Frequently Asked Questions About Sovereign Wealth Funds

Globalization has become the cliché of our times. The neo-liberal virus has struck almost everybody including within the ranks of the left. The proponents of neo-liberal globalization claim that it produces “accelerated efficient” development along with deepening of democracy and human rights. However, reality shows the opposite and any rigorous examination of such frivolous arguments reveals their shallowness and inconsistency. Social progress and democracy cannot move ahead but jointly and on the condition that we move away from the dogmas of neo-liberalism. The book underscores that the current disasters are not the “price” to pay for a transition towards the promised paradise, but on the contrary are bound to deepen as long as neo-liberal economic policies are pursued. With the help of case studies, statistical data and cogent analysis, the book debunks several myths associated with the globalization processes.

“Questioning Globalization is needed. Kavaljit Singh has produced a most convincing book on globalization issues. He writes in a clear non-jargon style accessible to all policy and opinion makers. I highly recommend the book to all activists including those who are already convinced that neo-liberalism must be defeated.” – Samir Amin, Director, Forum Tiers Monde, Senegal.

“Kavaljit Singh has written a brilliant and succinct series of responses to a number of basic questions which have academic and political relevance. This book will serve as a valuable text for all readers interested in the political economy of globalization and imperialism, aid and governance, and the role of the nation-state.” - James Petras, Professor Emeritus, State University of New York, US.

“Indeed, this book, along with Kavaljit’s earlier one, Taming Global Financial Flows, should be essential study material for those who are seeking answers to the processes governing globalisation. They offer an excellent critique of the ruling orthodoxy that justifies, defends and promotes globalisation on a world scale. It is also an antidote to the sense of despondency that the orthodoxy promotes, that globalisation, in its current form, is unstoppable or even irreversible.” - V. Sridhar, Frontline.

“The anti-globalist point of view is often restricted to the outer fringes of the media. It is for this reason that Kavaljit Singh’s book is important, because it tells the other side of the story, and sometimes leads to startling new insights.” - Manas Chakravarty, Business Standard.

“This is a useful addition in the emerging critical literature on globalization and the book’s primary strength is that it is accessible to a lay yet informed person who wants to look for facts and understand arguments about some of the popular myths being branded in the name of globalization.” - Rahul Varman, Economic and Political Weekly.

“Singh’s objective was to write a non-technical popular book which could be easily comprehended by students, activists and concerned citizens and in that he has been successful.” - Business India.

“In easily-understandable language, Kavaljit Singh aims to show why the current form of globalization is neither beneficial nor unavoidable.” - Frontier.

“Although one may find it extremely difficult to agree with Singh and his hypothesis elaborated in his book, Questioning Globalisation, the fact is that the author has managed to express a view point which is not easy to dismiss.” - Financial Express.

“The book inspires a serious debate in the mind on a subject, which today attracts attention across the globe with diverse implications.” - The Hindu.

“Singh has produced an important compilation and distillation of the key debates surrounding globalization for activists, students and the general public. This book would serve as a useful starting point for each of these groups and is ideally suited as an introductory text for university students.” - Development and Change.

Intellectual fashion currently focuses on us as consumers, but the world of production and services still needs us as workers. While globalisation has, in part, been driven over the past two decades by the transnational corporations’ search for cheap labour in new regions of the South, scholarly research and the mass media have paid remarkably little attention to the consequent changes that are happening in the world of work. This book is the first to deal comprehensively and analytically with labour’s response to globalisation. It provides a critical overview of the main challenges facing workers and trade unions worldwide. Its author argues that what may be described as the national period in labour history is decisively over. New the labour movement is itself acting increasingly in a transnational manner. This holds out the hope of its playing a major role in the social regulation of a global economic system which is largely out of control. The author explains how globalisation is foisting flexibilisation and feminisation on working people, but in the process also making them conscious of their transnational links. The ‘old’ internationalism of the trade-union movement is now showing signs of developing into a ‘new’ internationalism where workers develop a sense of common interest and new ways of organising that transcend national boundaries.

