From the starting point of a critical postmodern analysis of trade policymaking in his native Jordan, Mohammad Al-Zoubi begins to uncover why the very fact of economic globalisation and the neo-liberal ideology it represents are questioned from a developing country and particularly from an Arab perspective. Charting the process of attempting to transform the trade and investment policy of one small country of which the author has intimate knowledge, against the background of the 'big story' of globalisation, the book provides a revealing insight into the complex relationship between 'global' and 'local', particularly where part of that complexity is the Islamic reaction to globalisation and Western culture - Islamic fundamentalism awakened by market fundamentalism. There is nothing polemical about the approach taken here. The principles of critical policy historiography, archaeology and governmentality are rigorously applied to the author's analysis. These unmask what the author describes as the messy realities accompanying trade and economic policy processes and the extent to which these processes in developing countries are bound up with issues involving social struggle against political oppression the promotion of democracy, and the emergence of fundamentalism. Ultimately, Al-Zoubi concludes that a specific global reality can no longer be taken as a given and that policy makers and others will have to come to terms with a new way of thinking about the relationship between 'global' and 'local'. The analytical approach taken in this book captures and elucidates this relationship in a way that will be beneficial to academics and practitioners alike who have to shift from one-sided to multi-faceted thinking about the impact of globalisation. In particular, it might boost confidence, stir passion and imagination, and provide insight to those in the whole range of institutions concerned with human, social, economic and cultural developments, who bear responsibili

Author Biography

Dr Mohammad Al-Zoubi has worked for the Jordanian Customs Authority since 1995. He is a researcher in the Director General's Office and has lectured at the Customs Training Centre since 2002, and during that time has led the development of educational and training programmes. He has represented the Jordan Customs Authority at conferences worldwide. Al-Zoubi has a business degree from Yarmouk University, Jordan, a Masters degree in public administration from Al-Byet University, Jordan, and he completed his PhD in Social and Economic Transformation at the University of Buckingham, in the UK. He is currently involved in establishing a new academic faculty in international trade in Jordan.