Globalizations from Below The Normative Power of the World Social Forum, Ant Traders, Chinese Migrants

379 Pages·2022·4.576 MB·English

by  Theodor Tudoroiu

Globalizations from Below
Globalizations from Below uses a Constructivist International Relations ap-
proach that emphasizes the centrality of normative power to analyze and
compare the four globalizations ‘ from below.’
These are: (1 ) the c ounter-h egemonic globalization represented by the
‘m ovement of movements’ of alter- globalization transnational social activ-
ists, who try to put an end to the Neoliberal nature of the Western- centered
globalization ‘f rom above’; (2 ) the non-h egemonic globalization enacted by
‘a nt traders’ that are part of the transnational informal economy; (3 ) the
partially similar C hinese-c entered globalization, whose entrepreneurial mi-
grants are strongly infuenced and instrumentalized by the Chinese state;
and (4 ) the frst wave globalization ‘f rom below’ that paralleled (a nd out-
lived) the 1 870–1 914 globalization ‘f rom above.’ This book identifes their
common features and uses them to defne the concept of globalization ‘f rom
below’ as a set of s ocio-e conomic or s ocio-p olitical processes that involve
large transnational fows of people, goods, and/o r ideas characterized at
least in part by informality. They are enacted by entrepreneurial or activ-
istic individuals who either take advantage of the normative power of the
hegemon at the origin of an international order and an associated globali-
zation ‘f rom above,’ o r – e xplicitly or i mplicitly – t ransgress, contest, and try
to redefne dominant economic, legal, political, and socio-c ultural norms,
thus challenging the existing international order and globalization ‘f rom
above.’ By constructing a unifed theoretical framework, this book attempts
to open a new feld of interdisciplinary research that should take globaliza-
tions ‘f rom below’ out of their current scholarly marginality.
This is one of the frst scholarly works to collectively present more than
one globalization ‘f rom below,’ and will be of great interest to students,
scholars, and researchers of International Relations, International Political
Economy, Development Studies, Economic History, Anthropology, Dias-
pora Studies, and Chinese Studies.
Theodor Tudoroiu is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Sci-
ence of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad
and Tobago.
Rethinking Globalizations
Edited by Barry K. Gills, University of Helsinki, Finland and Kevin Gray,
University of Sussex, UK.
This series is designed to break new ground in the literature on globaliza-
tion and its academic and popular understanding. Rather than perpetuat-
ing or simply reacting to the economic understanding of globalization, this
series seeks to capture the term and broaden its meaning to encompass a
wide range of issues and disciplines and convey a sense of alternative possi-
bilities for the future.
R e-G lobalization
New Frontiers of Political, Economic and Social Globalization
Edited by Roland Benedikter, Mirjam Gruber and Ingrid Kofer
Labour Conficts in the Global South
Edited by Andreas Bieler and Jörg Nowak
Time, Climate Change, Global Racial Capitalism and Decolonial Planetary
Ecologies
Edited by Anna M. Agathangelou and Kyle D. Killian
Globalizations from Below
The Normative Power of the World Social Forum, Ant Traders, Chinese
Migrants, and Levantine Cosmopolitanism
Theodor Tudoroiu
Economics and Climate Emergency
Edited by Barry K. Gills and Jamie Morgan
Global Political Leadership
In Search of Synergy
Małgorzata Z achara-S zymańska
For more information about this series, please visit: https:// www.routledge.
com/R ethinking-G lobalizations/b ook-s eries/R G
Globalizations from Below
The Normative Power of the World Social
Forum, Ant Traders, Chinese Migrants,
and Levantine Cosmopolitanism
Theodor Tudoroiu
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Theodor Tudoroiu
The right of Theodor Tudoroiu to be identifed as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library C ataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 32371- 8 ( hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 32375- 6 ( pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 31471- 4 ( ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9 781003314714
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Aux Alexandrins des quatre coins du monde