“Whatever your views about the prospects for labour in a globalised world, there’s no doubt that for anybody interested in the subject, Munck’s book is an authoritative narrative of the effect of globalization on labour.” - Manas Chakravarty, Business Standard.

“A must for anyone interested in these issues, and fortunately Madhyam Books has made it available at a reasonable price.” - Rohini Hensman, Economic and Political Weekly.

In this book the authors contend that “globalization” is little more than imperialism in a new form. The authors argue that the “inevitability” of globalization and the adjustment or submission of peoples all over the world to free market capitalism depends on the capacity of the dominant and ruling classes to bend people to their will and convince people that their interests are the people’s interests. A key element in theorizing about globalization and in organizing to resist it is an understanding that globalization is propagated not to bring a better and more just world to the masses of the people but, as has always been the case with imperialism, to advance the interests of those who already enjoy power and privilege.

“This impressive study lives up to the promise of its title. With careful conceptual analysis and rich empirical evidence, the authors present a powerful and persuasive argument that the anodyne rhetoric of ‘globalization,’ ‘market,’ ‘democracy,’ and other pleasant and apparently neutral terms, conceals realities that are far better understood within the framework of imperialism and class conflict. Their wide-ranging and penetrating inquiry yields much insight into the core structural features of the evolving forms of domination and control, their severe human costs, and the popular resistance engendered. It is a contribution of unusual value for those who hope not only to understand the world, but also to change it, drastically, for the better.” - Noam Chomsky.

In his latest interview collection, Noam Chomsky offers insights into the institutions that shape the public mind in the service of power and profit. Whether discussing U.S. military escalation in Colombia, the attack on Social Security, or growing inequality worldwide, Chomsky shows how ordinary citizens, if they work together, have the power to make meaningful change.

“If you believe in liberating the mind from orthodoxies, this book is essential reading.” - Business Standard.

“Chomsky brings together a wealth of inside information, not generally released into the public domain... Chomsky is becoming more valid day by day. He will be incorporated in the Indian pantheon.” - Businessworld.

The global financial system, this book argues, is in serious trouble. There is an absence of effective regulation over the almost unimaginable sums involved in currency speculations, new financial products and shifts of “hot money ” to emerging markets. The result, as the Asian crisis of 1997-98 and the ensuing global financial turmoil showed, is a degree of volatility which threatens the orderly running of national economies. The issue of financial globalization and the need to regulate global capital flows have, as a result, moved centre stage.

This book analyses the changes in the global financial system in recent years and calls for radical reforms in a system more susceptible to the whims of market sentiment than the economic policies of governments. The author provides a critical assessment of current proposals to deal with financial crises in future and outlines an integrated approach to the issues emerging from liberalization and the globalization of finance. Looking at past experiences of managing volatile capital flows, the author calls for new policy measures at national, regional and international levels. Written in a readily comprehensible and non-technical manner, it is intended to make the ongoing debates on financial regulation accessible to a non-specialist audience.

“Kavaljit Singh’s excellent book should be read by finance ministers, central bankers, policy makers and all those related to finance matters.” - Madhu Dandavate, Former Finance Minister of India.

“We can always count on Kavaljit Singh for lucid and hard-hitting analysis. This book is no exception.” - Susan George.

“Kavaljit Singh has made a difficult subject intelligible to ordinary citizens, and in a very readable way he has mapped out the progressive alternatives for bringing international finance under democratic control.” - Edward Herman.

“Singh is to be congratulated… an up-to-date critical assessment of financial globalization.” - David Felix.

“This book should be made compulsory reading for finance ministers, central bankers, economic policy makers… learned international experts.” - Arun Ghosh.

“It is not only a beautifully brought out book, but also a most useful, exhaustive and informative one.” - A. B. Bardhan, General Secretary, CPI.

“I recommend the book to all who are eager to learn about global finance, which defies space and time and manifests itself everywhere with tremendous impact on day-to-day life.” - C. T. Kurien, Frontline.

“Kavaljit Singh may not be the new Keynes, but his new book provides a detailed and clear exposition of many elements in the puzzle. There’s useful material here for activists and citizens’ groups to consider, if they want to engage with the realities of power.” - The Ecologist.

