National diversity and global capitalism

TLDR

Globalization, through trade, capital flows, technology, and deregulation, raises questions about its impact on national economies, politics, and the convergence of production and distribution structures. The authors investigate whether global competition, imitation, trade, and financial flows erode national diversity and threaten the political autonomy and distinctive welfare-oriented varieties of capitalism. The authors convene a panel of experts to examine how the international economy shapes domestic structures. The volume challenges conventional views of globalization’s reach and the predicted erosion of the nation-state’s economic leverage.

Abstract

How does globalization change national economies and politics? Are rising levels of trade, capital flows, new communication technologies, and deregulation forcing all societies to converge toward the same structures of production and distribution? Suzanne Berger and Ronald Dore have brought together a distinguished group of experts to consider how the international economy shapes and transforms domestic structures. Drawing from experience in the United States, Europe, and Asia, the contributors ask whether competition, imitation, diffusion of best practice, trade, and financial flows are reducing national diversities. The authors seek to understand whether the sources of national political autonomy are undermined by changes in the international system. Can distinctive varieties of capitalism that incorporate unique and valued institutions for achieving social welfare survive in a global economy? The contributions to the volume present a challenge to conventional views on the extent and scope of globalization as well as to predictions of the imminent disappearance of the nation-state’s leverage over the economy.