City of Gold: An Apology for Global Capitalism in a Time of Discontent

In City of Gold, David A. Westbrook argues that economic globalization has produced a "City of Gold": a global, cosmopolitan polity constituted by markets, and where capital markets -- not states -- have become the dominant mode of governance. But there are troubling consequences from using markets as the primary political mechanism. Traditional politics have been undermined and an inadequate economic logic rules. Despite the problems inherent in this new political economy, however, Westbrook sees the City as an acceptable response to the crisis of the nation state, and moreover, as a way of life with its own rewards and possibilities. From this basis, Westbrook advocates a political imagination that moves beyond the logic of capitalism yet which acknowledges the continuing centrality of markets -- with all of their profound limitations -- to our lives. Book jacket.

David A. Westbrook is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Buffalo, SUNY, and is a former corporate lawyer.