Karl Polanyi, Globalisation and the Potential of Law in Transnational Markets

Description

The patterns and impact of globalisation have become a common concern of all international jurists, sociologists, political scientists and philosophers. Many have observed the erosion of the powers of nation states and the emergence of new transnational governance regimes, and have sought to understand their internal dynamics, re-regulatory potential and normative quality. Karl Polanyi's seminal 'Great Transformation' is attracting new attention to such endeavours, mirroring a growing sensitivity to the social and economic risks of dis-embedding politics. Their re-construction by Polanyi, including his warning against a commodification of labour, land and money, provide the trans-disciplinary reference point for the contributions to this book. Political economy, political theory, sociology and political science inform this discussion of Polanyis insights in the age of globalisation. Further theoretical essays and case studies look at his 'false commodities': money, labour (and services), land (and the environment). Jurists have hardly ever discussed Polanyi, and the law has not been taken very seriously among Polanyians. It is nevertheless clear that economic stability and social protection are simply inconceivable without the visible hand of law. The legal discussion in the concluding chapters does not, and cannot, depart directly from such premises. The framework of their analyses is, instead, informed by current debates on the emergence of para-legal regimes, the fragmentation of international law and the prospects of constitutional perspectives within which the rule of law and the notion of law-mediated legitimate governance are established. Polanyis notion of the co-originality of dis-embedding moves and re-imbedding countermoves can, however, be usefully employed in the re-construction of the sociological background of the moves and tensions which jurists discern.

Since 2007 Christian Joerges has been Research Professor at the University of Bremen, Law Department. Until 2007 he held the Chair for European Economic Law at the European University Institute in Florence. Josef Falke is Professor of European Law, Labour Law and the Sociology of Law at the University of Bremen where he is also one of the Directors of the Centre of European Law and Policy. Together with Christian Joerges, he directs the Project on Trade Liberalisation and Social Regulation in the Cooperative Research Centre 'Transformations of the State'.

This edited volume is an exciting, challenging read. It would suit advanced scholars in a range of different disciplines as well as serve as an excellent text for an advanced group of post-graduate students studying sociology, law, economics and globalisation. Written by a range of scholars, including many leaders in a number of areas such as economic sociology, transnational private regulation, transnational corporate governance, constitutional and international law, the book is a veritable goldmine of ideas and thinking across a multidisciplinary landscape that is as innovative as it is interesting. The wealth of knowledge these scholars contribute has been drawn together and masterfully edited by the team of Christian Joerges and Josef Falke and put into a very readable, consistent, and intellectually challenging work. The chapters, each individually authored, have been very carefully worked through for clarity of expression and consistency of thought and language, and all range between 20-25 pages allowing for a thorough exposition of the particular topic at hand ...the only challenges in this book come from what the challenge of a good work is: the challenge of engaging in new thinking and with innovative ideas. There is little to critique in such a dense, interesting, and well-thought out work. As noted, the leisure to work through it with a group of advanced students would be a pleasure. Its chapters are exceptionally well thought out, structured and written, and would readily serve as model papers for students. -- Dr Benedict Sheehy * Law and Politics Book Review, Volume 23, Number 7 * The papers in the volume have a broad scientific and interdisciplinary scope which makes their reading both fascinating and complex...a highly sophisticated and important collection of essays to challenging problems in legal and political science under the impact of globalisation. The wide scope of the contributions from a theoretical and problem-oriented perspective makes reading and understanding not easy, but certainly worthwhile and challenging. -- Norbert Reich * Common Market Law Review, Volume 49, 4 *