Consensus by Diktat: Washington, London, and the "Modernization" of Modernization

In: Capitalism, nature, socialism: CNS ; a journal of socialist ecology, Band 12, Heft 3, S. 44-70

Abstract

It is contended that the traditional perception of modernization as a national process has been replaced by the understanding of it as a global movement. An overview of modernization processes in Third World & postcolonial nations during the mid-20th century is provided; it is subsequently asserted that present-day modernization processes are principally connected to already-industrialized nations. It is maintained that international financial organizations are currently capable of controlling modernization processes in developing nations since these states lack certain economic & political institutions. The International Monetary Fund's loan to the UK in 1976 is interpreted as the point at which US foreign policy, combined with support from international financial organizations, established its dominance over contemporary modernization processes. Differences between the Bill Clinton administration's & the current George W. Bush administration's foreign policy are discussed to illustrate how military & industrial concerns have replaced an overriding attention to economic growth. It is concluded that global modernization processes have actually been replaced by regionalism; the implications of this transition from globalism to regionalism are considered. J. W. Parker