conomic globalization is both a historical inevitability and a boon to the human species." It is not just advertising that is symptomatic of the inherently manipulative, exploitative nature of globalization, however; Korten also turns his razor-sharp criticism against privatization, free trade, consumerism, and market deregulation. All of these factors, he feels, play in to the increasing consolidation of corporate power all over the world. The globalizing worldview is one that considers money to be the sole focus of economic life and global development. To combat this worldview, Korten advocates that corporations be explicitly forbidden to participate in the political process. He also advocates a return to local, rather than national or international, economies.
             Linda Weiss concedes with Korten that what is at stake in globalization is the disintegration of smaller economic models in favor of a larger, consolidated form of power that is ruled by corporations, rather than individual countries. Her study The Myth of a Powerful State: Governing the Economy in a Global Era, she attempts to express why the recent idea of the powerless state and the dissolution of national diversity is inherently misleading. Weiss observes that in the last decade or so, a number of changes have taken place in nation-states that have cemented the increasing prominence of globalizing strategies. For one thing, there has been a move towards fiscal conservatism in many nations when it comes to social policy. Such a move can come either from the Right or Left – it is effectively immune from traditional political concerns. Alongside such a growing form of conservatism, major reforms with regards to systems of taxation have taken place, while social programs have been cut, effectively making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Governments have moved towards a poise of being more open than ever before when it comes to such economic matters...