Socially Sustainable Globalization? The Domestic Politics of Globalization in Australia

Abstract

The chapter has two major aims. The first is to outline the broad trajectory of the globalisation of the Australian political economy since the 1980s and consider its relationship to social outcomes. The second is to consider how work exploring the domestic underpinnings of, and limits to, globalisation can contribute to an understanding of the Australian political economy and the sustainability of the globalisation project. The paper questions whether the current policy trajectories of continuing (hyper)globalisation plus either compensation or trickle down are sustainable, even under conditions of renewed growth. While compensatory strategies can help sustain globalisation – as they have done since the 1950s – the paper contends that policy-makers need to consider domestic social imperatives, and to act to ensure a fairer distribution of the costs and benefits of economic activity and policy change. The evidence provided on state taxation and spending shows that states retain the capacity to improve social outcomes, if that is their aim. A failure to improve distributional outcomes will lead to increasing reactions against globalisation. The chapter concludes that sustaining globalisation will require states to limit its scope and improve social protections, rather than weaken them.