Drawing together the debates on the global scope of capitalism this book provides a comprehensive account of global capitalism today. Hugo Radice looks at why globalization has taken place and why it is so widely perceived as a threat. He presents a balanced analysis that takes an open approach inclusive of non-economic issues such as social divisions based on gender and race, and the relation of humankind to nature.

This book contends that the political economy of global capitalism generates, and has entrenched, huge inequalities between countries and regions and that the central source of conflict is the social order that maintains these extreme inequalities of wealth and power. It aims to renew theories of imperialism and underdevelopment that sought to explain the injustices of global capitalism while taking into account the significant recent changes in the world economy and political governance.