“The book contributes to public understanding of the intricacies of global finance and to the possibilities of effective action.” - The Economic Times.

“The book is a comprehensive review of the global financial system, with particular refrence to capital flows and the relevance of controls. It aims at an encyclopedic reach in terms of ideas and comments on almost every aspect of this fascinating subject.” - S. Venkitaramanan, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India, The Hindu Business Line. “The book may lean left, but the analysis remains fairly objective. More important, it actually gives lay readers a perspective on reforms. That’s a feat matched by few.” - Intelligent Investor.

“Kavaljit Singh is no newcomer to the world of global finance. His earlier book, The Globalisation of Finance: A Citizen’s Guide, had an overwhelming response. Singh’s hallmark has been the simplicity of his exposition, which puts across complex ideas in an easy-to-understand manner. But the book goes far beyond mere simplification. It outstanding characteristic is the analysis of how hot money flows cause financial instability, and how the lives of ordinary men and women are affected.” - Manas Chakravarty, Business Standard.

“The book is indeed a citizen’s guide. There are very well-written sections on the various terms and concepts peculiar to the field of global finance. All in all, the author has to be commended for making a dry subject like global finance interesting and immensely readable.” - Indian Review of Books.

“Kavaljit’s latest book is about war…Wars of a different hue.” - The Hindu Business Line.

“The book throws useful light on an important aspect of globalization, namely, greater volatility and fragility in the present global financial system. A strong case has been advanced in favour of stable financial system.” - Southern Economist.

“ Kavaljit Singh’s new book on world finance points at the precariousness of the current flows of global finance and pleads for their regulation in the interest of the world economy. It is a welcome addition to popular writings as are available and would be useful to students, policy-makers and the general public.” - Sunanda Sen, The Book Review.

“An indispensable guide to the turbulent world of finance.” - Third World Resurgence.

“This citizen’s guide to financial globalization makes interesting reading.” - Surinder S. Jodhka, The Sunday Tribune.

“The main lesson of the book is that a certain amount of financial repression is needed if the speculative activities of global finance are not to end in disaster, as in Southeast and East Asia in 1997.” - Helen Hintjens, Community Development Journal.

“An excellent primer on financial globalization for beginners and the adept. Well-known globalization gadfly and critic Kavaljit Singh has compiled a simple-to-read yet in-depth study of the tumultuous global financial system. He includes an analysis on the Asian financial crisis, explanations of offshore financial centers, neoliberalism and presents an argument for the regulation and control of global capital. Finally, as the title suggests, Singh presents an alternative and a guide for ordinary citizens to take back the planet.” - Resource Center of the Americas.

“For anyone looking for an alternative view of the current global financial state, a view that is not often reported on in the mainstream media, this book is recommended.” - Thaistocks.com.“Financial liberalization and globalization are threatening to de-stablise financial systems in emerging economies like India with restrictions on movement of money being phased out, a new book on global financial markets has warned.” - Press Trust of India.

Samir Amin is one of the world's most profound thinkers about the changing nature of capitalism, North-South relations and issues of development. Here he provides us with a powerful understanding of the new and very different era that capitalism has now entered with the collapse of the Soviet model, the triumph of unfettered market forces and accelerating globalization.

His analysis spans the increasingly differentiated regions of the South and the former Eastern bloc countries, as well as Western Europe. He integrates his economic arguments about the nature of the crisis with political arguments based on his vision of human history not as simply determined by material realities, but as the product of social responses to those realities. His innovative analysis of the rise of ethnicity and fundamentalism as consequences of the failure of the ruling classes in the South to alter the unequal terms of globalization is particularly compelling, as is his deconstruction of the Bretton Woods institutions - notably the IMF and the World Bank - as managerial mechanisms protecting the profitability of capital.

Looking to the longer term, Amin rejects a passive acceptance of the inevitability of globalization in its present polarizing form, or the simple-minded equation of development with expansion of the market. Instead, he argues for each society being allowed to negotiate the terms of its interdependence with the rest of the global economy in order that essential national developments can be pursued in a pluralistic world.

