capitalism

208 Glorious Revolution
Today, about 3 billion people live in countries that can
be said to be a part of the global economy. These countries
have growth rates of about 5%, which means that their per
capita incomes double every 15 years. Rich countries have
growth rates of about 2% per capita, further evidence of the
convergence of wealth among nations. Estimates are that,
since the early 1980s, poverty in developing countries has
been halved, child labor has almost been halved, and
chronic hunger has been reduced by two-fifths. These
improvements have been especially marked in countries
that have opened their economies to world market forces.
Despite these clear indications of the economic
improvement that follows freer trade, a strong antiglobalization
movement emerged in the late 1990s—a movement
that has staged several mass protests that have been given
international publicity. Currently, thousands of influential
organizations and pressure groups around the world continue
to oppose various aspects of globalization. These
groups are not homogenous, and some have incompatible
views. A few who have participated in antiglobalization
activities are protectionist corporations and unions who
want to stop poor countries from exporting goods that
would compete with home-grown manufactures. Other
groups wish to stop richer countries from exporting their
goods, thus forcing consumers to consume higher priced
local products. In addition, nationalists and Luddites of all
stripes want to shut the rest of the world out, and a few
utopian socialists dream of a world government that will
take control of all market forces. What they have in common
is their opposition to globalization, which is often
referred to as “neoliberal globalization” or “corporate globalization,”
thus revealing that their real animus is not
toward globalization as such, but free markets.
These groups give voice to the same hostility against
competition and free enterprise as has been seen in domestic
debates about free trade since the Industrial Revolution.
However, many opponents of globalization also complain
that a liberalization of trade allows individuals and companies
to escape government rules and regulations by choosing
the location of their activities, the home residence of
their firms, and the nature of their investments. Many
politicians and international political institutions, like the
United Nations, the European Union, and the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development, view globalization
as a threat to political control. They have often tried
to administer the globalized economy by harmonizing
domestic policies (e.g., on taxes) and to regulate markets.
This attempt to internationalize political control is often
called “political globalization,” but is in fact a movement
that works against the spontaneous globalization led by voluntary
decisions of individuals and businesses.
In many ways, the society in which we live is more
globalized than ever. However, much remains to be done.
In developing countries, the absence of the rule of law and
property rights make it impossible for the majority to participate
in large-scale economic activities. Even the policies
in place in richer countries are far from ideal. Agricultural
protectionism and multibillion-dollar subsidies make it
impossible for poor countries to export their goods and
develop their agriculture. Domestic government monopolies
in health care and education prevent international competition
and freedom of choice in those sectors. Finally,
although goods and capital might flow fairly freely across
borders, the restriction on the movement of people is still
much alive.
See also Cosmopolitanism; Development, Economic; Free Trade;
Material Progress; Simon, Julian; Tax Competition
Further Readings
JoN
Bhagwati, Jagdish. In Defense of Globalization. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
Cowen, Tyler. Creative Destruction: How Globalization Is Changing
the World’s Cultures. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
2002.
Irwin, Douglas. Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free
Trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.
Norberg, Johan. In Defense of Global Capitalism. Washington, DC:
Cato Institute, 2003.
Sally, Razeen. Classical Liberalism and International Economic
Order: Studies in Theory and Intellectual History. London:
Routledge, 1998.
Wolf, Martin. Why Globalization Works. New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 2004.
GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
The events of 1688–1689, during which James II was
deposed by Parliamentary authority and force of arms in
favor of his daughter Mary II and her husband William III
of Orange, are collectively known as the Glorious
Revolution, although, properly speaking, it was not so
much a revolution as it was a coup d’état. The Stuart
restoration of 1660, which placed Charles II, son of Charles
I, on the throne, brought in its wake a resurgence of distrust
in the Crown. Charles II, like his father and grandfather,
was dismissive of Parliamentary concerns about his policies,
both political and ecclesiastical. Although it had been
firmly established that the appropriation of all monies was
in Parliament’s hands, control over how taxes were
expended was still left to the King and his ministers. What
particularly incensed Parliament was Charles’s sympathies
with Roman Catholicism, which was equated by most
Englishmen with the most primitive levels of superstition