Globalization & War

The website Global Policy republishes a speech given by anti-globalization activist and fellow at the Transnational Institute Professor Susan George exploring the often obscured relationship between Neoliberal capitalist activity and the decisions made by countries such as the US to launch wars (against Third World Nations).

As a way of engaging with the subject matter, she mentions the recently published "The Three Trillion Dollar War" by Nobel Laureate economist and fair trade advocate Joseph Stiglitz - a book I am currently reading and hope to a review of shortly.

She sums up the connection between "globalization" and war quite ably in the beginning of the speech, although the entire transcript makes good reading as well since she takes some pains to define terms with more precision than most writers are able to provide:

Corporate-led, finance-driven globalisation has successfully transferred wealth from labour to capital. This has resulted in inequality and exclusion on a massive scale which, combined with the pressure on water and other environmental resources, is likely to fuel new conflicts.