Book excerpt: The greatest political debate of our time is about the blind rush towards a single global economy, its consequences for jobs, democracy, human well-being and cultural diversity, and its impact on the natural world that sustains us. Its effects will be profound and irreversible, but globalization itself is not inevitable. In The Case Against the Global Economy, 24 leading economic, agricultural, cultural and environmental authorities, drawn from across the world, argue that free trade and economic globalization are producing exactly the opposite results to those promised. From a detailed analysis of the new global economy, its structures and its full social and ecological implications, they show how it is undermining our liberty, our security and our well-being, and is devastating the planet.