The Age of Consent: A Manifesto For A New World Order by George Monbiot - review by Michael Prowse

Michael Prowse

Capital Punishment

The Age of Consent: A Manifesto For A New World Order

By

Flamingo 288pp £15.99
 

THE ANTI-GLOBALISATION movement has never had any trouble articulating what it is against. It opposes unfettered capitahsm, especially when it crosses national fi-ontiers, and the multinational corporation, which it regards as amoral and predatory. But it has always had difficulty in explaining what it isfor. An unstable mix of anarchsm, protectionism and Marxism does not constitute a credible set of principles for a new world order.

George Monbiot, the Guardian columnist, knows this. And his attempt to be constructive has led him in some surprising directions. Unlike many of his allies in the 'global justice movement', he no longer even opposes globalisation. The problem is not globalisation per re, he argues, but its uneven character: the