ABSTRACT
Something extraordinary happened at the end of November, 1999: a conclave of trade ministers, international bureaucrats and diplomats-meeting to discuss the arcane rules and regulations governing international trade and related matters-was met with a mass popular mobilization numbering in the tens of thousands. Marches, rallies, and coordinated acts of civil disobedience in the streets of Seattle disrupted the ministerial meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Acting together in opposition to neoliberal globalization were coalitions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activist groups who came from many countries to denounce the WTO as undemocratic in both the process and the substance of its governance (Economist, 1999; Henwood, 1999; Longworth, 1999; Members of International Civil Society, 1999; Moberg, 1999). While the sort of coordinated mass opposition evident in Seattle was unprecedented, and to much of the mainstream media seemed suddenly to burst forth out of nowhere, it was in fact the product of historical-structural transformations and political struggles which have been unfolding for years. This book is the product of my attempts to understand these struggles, especially as they have unfolded in the nexus between the political economy of the US and the global economy.
