Prospects and Ambiguities of Globalization: Critical Assessments at a Time of Growing Turmoil [Paperback]

Assumptions and institutions that we have taken for granted for fifty years are proving inadequate for the world now emerging. Moreover, mono-casual explanations of rapid global change do not work. Religious as well as economic dynamics, cultural as well as political forces, environmental as well as military constraints, are frequently working at cross-purposes in shaping a globe we cannot yet fathom.

The essays in this volume reach beyond the mere description of phenomena to explore deeper currents of institutional breakdown and competing cultural drives that are radically reshaping our world. Covering topics ranging from the New Silk Road to changes in school governance around the world, the authors offer a critical, historically-informed assessment of the diverse dynamics that are undermining or nullifying current paradigms of thought and action. Drawing on their diverse backgrounds in economics, international affairs, ethics, history, education, and religion, the authors share the conviction that long-standing assumptions about a state-centered, secular-tending, economically converging world are in large measure mistaken. A paradigm shift is required if we are to understand and constructively shape the twenty-first century world.

This study of America's role in the world is timely. Many of the authors write from a perspective that might be called the 'evangelical left' and engage a wide range of topics all touching on the changes globalization has generated. The conversations begun in this book can help many, including many Christians, to understand these extraordinary times. Peter D. Feaver, Duke University

Few challenges and dynamics of this century are so widely recognized yet poorly fathomed as those brought on by globalization. Prophets glibly herald the infinite horizons of opportunity that globalization presents. Critics warn of the carnage and lóO