ABSTRACT

In this chapter, I examine what the concepts of “globalization” and “pushing against” look like as system phenomena. I will argue that what we call globalization can be characterized as a kind of reciprocal regulatory borrowing between transnational and local regulatory actors, and that this borrowing is likely to be subject to a kind of law of comparative regulatory advantage that tracks David Ricardo’s similar law. As we shall see, because of this, a significant portion of what we are likely to categorize as local “pushing against” globalization is not really pushing against globalization at all, but is instead actually acting to promote globalization. And in fact, the most effective “pushing against” globalization is likely coming from globalization itself.