A modest proposal: global theory for tough – and not so tough – times

ABSTRACT

This article addresses key issues for the scholarship of globalization as these are broached in Steger and James’ recent volume Globalization Matters. First, need we be wary of the lure of seeking an integrated theory of globalization, with all that this implies? ‘Integrated’ is a seductive but vague and loaded term in the lexicon of global (or any) theory, and has to be weighed. Second, must caution over integrated theory extend to being leery about the prospects for generating systematic knowledge of the global? Third, how engaged is ‘engaged’, in what for many academics is first and foremost a strategic or normative, rather than an empirical-analytic enterprise? Finally, can one take the full measure of these times – any times – by focusing solely, or even mainly on dislocation? The article concludes with a modest proposal aimed at promoting an inclusive approach to globalization.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrated theory
• engaged theory
• global complexity
• world-making practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See, for example, Appelbaum and Robinson (2005); Juergensmeyer et al. (2019); Steger and James (2013) and Nederveen Pieterse (2013).

2 See, for example, Flew (2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barrie Axford

Barrie Axford is Professor Emeritus at Oxford Brookes University UK, where he is a member of the Centre for Global Politics Economy and Society (GPES). His latest book is Populism versus the new globalization (Sage, 2021).