ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION - THINKING ABOUT 150 YEARS OF INEVITABILITY

Being a worldwide process of interlinkage and upheaval in economy, pol itics, culture, and the social lifeworld, globalization is a structura l constraint of action. As a myth it is used to legitimize neoliberal strategies. One of the central dilemmas of globalization is the fact t hat in the face of the extreme problems it causes, socially and ecolog ically blind mechanisms of the world market gain importance as means o f regulation vis-a-vis politics. It is an irony that formally Marx's d eterministic ideas in the Communist Manifesto and the neoclassical int erpretation of globalization as an inevitable pressure for action have very much in common. A critical reconstruction of Marx's ideas of soc ietal constraints however contradicts the assumption of that kind of i nevitability. Globalization becomes a catalyst for the dispute over th e possibilities and character of politics in the face of 21st century: Is there any possible and urgent embedding of profit into social and ecological criteria of decision?