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Globalizations and Normative Power: Theoretical Aspects 11
2.1 The Western- Centered Globalization ‘ from Above’ and the
American- Led International Order 12
2.2 Normative Power 16
The United States as a Normative Power 18
Normative Power and Globalizations ‘ from Above’ and
‘f rom Below’ 20
2.3 T he Emerging C hinese-L ed International Order and the
C hinese-C entered Globalization ‘ from Above’ 23
China as a Normative Power 26
China’s Norms 29
The Belt and Road Initiative 30
Socialization of Elites and the C hinese-C entered
Globalization ‘ from Above’ 33
2.4 T he First Wave Globalization ‘ f rom Above’ 39
Hegemony, Liberalism, and Paradoxes 46
2.5 The Globalizations’ Triangle 51
2.6 Transnationalism 53
3 The C ounter-H egemonic Globalization ‘f rom Below’ 71
3.1 A ‘M ovement of Movements’ 71
The Global Justice Movement 76
The Programmatic Dimension 82
3.2 P olitical Resistance: The ‘B attle of Seattle’ and the World
Social Forum 89
viii Contents
The World Social Forum 91
Yellow Vests at a Tea Party 94
3.3 Legal Resistance: Challenging Intellectual Property Rights 98
4 The N on-H egemonic Globalization ‘ from Below’ 106
4.1 Informal Economy and ‘A nt Trade’ 107
The Rise of the ‘A nt Traders’ 109
4.2 Defning the N on-H egemonic Globalization ‘ f rom Below’ 115
Structure, Agency, and International Relations Theories 117
Informality, Power, and Resistance 120
Interacting Globalizations and Ambiguity 124
4.3 Practical Resistance: Challenging Intellectual Property Rights 126
Counterfeit, Resistance, and Fake Modernity 131
4.4 Social Networks and Diasporas 132
4.5 Production Centers, Flows, and Nodes 139
4.6 Guangzhou’s ‘C hocolate City’ 142
S ino-A frican Tensions 150
Understanding the African Presence 155
4.7 La Salada’s Baroque Economies 158
The ‘I nformal State’ 163
Plebeian Democracy, Proletarian Microeconomies, and
Neoliberalism ‘f rom Below’ 166
4.8 Normative Clashes, Ambiguities, and Agency 171
5 The C hinese-C entered Globalization ‘f rom Below’ 187
5.1 From ‘A nt Traders’ to Entrepreneurial Migrants 188
A Highly Mobile Middleman Minority 191
5.2 The Infuence of the Chinese State 196
‘U pgrading’ – a nd I nstrumentalizing – t he Migrant 200
The Overseas Chinese State 203
‘W orking’ the Overseas Chinese 207
Incentives 212
C o-O pting the ‘O ld’ Migrants 214
5.3 The Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants in Ghana 215
The Chinese ‘A nt Traders’ in Ghana 220
Vulnerability 222
Beijing’s Infuence 225
Galamsey and Social Conditionality 226
5.4 Defning a Complex Globalization 231
Interacting Globalizations and Normative Power 235
6 The First Wave Globalization ‘ from Below’ 245
6.1 C osmopolitanism and Extraterritoriality in S emi-C olonial
Port Cities 246
Contents ix
Semi- Colonialism 248
Extraterritoriality 254
Cosmopolitanism 257
Levantine Cosmopolitanism 262
Treaty Port Cosmopolitanism in China 266
6.2 The First Wave Globalization ‘ from Below’ in Alexandria 270
Khedives and Great Powers 271
Alexandria and Its Foreigners 273
A City Run by Non- Egyptians 277
Alexandria’s Ethnic Minorities and the Globalization
‘ from Below’ 280
6.3 The First Wave Globalization ‘ from Below’ in Shanghai 288
Concessions-based Semi-Colonialism 288
A City Run by the Non- Chinese 291
Shanghai’s National Minorities and the Globalization
‘ from Below’ 299
6.4 Of Globalizations and Modernities 307
7 A Constructivist Theory of Globalizations ‘ from Below’ 318
7.1 Theoretical Considerations 319
Normative Power, Agency, and Constructivism 320
7.2 Globalizations ‘ from Below’ – Characteristics and Defnition 331
Enemies and In-Group Clashes 331
Features 335
Defnition 344
7.3 The Future of the Globalizations ‘ from Below’ 345
Index 357