The best books for understanding the transformation of capitalism and globalisation
This article was originally published by Shepherd, a book discovery website where authors and experts share their favourite books. We recently embarked on a partnership with Shepherd to showcase our members' books, so we're pleased to share this first article. Look out for further articles by BISA members in the coming weeks. Try their bookshelf on international relations or politics to browse a wide range of recommended books.
Why am I passionate about this?
Since 2008, I have conducted research on themes related to International Political Economy. I am currently the co-chair of the research committee on this topic at the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and am passionate about making sense of the interplay between material and symbolic factors that shape capitalism and globalisation. Being based in Brazil, I was stuck when the country—which did not have salient identity cleavages in politics—came to be, after 2008, a hotspot of religious-based right-wing populism associated with the defence of trade liberalisation as globalisation started to face meaningful backlash from White-majority constituencies who are relatively losers of the post-Cold War order in the advanced industrialised democracies.
I wrote...
Shaping Nations and Markets: Identity Capital, Trade, and the Populist Rage
What is my book about?
How do material and symbolic factors interact with each other as far-right populist movements contest globalisation? To answer that question, I compare Brazil, India, and the United States between 2001 and 2022 as those countries changed their preferences on trade liberalisation and witnessed the rise of nationalist-populist movements led by Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi, and Donald Trump.
I contend that ethnic, racial, and religious cleavages ground narratives of national identity. Hence, growing minorities such as evangelicals in Brazil or vanishing majorities like Whites in the US have incentives to increase or at least keep their identity capital—that is, the form of power that stems from their recognition as members of the nation. This, in turn, impacts the fate of the 21st-century global order.
The books I picked & why
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
Why did I love this book?
I love the way he explores the interplay between economic ideas and political institutions that culminated in the triumph of market forces in the aftermath of the Cold War. Yet, Gerstle’s most interesting insights lie at the end of the book as he classifies Trump and Modi as ethnonationalist leaders of the same feather as China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Globalisation, however, has not necessarily reached its end, as it may simply be reframed to fit a world whose shape has yet to be defined.
The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths
Why did I love this book?
In a time when industrial policy is no longer taboo, even in the West, I would recommend this book to remember the pivotal role that state policies play in promoting development.
More than being the result of self-made people, crucial innovations like the smartphone result from the research backbone that the state provides.
The book is, therefore, thought-provoking as it debunks myths of state decline during the so-called neoliberal age, although recognises that private firms have acquired excessive power.
Easternization: Asia's Rise and America's Decline From Obama to Trump and Beyond
Why did I love this book?
Being one of the first books to scrutinize the origins of Trumpism and its impact beyond U.S. borders, I very much appreciate the argument that right-wing populism in the West—which includes the forces that culminated in the Brexit process—shall be a catalyser for the power transition to the East.
Hence, the likely end of Western dominance does not arise only from Asian continuous economic growth but would also stem from the centrifugal forces that emerged at the heart of the advanced industrial democracies.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
Why did I love this book?
I love Anderson’s narrative about the formation of nations in the 19th Century and what he calls print capitalism, promoted through books and newspapers. A market organised around the same language fosters both the economy and the very much-needed feeling of community required to organise the state and foster industrial capitalism.
More than four decades after its publication, the book remains thought-provoking as it makes me ask whether a single language suffices to hold nations and markets together.
The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time
Why did I love this book?
As post-Cold War globalisation seems to face its fate, I always go back to this book as it offers lessons on the perils of taking for granted economic rationality. The 19th-century liberal order crumbled, and fascism emerged as a solution. In the same vein, is far-right populism a reaction against the consequences of neoliberalism?
Although he does not bring to the centre stage the impact of ethnic-religious cleavages, such a shortcoming only made me wonder whether his riveting account of modernity applies nowadays.
Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash
