Power in the Global Age

This brilliant new book by one of Europe's leading social thinkers
throws light on the global power games being played out between
global business, nation states and movements rooted in civil
society. Beck offers an illuminating account of the changing nature
of power in the global age and assesses the influence of the
ever-expanding counter-powers.

The author puts forward the provocative thesis that in an age of
global crises and risks, a politics of "golden handcuffs" - the
creation of a dense network of transnational interdependencies - is
exactly what is needed in order to regain national autonomy, not
least in relation to a highly mobile world economy. It is
imperative that the maxim of nation-based realpolitik - that
national interests have necessarily to be pursued by national means

• be replaced by the maxim of cosmopolitan realpolitik. The more
  cosmopolitan our political structures and activities, Beck
  suggests, the more successful they will be in promoting national
  interests, and the greater our individual power in this global age
  will be.

Auteur

U.Beck, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich

Translated by Kathleen Cross

Résumé
This brilliant new book by one of Europe's leading social thinkers throws light on the global power games being played out between global business, nation states and movements rooted in civil society. Beck offers an illuminating account of the changing nature of power in the global age and assesses the influence of the ever-expanding counter-powers.

The author puts forward the provocative thesis that in an age of global crises and risks, a politics of "golden handcuffs" - the creation of a dense network of transnational interdependencies - is exactly what is needed in order to regain national autonomy, not least in relation to a highly mobile world economy. It is imperative that the maxim of nation-based realpolitik - that national interests have necessarily to be pursued by national means - be replaced by the maxim of cosmopolitan realpolitik. The more cosmopolitan our political structures and activities, Beck suggests, the more successful they will be in promoting national interests, and the greater our individual power in this global age will be.

Contenu

Reflections on the rise of right-wing populism in Europe

Foreword

Chapter I Introduction: New Critical Theory with cosmopolitan intent

Chapter II Critique of the national outlook

Chapter III Global domestic politics changes the rules: On the breaching of boundaries in economics, politics and society

Chapter IV Power and counter-power in the global age: The strategies of capital

Chapter V State strategies between renationalization and transnationalization

Chapter VI Strategies of civil society movements

Chapter VII Who wins? On the transformation of concepts and forms of the state and politics in the second modernity

Chapter VIII Brief funeral oration at the cradle of the cosmopolitan era

References