of the most important concepts in modern political life. -- Anthony F. Lang Jr., University of St. Andrews

Globalization and Democracy examines the ways that neoliberal economics threatens democracy and whether there are alternative economic policies that can enhance democracy. For Rosow and George, democracy cannot simply be about voting and interest group politics but must include a strong, consistent, popular presence that not only demands social justice but also actively participates in the forging of public policies to achieve this goal. In this provocative book, Rosow and George take up studies of several countries where neoliberalism is ascendant, such as Russia, and countries where the authors find a popularly based democratic alternative in command, such as Venezuela...[T]his lively, well-researched book challenges many popular assumptions about the benefits of globalization, particularly its effects on democracy. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections. CHOICE In their rigorous and historically grounded account, Rosow and George demonstrate what it means to do political theory. From classical Athens to the Occupy movements, their text ranges across time and space to remind us that democracy is not liberalism and that politics is not easy. An outstanding introduction to one of the most important concepts in modern political life. -- Anthony F. Lang Jr., University of St. Andrews This challenging and stimulating work forcefully critiques the assumptions of post-Cold War democratic political theory and neoliberal economic ideology. Stephen J. Rosow and Jim George present imaginative new ways of rethinking democracy and its relationship to globalization through historical and current examples. By highlighting how promoting democracy and neoliberal economic policies follows limited and limiting agendas, they articulate a more subtle and socially relevant picture of what potential democratic possibilities might mean in the globalized twenty-first century. -- Daniel Warner, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

In their rigorous and historically grounded account, Rosow and George demonstrate what it means to do political theory. From classical Athens to the Occupy movements, their text ranges across time and space to remind us that democracy is not liberalism and that politics is not easy. An outstanding introduction to one of the most important concepts in modern political life. -- Anthony F. Lang Jr., University of St. Andrews This challenging and stimulating work forcefully critiques the assumptions of post-Cold War democratic political theory and neoliberal economic ideology. Stephen J. Rosow and Jim George present imaginative new ways of rethinking democracy and its relationship to globalization through historical and current examples. By highlighting how promoting democracy and neoliberal economic policies follow limited and limiting agendas, they articulate a more subtle and socially relevant picture of what potential democratic possibilities might mean in the globalized twenty-first century. -- Daniel Warner, Center for International Governance, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Author Information

Stephen J. Rosow is professor of political science at the State University of New York at Oswego. Jim George was senior lecturer at the Australian National University until his retirement in 2012.

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