The Reach of Globalization

History professor Mark LeVine examines the complex relationships between immigration, globalization, and natural resource extraction. He sees a system that stratifies wealth. LeVine takes as his first example the Vietnamese fisherman now struggling on the Gulf Coast. Neo-liberal globalization promised them better living standards, but where has it left them now? Levine says: “Indeed, the structural adjustment policies at the heart of neoliberal globalisation have, in most places, resulted in decreased agricultural production and productivity, further concentrations of land ownership, lower incomes, wages and living standards, and environmental degradation.”