Globalization After the Great Contraction: The Emergence of Zones of Exclusion

Abstract

Prior to the onset of the Great Contraction in 2008, globalization was understood as a process of global economic integration and the expansion of global capitalism. In response to the neoliberal mantra that there was no alternative to free-market orthodoxy, many social movements maintained that another world was possible. These debates have lost their relevance as the Great Contraction has exposed the weaknesses of global capitalism – no longer can it be understood as a hegemonic totality encircling the globe. Rather than unlimited expansion and intensification, global capitalism is retreating and places and people that lack a productive function are rendered redundant and excluded from global commodity chains. Globalization must now be thought of as the expansion of non-capitalist ‘zones of exclusion’ and its coexistence with intensely capitalist ‘zones of exception.’ I examine the political economy that has emerged in one such place, Flint, Michigan. I draw on recent scholarship on de-growth, and suggest that rather than reconnecting with the global economy at all costs, policy makers in Flint should work to make viable and institutionalize its emergent non-capitalist relations of production.