Globalization in The Books Store

The global knowledge economy is transofrming the demands of the labor market in economies worldwide. It is placing new demands on citizens, who need more skills and knowledge to function in their day-to-day lives than can be acquired in formal education systems alone.

Lifelong learning--from early childhood to retirement--is education for the knowledge economy, and it is as crucial in transition and developing economies as it is in the developed world.

William Marling's provocative work analyzes -- in specific terms -- the impacts of American technology and culture on foreign societies. Marling answers his own question -- how "American" is globalization? -- with two seemingly contradictory answers: "less than you think" and "more than you know." Deconstructing the myth of global Americanization, he argues that despite the typically American belief that the United States dominates foreign countries, the practical effects of "Americanization" amount to less than one might suppose.

Critics point to the uneven popularity of McDonalds as a prime example of globalization and supposed American hegemony in the world. But Marling shows, in a series of case studies, that local cultures are intrinsically resilient and that local languages, eating habits, land use, education systems, and other social patterns determine the extent to which American culture is imported and adapted to native needs. He argues that globalization can actually accentuate local cultures, which often put their own imprint on what they import -- from translating films and television into hundreds of languages to changing the menu at a McDonalds to include the Japanese favorite Chicken Tastuta.

Marling also examines the unexpected ways in which American technology travels abroad: the technological transferability of the ATM, the practice of franchising, and "shop-floor" American innovations like shipping containers, bar codes, and computers. These technologies convey American attitudes about work, leisure, convenience, credit, and travel, but as Marling shows, they take root overseas in ways that are anything but "American."

The contributors argue that while regulatory governance is regarded as highly significant in the literature on economic and social regulation in developed economies, in relation to regulatory reforms in developing countries, it is a neglected and under researched field. This book aims to redress the balance. Regulatory Governance in Developing Countries proposes that existing policy models of regulatory reform are inappropriate, ineffectual, and too narrowly conceived; they need to be evaluated and reshaped within the broader context of poverty reduction and developmental programmes. Drawn from diverse backgrounds, including law, political science, economics, and development policy and management, the contributors are well placed to judge issues of policy transfer between developed and developing systems of governance.