Rapid growth, reduced poverty, and stable societies: the announced benefits of the world economy celebrated by neoliberal proponents of "the Washington consensus" have failed to materialize. What does this failure mean for future world order and the U.S. role as global hegemon? Addressing this crucial question, William Tabb argues that global economic institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund constitute a nascent international state for which all previous models of sovereignty, accountability and equity
are inadequate. Integrating economics and political science, Tabb traces the emergence of this global state from the closing days of

World War II and examines its future prospects.

Even as the United States will continue to dominate the emerging structures of world governance, Tabb maintains, it will have to change the assumptions behind its championing of classical models of international free trade. A new financial architecture must encompass debt forgiveness, multilateral agreements on investment, and a more inclusive model of growth in the twenty-first century.

Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Verb and the Noun
3. Debating Globalization
4. The Nature and Scope of International Political Economics
5. The Postwar Economic Order and Global State Economic Governance Institutions
6. Clubs, Soft Law and International Financial Institutions
7. Finance: Orthodox and Heterodox
8. The Bretton Woods Institutions
9. Transnational Corporations and Trade Theory
10. From International Trade Organization to World Trade Organization
11. Market Efficiency Versus Labor Rights and Environmental Protection
12. Redecorating and New Architecture
13. The Evolving International Political Economy
References

About the Author
William K. Tabb is professor of economics at Queens College and (sometimes) professor of political science at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. His previous books include The Amoral Elephant, Reconstructing Political Economy, and The Postwar Japanese System.

Some comments on this book
"The best comprehensive analysis and critique of globalization and especially of economic governance in a vast literature."
Richard Falk, Princeton University.

"Hard-hitting in its critical perspective yet sensitive to competing positions, Tabb's most recent book is indispensable reading for anyone wanting to know who, if anyone, is in charge of a globalizing economy and how it's run."
James H. Mittelman, School of International Service, American University.

"The best critical analysis of the constructing of current economic governance institutions and agendas. Throughout this analysis Tabb shows us how partial a map of this process has been produced by the main scholarly traditions on the subject. This juxtaposition illuminates the contingent character of the current system and the work that can be done to develop alternative objectives."
Saskia Sassen, author of Losing Control? Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization.

"This is definitely an original and constructive contribution. The book is well written and engaging and the arguments are clear and well formulated."
Christopher Chase-Dunn, University of California, Riverside.

"The book does a wonderful job of laying out the dilemmas of the current incomplete attempts to govern the global economy, placing them in a historical context that allows us to see viable alternatives."
Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College and chair, Academic Council on the U.N. System (2002-2004).

August 21, 2004.