“This world-class economist is a serious Nobel Prize contender.” - Economic Development and Cultural Change.

In Profit over People, Noam Chomsky takes on neoliberalism: the pro-corporate system of economic and political policies presently waging a form of class war worldwide. Chomsky critiques the tyranny of the few that restricts the public arena and enacts policies that vastly increase private wealth, often with complete disregard for social and ecological consequences.

Profit over People presents Chomsky's thoughts on free market philosophy, corporate control of public opinion, and the unreported impact of non-democratic forces and policies like the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment - and the widespread resistance movements that often emerge to oppose them. Chomsky offers a profound sense of hope that social activism can reclaim people's rights as citizens rather than as consumers, redefining democracy as a global movement, not a global market.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lately been engrossed reading Noam Chomsky. Parliament Library records show that the PM recently read Chomsky’s Profit over People, a critique of the new economic world order “where transnational companies rule the roost.”- Indian Express.

“Profit over People is Noam Chomsky at his best. His critique of our political and economic system is brilliant and devastating. This is powerful rush of facts and ideas. Don’t stand too close.” - Howard Zinn.

“Tomatoes and telecommunications may be apples and oranges, but Chomsky, rebel, iconoclast and critique of free market economics, tells you how the free marketeers are using both to benefit the few owners of wealth in America.” - The Economic Times.

The end of the Cold War has left behind a skewed world. In particular it has created an anomalous situation for Third World politics, ideology and its platforms. Once a reigning ideology in much of the developing world, Third Worldism is, today, in disarray. Whether in the areas of political economy, security or ideology, the space on the global agenda for the Third World has considerably shrunk. Since the emergence of a unipolar world it is no more fashionable to speak of Third World identity or Third World solidarity; these have gone out of the popular lexicon. Is the Third World still there? Is it a concept whose time has passed? Does the Third World have a future? What is the Third World’s agenda for the 21st century? This book endeavours to answer these questions.

The main focus of the book is Latin America, a region which occupies a unique place in Third World. Latin America’s somewhat ambiguous and less committal role in Third World affairs, the book suggests, is largely the result of its distinct tradition in colonisation, settlement and independence, social and political dynamics and, above all, the factors that shaped its ties with the US. Globalisation has so far provided only a fake optimism to the poor. The competition unleashed by global markets has resulted only in a race to the bottom. The post- Cold War order may be a liberal order but it is unforgiving to those who do not, or cannot play by its rules. The author argues that it would be premature to write the requiem of the Third World.

Globalisation of finance has surpassed the globalisation of production and has gained a life of its own. This guide provides a key to understanding the intricacies of this process. The main argument running through the guide is that global financial flows are no longer associated with the flows of real resources and long-term productive investments. Attracted by short-term speculative gains, these flows are highly liquid, and can leave the country as quickly as they come. With the rapid decline in the degree of control and manoeuvrability, national governments find it difficult to pursue independent economic policies which are inconsistent with the interests of global finance capital. The adverse impact of these global financial flows on the national economies is taken up for analysis, concentrating on the currency crisis that erupted in Mexico, and the ongoing currency turmoil in various Southeast and East Asian countries. In this background the dangers of India's recent moves towards opening its doors to global finance capital are emphasised. The book argues for putting into place effective regulatory mechanisms and pleads for mass citizen action to implement these and exercise social control over global finance capital. The guide also includes Thailand's Letter of Intent to IMF and Korea's Stand-by Agreement with the IMF.

“This is a near-perfect guide for people who have heard and know a little, but have never quite figured out the entire gamut of finance, especially its global reach.” - HIMAL.

“This book is exactly what was needed... A real citizen’s guide.” - Samir Amin.

“An essential corrective.” - Indian Express.

“Don’t be passively globalised: this book explains where you fit in the globalisers’ plans and points towards new forms of resistance.” - Susan George.

“Kavaljit’s book is a very useful critical introduction to the workings, threats, and possibilities of control of the global financial system. Highly recommended.” - Edward S. Herman.

