Globalizations from Below The Normative Power of the World Social Forum, Ant Traders, Chinese Migrants

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Globalizations from Below uses a Constructivist International Relations approach that emphasizes the centrality of normative power to analyze and compare the four globalizations ‘from below.’ These are: (1) the counter-hegemonic globalization represented by the ‘movement of movements’ of alter-globalization transnational social activists, who try to put an end to the Neoliberal nature of the Western-centered globalization ‘from above’; (2) the non-hegemonic globalization enacted by ‘ant traders’ that are part of the transnational informal economy; (3) the partially similar Chinese-centered globalization, whose entrepreneurial migrants are strongly influenced and instrumentalized by the Chinese state; and (4) the first wave globalization ‘from below’ that paralleled (and outlived) the 1870–1914 globalization ‘from above.’ This book identifies their common features and uses them to define the concept of globalization ‘from below’ as a set of socio-economic or socio-political processes that involve large transnational flows of people, goods, and/or ideas characterized at least in part by informality. They are enacted by entrepreneurial or activistic individuals who either take advantage of the normative power of the hegemon at the origin of an international order and an associated globalization ‘from above,’ or – explicitly or implicitly – transgress, contest, and try to redefine dominant economic, legal, political, and socio-cultural norms, thus challenging the existing international order and globalization ‘from above.’ By constructing a unified theoretical framework, this book attempts to open a new field of interdisciplinary research that should take globalizations ‘from below’ out of their current scholarly marginality. This is one of the first scholarly works to collectively present more than one globalization ‘from below,’ and will be of great interest to students, scholars, and researchers of International Relations, International Political Economy, Development Studies, Economic History, Anthropology, Diaspora Studies, and Chinese Studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface 1 Introduction 2 Globalizations and Normative Power: Theoretical Aspects 2.1 The Western-Centered Globalization ‘from Above’ and the American-Led International Order 2.2 Normative Power The United States as a Normative Power Normative Power and Globalizations ‘from Above’ and ‘from Below’ 2.3 The Emerging Chinese-Led International Order and the Chinese-Centered Globalization ‘from Above’ China as a Normative Power China’s Norms The Belt and Road Initiative Socialization of Elites and the Chinese- Centered Globalization ‘from Above’ 2.4 The First Wave Globalization ‘from Above’ Hegemony, Liberalism, and Paradoxes 2.5 The Globalizations’ Triangle 2.6 Transnationalism 3 The Counter-Hegemonic Globalization ‘from Below’ 3.1 A ‘Movement of Movements’ The Global Justice Movement The Programmatic Dimension 3.2 Political Resistance: The ‘Battle of Seattle’ and the World Social Forum The World Social Forum Yellow Vests at a Tea Party 3.3 Legal Resistance: Challenging Intellectual Property Rights 4 The Non-Hegemonic Globalization ‘from Below’ 4.1 Informal Economy and ‘Ant Trade’ The Rise of the ‘Ant Traders’ 4.2 Defining the Non-Hegemonic Globalization ‘from Below’ Structure, Agency, and International Relations Theories Informality, Power, and Resistance Interacting Globalizations and Ambiguity 4.3 Practical Resistance: Challenging Intellectual Property Rights Counterfeit, Resistance, and Fake Modernity 4.4 Social Networks and Diasporas 4.5 Production Centers, Flows, and Nodes 4.6 Guangzhou’s ‘Chocolate City’ Sino-African Tensions Understanding the African Presence 4.7 La Salada’s Baroque Economies The ‘Informal State’ Plebeian Democracy, Proletarian Microeconomies, and Neoliberalism ‘from Below’ 4.8 Normative Clashes, Ambiguities, and Agency 5 The Chinese-Centered Globalization ‘from Below’ 5.1 From ‘Ant Traders’ to Entrepreneurial Migrants A Highly Mobile Middleman Minority 5.2 The Influence of the Chinese State ‘Upgrading’ – and Instrumentalizing – the Migrant The Overseas Chinese State ‘Working’ the Overseas Chinese Incentives Co-Opting the ‘Old’ Migrants 5.3 The Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants in Ghana The Chinese ‘Ant Traders’ in Ghana Vulnerability Beijing’s Influence Galamsey and Social Conditionality 5.4 Defining a Complex Globalization Interacting Globalizations and Normative Power 6 The First Wave Globalization ‘from Below’ 6.1 Cosmopolitanism and Extraterritoriality in Semi-Colonial Port Cities Semi-Colonialism Extraterritoriality Cosmopolitanism Levantine Cosmopolitanism Treaty Port Cosmopolitanism in China 6.2 The First Wave Globalization ‘from Below’ in Alexandria Khedives and Great Powers Alexandria and Its Foreigners A City Run by Non-Egyptians Alexandria’s Ethnic Minorities and the Globalization ‘from Below’ 6.3 The First Wave Globalization ‘from Below’ in Shanghai Concessions-based Semi-Colonialism A City Run by the Non-Chinese Shanghai’s National Minorities and the Globalization ‘ from Below’ 6.4 Of Globalizations and Modernities 7 A Constructivist Theory of Globalizations ‘from Below’ 7.1 Theoretical Considerations Normative Power, Agency, and Constructivism 7.2 Globalizations ‘from Below’ – Characteristics and Definition Enemies and In-Group Clashes Features Definition 7.3 The Future of the Globalizations ‘from Below’ Index