Globalization: A Western Perspective

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Washington consensus, often interchangeably used with neoliberal policies, has become a rod of dissatisfaction among anti-globalization. In theory, neoliberal policies seek to industrialize Latin America through western ideas and structure under the policy of “one size fits all”. Late development theory states that not all development will follow the same path as their predecessors. Each country accounts for its own history, culture, trajectory and variables for development. Globalization while it has workers for western countries, it has not been the rightful path for newly developing countries to undertake with given set of policies as underlined by Washington consensus. Between the 1930s and the later 1970s most of the countries in Latin America used the Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) model to build industry and reduce dependency on imports from foreign countries. These countries rapidly urbanize with a fast growing working class. In respond to the economic crisis the head of state of these countries adopted and implemented new neoliberal policies. One think to keep in mind is that international financial crisis is usually more difficult to manage than domestic crisis due to jurisdictional ambiguities. Some basic level of cross-national coordination is required in crisis management and resolution. Intergovernmental institutions can play a supportive role, but their main mission has typically focused on preventing next crisis. Hegemonic stability theory under realism suggest that “international economic collaborations in pursuit of an open economic order is most likely to occur when the global economic is dominated by a simple power” (Ravenhill 22). The theory is rooted on international relations especially in p... ... middle of paper ... ...ey, Douglas S., Magaly Sánchez, and Jere R. Behrman. Chronicle of a Myth Foretold: The Washington Consensus in Latin America. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2006. Print. Newman, Edward, Ramesh Chandra Thakur, and John Tirman. Multilateralism under Challenge?: Power, International Order, and Structural Change. Tokyo: United Nations UP, 2006. Print. Panizza, Francisco. Contemporary Latin America: Development and Democracy beyond the Washington Consensus. London: Zed, 2009. Print. Ravenhill, John. Global Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print. Rodrik, Dani. The New Global Economy and Developing Countries: Making Openness Work. Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council, 1999. Print. Stiglitz, J. (1998b) ‘Towards a New Paradigm for development: strategies, Policies, Processes’, Prebich Lecture, UNTAD, Geneva, Reprinted in Chang (ed). 2001.

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