ABSTRACT
As an expert on transnational corporations bemoaned to one of the authors, the current alter-globalisation movement is 'a movement that does not recognise its own history'. This chapter examines its relevance to the contemporary period and movement, with a special focus on the roles played by Raul Prebisch and other structuralist thinkers and practitioners. It provides snapshots of three dynamic waves of enhanced economic integration that provoked transboundary resistance by civil society, by governments, or by both, to explore the historical roots of the movement against corporate globalisation. The chapter also provides case studies of the period of European colonialism; and the early post-Second World War period, which saw the creation of public institutions to manage the world economy and also marked a period of vibrant debate over the role of developing countries in the economic order. These case studies illustrate ways in which today's movement has important antecedents in past popular movements and debates.
