Market globalism

This chapter explores the ideological dimension of globalization with particular attention to its important discursive features. After a general overview of the role and function of political ideologies within an overarching 'global imaginary', I suggest that the dominant ideology of our time" market globalism" consists of a set of five core claims that play crucial semantic and political roles. With regard to semantics, I argue that these claims absorb and rearrange bits and pieces of several established ideologies and integrate them with new concepts into a new global political belief system whose role consists chiefly of preserving and enhancing asymmetrical power structures that benefit particular social groups wedded to the tenets of neo-liberalism (Steger, 2010). I end the chapter with a short discussion of how, during the years of President George W. Bush's administration (2001-9) market globalism was 'toughened up' into what I call 'imperial globalism' only to return its original economistic articulation in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (2008-9) and the ongoing European Debt Crisis.