Antiglobalization

Globalization—the diverse, complex set of processes that transcend national borders—is not a “natural” or inevitable phenomenon but a historical product and therefore contingent and malleable. Because globalization does not benefit everyone, contrary to popular neoclassical economic assertions that it forms a tide that lifts all boats, globalization often breeds resentment among those who bear its costs but enjoy relatively few of its benefits. For this reason, it may be said that globalization inevitably breeds its own opposition.

Resistance to globalization is as old as globalization itself. Thus, from the beginning, European colonial empires were met with heated opposition, often violent and generally unsuccessful. Examples include the Incan uprisings against the Spanish in the early 16th century, Zulu attacks on Dutch and British pioneers in Southern Africa, the great Sepoy Rebellion of India in 1857, and the long series of anticolonial and guerrilla struggles in Vietnam, Algeria, and much of sub-Saharan Africa, some of which persisted into the 1970s. For many contemporary opponents of globalization, current engagements are part of a long history of opposition that reaches back centuries.

Contemporary antiglobalization movements take a variety of forms. For many, the movements are relatively peaceful in nature, including protests, boycotts, demonstrations, and working through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). For others, opposition takes on a decidedly more active, even violent form. Benjamin Barber's famous book Jihad vs. McWorld noted this diversity of forms, using jihad, the Arabic expression for holy war, as a metaphor for the vast umbrella of groups opposed to contemporary globalization and “McWorld” as a metaphor for the American-led, information-intensive penetration of various societies by crass commercialism, including fast food, entertainment and media (particularly Hollywood cinema), and fashion, all of which are the most visible faces of Western hegemony and are seen by many as cultural imperialism.