ABSTRACT
Globalization of the economy is what people often associate with the word "globalization." This chapter examines changes to economic processes that result from globalization. The effects of globalization are not limited to macro-level processes like treaties and global communications technology. Rather than seeking a way to make capitalism work, Samir Amin highlights the flaws of a failing system. The crisis of capitalism is not due to the failure of some economies to develop, Amin says, but due to contemporary capitalist globalization. Amin argues that the capitalist system cannot be fixed; the crisis it has caused can only be resolved by adopting a socialist perspective. William I. Robinson explores the social and political problems generated by the global capitalist system: the tendency toward instability, inequality, crisis, and conflict. The chapter revisits the work of Robinson to understand the ways that the economic and political systems have changed due to globalization, and to look at the consequences of these changes.
