In this new edition of Globalisms, Steger (Univ. of Hawai’i at Manoa) rejects “end of ideology” hypotheses, instead viewing the current era as a “teeming battlefield of clashing ideologies" (p. 5). His analysis centers on the dominant ideology, market globalism, and its three major antagonists: justice globalism, religious (jihadist) globalism, and anti-globalist populism. If market globalism advances economic freedom and growth as its core values, the others extol, respectively, social and environmental justice, religious faith, and reactionary, authoritarian nationalism. Market globalism seemed incontestable, even inevitable, in the 1990s, but events such as the 1999 anti-WTO protests, the 9/11 attacks and subsequent terrorist outbreaks, and the 2008 financial collapse and ensuing backlash against runaway inequality (compounded by the perceived erosion of national identities) have given rise to the opposing perspectives. Steger concludes by considering three possible scenarios: the anti-globalists consolidate power with effects similar to those suffered in the 1930s and 1940s, reformed market globalists are able to rebound, or a prolonged stalemate ensues. Occasional esoteric terminology does not detract from the vitally important issues illuminated in this seminal work. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.

Choice Reviews

In this newly revised edition, Steger examines the relatively rapid rise of national-populism and its antiglobalization rhetoric. Antiglobalist populism is emerging as the latest ideological force to counter the hegemony of neoliberal market globalism. While it is too early to predict its cumulative impact, Steger proposes possible scenarios of the populist backlash. This is an important and timely analysis of an increasingly hostile ideological global battle—a disturbing but essential read.

Eve Darian-Smith, University of California Irvine

Manfred Steger offers a thoughtful and well-written analysis of globalization, focused on a frequently overlooked side of the process—the role of ideas. He shows how advocates of the contemporary ‘market globalism’ use language that makes it appear, falsely, as the only possible option. He points out the contradictions of that form of globalization, which proclaim the ideal of individual freedom while relying on state coercion and newly footloose financial capital to impose cutbacks in wages and social programs on unwilling populations around the world. Steger provides insight into the prospects of the alternatives to market globalism coming from the political left and from the religious and the nationalist right.

David M. Kotz, University of Massachusetts Amherst; author of The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism

Written by one of the foremost contemporary scholars of emergent global imaginaries, Manfred Steger’s Globalisms offers a comprehensive and accessible overview of the competing ideologies of globalization that have transformed the world’s political landscape during the last three decades. This newest edition considers the wide-ranging geopolitical implications of the post-2008 global financial crisis and more recent authoritarian populist electoral victories. It also outlines possible future scenarios for inherited projects of globalization in relation to questions of political ideology, economic and environmental governance, and social justice. An invaluable intellectual resource for students and scholars alike.

Neil Brenner, Harvard University