Overview

An overview of the localist movement in the United States, from ""buy local"" campaigns to urban agriculture, and its potential for addressing global problems of sustainability and justice. The internationalization of economies and other changes that accompany globalization have brought about a paradoxical reemergence of the local. A significant but largely unstudied aspect of new local-global relationships is the growth of ""localist movements,"" efforts to reclaim economic and political sovereignty for metropolitan and other subnational regions. In Localist Movements in a Global Economy, David Hess offers an overview of localism in the United States and assesses its potential to address pressing global problems of social justice and environmental sustainability. Since the 1990s, more than 100 local business organizations have formed in the United States, and there are growing efforts to build local ownership in the retail, food, energy, transportation, and media industries. In this first social science study of localism, Hess adopts an interdisciplinary approach that combines theoretical reflection, empirical research, and policy analysis. His perspective is not that of the uncritical localist advocate; he draws on his new empirical research to assess the extent to which localist policies can address sustainability and justice issues. After a theoretical discussion of sustainability, the global corporate economy, and economic development, Hess looks at four specific forms of localism: ""buy local"" campaigns; urban agriculture; local ownership of electricity and transportation; and alternative and community media. Hess examines ""global localism""—transnational local-to-local supply chains—and other economic policies and financial instruments that would create an alternative economic structure. Localism is not a panacea for globalization, he concludes, but a crucial ingredient in projects to build more democratic, just, and sustainable politics.

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9780262012645

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Reviews

A clear-eyed and intensively researched analysis of the ways in which localism does or does not promote a more sustainable and just world. Analyses of localism have been generally split between romantic advocates and cynical critics, but very few researchers have stepped back and carried out the kind of careful and objective analysis of the claims and the critiques of localism that David Hess has done here. This book provides the most in-depth grappling of this issue to date. The case studies bring the book to life and will engage a wide variety of readers at a wide range of interest and understanding. --E. Melanie DuPuis, Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz At a time when faith in footloose corporations and the growth-dependent state is being shaken to the core, we must ask, 'Is there an alternative?' In Localist Movements in a Global Economy, David Hess is ahead of the curve with one intriguing answer: localism. In addition to thoroughly documenting localist trends already underway, Hess points to a hopeful economy, one at once local and global, where ownership is close at hand and ecological constraint is a given. --Thomas Princen, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Michigan, and author of The Logic of Sufficiency The first in-depth study of localism as a movement, this book offers a unique integration of the concrete and specific within a theoretical and political framework. Indispensable to scholars and activists alike. --Gar Alperovitz, Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy, University of Maryland, College Park, and author of America Beyond Capitalism and co-author of Unjust Deserts

""A clear-eyed and intensively researched analysis of the ways in which localism does or does not promote a more sustainable and just world. Analyses of localism have been generally split between romantic advocates and cynical critics, but very few researchers have stepped back and carried out the kind of careful and objective analysis of the claims and the critiques of localism that David Hess has done here. This book provides the most in-depth grappling of this issue to date. The case studies bring the book to life and will engage a wide variety of readers at a wide range of interest and understanding."" --E. Melanie DuPuis, Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Author Information

David J. Hess is Professor in the Sociology Department, James Thornton Fant Chair in Sustainability Studies, and Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry, Localist Movements in a Global Economy, and Good Green Jobs in a Global Economy, all published by the MIT Press.

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