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Despite the near-religious conviction with
which it was originally conceived, a growing vagueness now
surrounds its original promise that nation-states were heading
toward irrelevance, to be replaced by the power of global
markets; that economics, not politics or arms, would determine
the course of human events; that growth in international
trade would foster prosperous markets that would, in turn,
abolish poverty and change dictatorships into democracies.
Yet, contends Saul, little has transpired
as predicted. The collapse of Globalism has left us struggling
with a paradox -- a chaotic vacuum. Instead of surrendering
or sharing sovereignty, governments and citizens are reasserting
their national interests. The United States appears determined
to ignore its international critics. Europe is faced with
problems of immigration, racism, terrorism and renewed internal
nationalism. Many of these issues call for uniquely European
solutions born out of local experiences and needs. Elsewhere,
the world looks for answers to African debt, the AIDS epidemic,
the return of fundamentalism and terrorism, all of which
perversely refuse to disappear despite the theoretical rise
in global prosperity.
In addition to the negative aspects of Globalism,
Saul also objectively analyzes its successes, such as the
astonishing growth in world trade and the unexpected rise
of India and China, which seem slated to become twenty-first-century
superpowers.
Insightful and prophetic, The Collapse
of Globalism is destined to take its place as one of
the seminal books of our time.
John Ralston Saul's philosophical trilogy
-- Voltaire's Bastards, The Doubter's Companion
and The Unconscious Civilization -- has had a growing
impact on political thought in many countries. The conclusion
to this trilogy, On Equilibrium -- an exploration
of the six qualities of the new humanism -- is a persuasive
and groundbreaking exploration of the human struggle for
personal and social balance.
Mr. Saul has written five novels, including
The Birds of Prey
and The Field Trilogy.
These works deal with the crisis of modern power and its
clash with the individual. Like his non-fiction, his novels
have been translated into many languages.
He has received many national and international
awards for his work. The Unconscious
Civilization won the 1996 Governor
General's Literary Award for Nonfiction as well as the Gordon
Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues.
His reinterpretation of the nature of Canada, Reflections
of a Siamese Twin, also won a Montador
Award and was chosen by Maclean's
magazine as one of the ten best nonfiction books of the
twentieth century. His novel The
Paradise Eater won the Premio Lettarario
Internazionale in Italy. Most recently he received the Pablo
Neruda Medal in celebration of the hundredth anniversary
of Neruda's birth.
Mr. Saul was born in Ottawa and studied
at McGill University and the University of London, where
he obtained his Ph.D. in 1972.
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