Globalization Discourse as an Instrument of Policymaking

This book demonstrates the effects of globalization discourse on the British Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. It also provides important lessons for contemporary policymakers, in the wake of a world recession that was totally avoidable but encouraged by the prescriptions of globalization discourse. The recent economic crisis has undermined core claims from the latter, both by underlining its flaws and also because international policymakers have eschewed its policy prescriptions, preferring to prioritize more effective regulatory practices, Keynesian-style intervention and fiscal stimulus strategies. This book presents a genealogy of economic globalization discourse and its influence on the Blair and Brown Labour governments. It demonstrates the damaging effects of such a flawed academic discourse when policymakers assume its prescriptions to be necessary rather than contingent. The author concludes, despite the contrary implications of globalization discourse, that there is still a vital role for effective, strategic governance in national and international political economy.