One interesting
—
some would say surprising
—
aspect of
the ongoing discussions and debates about globalization is
the renewed interest being shown in the ideas of Karl
Marx, which only rec
ently seemed to have been consigned
to the dustbin of history. In the journalistic and academic
worlds alike, a number of reappraisals of Marx's work are
appearing that identify the 19th
-
century thinker as "the
prophet of globalization" because of his focu
s on capital's
inherent drive for self
-
expansion and technological innovation on the one hand and its tendency to
exacerbate social inequality and instability on the other. Even some of globalization's most fervent
supporters note the importance of Marx's
work for anticipating the imbalances and disturbances
associated with the unfettered expansion of global capital. As John Micklethwait and Adrian
Wooldridge, writers for the passionately pro
-
capitalist magazine The Economist, put it in their new
book A Fut
ure Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization, "As a prophet of
socialism, Marx may be kaput; but as a prophet of 'the universal interdependence of nations,' as he
called globalization, he can still seem startlingly relevant...his descript
ion of globalization remains as
sharp today as it was 150 years ago.