“The book justifies the author’ claim that it can be a tool to understand the complex issues and his hope that it will help in wider citizen participation in popular campaigns to reform and regulate the global finance capital.” - Mainstream.

“At a time when India’s economy is in the throes of recession, Kavaljit Singh’s book is bound to be of interest.” - Indian Review of Books.

“Kavaljit Singh has rendered a useful public service by his attempt to simplify the mystique surrounding ‘globalization’ of financial services and of capital movements. It would be useful for all social workers not familiar with economic jargon to read this book carefully.” - Arun Ghosh.

“The book indeed falls in the ‘must red’ category for a whole range of people.” - Frontier.

“Singh achieves his objective: producing a useful layman’s guide to the complex world of global finance.” - Intelligent Investor.

“Instead of seeking to find long-winded explanations to fairly straightforward issues, it gives simple answers to complex issues. That is its chief merit.” - The Book Review.

“It must be read by every one who has something to do with the government policy of liberalisaton and globalisation of financial sector policies and activities.” - The Hindu.

“This accessible survey of a widely debated topic is recommended for general readers; students, lower division undergraduate and up; and research/professional audiences.” - Choice.

“I’ve long been looking for a genuinely accessible explanation of how the global financial system works. Singh’s book makes a good attempt, and is certainly one of the best guides available.” - Gerg Muttitt, Corpwatch.org.

The Global Media describes in detail the recent rapid growth and crossborder activities and linkages of an industry largely composed of international conglomerates. It assesses the significance of the ongoing deregulation and convergence of global media and telecommunications systems and the rise of the Internet. The authors argue that the most important features of this globalization process are the implantation, consolidation and concentration of advertisement-based commercial media and the parallel weakening of public broadcasting systems worldwide, with negative consequences for the ‘public sphere.’ It is contended that the United States provides the evolutionary model toward which the global media system is moving, and the history and characteristics of the U.S. system are described, along with developments in seven other countries around the world. Finally, the authors evaluate the defenses of the ongoing globalization process and discuss the forms of local, national and global resistance that have emerged. This book provides the most up-to-date, concise survey of the global media industry available and will become essential reading for all those interested in media studies.

“Here is a book that all those concerned with the media must read.” - Kiran Karnik.

“This is a book which every viewer of TV programmes and reader of newspapers should read, to see how easily they are manipulated into an unreal world by all too real global media vultures.” - Deccan Herald.

In this wide-ranging intelligent tour de force, Noam Chomsky brings together his thoughts on topics ranging from language and human nature, to the Middle East settlement and the role of East Timor in the New World Order. This is the first collection of his essays in recent years to address questions of philosophy, ethics and foreign policy, and he includes his first published remarks on political goals and visions.

This book will be of great interest to both the general reader who is new to Chomsky's work, and the long-time Chomsky fan who will discover new writing on current topics. It includes essays that describe the role of the "cognitive revolution" in linguistics and explore the way scientific questions are asked, answered, and influenced by dominant ways of thinking. Whether he is looking at the relationship of democracy and markets in the New World Order, human rights violations in East Timor, or the intellectual responsibilities of writers, Chomsky draws links between foreign policy decisions, the state of intellectual culture, the role of the media, and the potential for free and democratic societies to understand and counter the heinous acts being committed in their name.

“A remarkable presentation of analytical scholarship, it is true to add to the swelling ranks of Chomsky worship.” - Outlook.

“For the general reader, there is a lot that this 240-page book offers in an easy-to-read, trenchant, at times laconic, style.” - Biblio.

“Activists in the country undertaking or seeking to launch a campaign against major transnational corporations (TNCs) but lacking direction, now have a ready reckoner on how to take them on.” - The Pioneer.

“The book will make a very useful guide for any researcher, activist or group venturing to undertake a systematic exposition on TNCs and for those already in the struggle wishing to consolidate their efforts. The book deserves commendation not only for the exhaustive lists but also for the systematic plan of investigation that is offers through its contents.” - Swapna Banerjee-Guha, Economic and Political Weekly.

“This publication is timely because the government is under the dangerous delusion that privatization, liberalization and foreign investment alone can solve the country’s problems.” - Frontier.

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