Globalization, power and the politics of scale in the Philippines

Abstract

Based on a case study from the Philippines, this paper argues that globalization forms a material set of processes, but also a political discourse employed to legitimize certain power relations. I argue, firstly, that scales, and particularly the global scale, can be viewed as social constructions reflecting political interests rather than neutral categories of geographical space. I suggest that a particular discourse of globalization is deployed to legitimize an economic and political agenda in which development is based on international investment flows and production for export. Using the Philippines as an example, I trace the translation of globalization discourse into development policies based on place marketing, investment incentives and infrastructure provision. Drawing on fieldwork in the industrializing fringe of Metropolitan Manila, I recount local reactions to a proposed development project. Successful opposition to the project in question - a 330MW power station - provides some instructive lessons concerning the politicization of scale and appropriate strategies of resistance. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.