At the beginning of the 21st century, the global economic system, Harry Shutt argues, is based on inherently anarchic and unstable markets and is dominated by unaccountable corporate interests. It is unable to assure a minimum degree of material security for all but a small minority of the world's population. Imperialist political control and the capitalist economic system are converging on a global scale; Shutt shows how political movements need to construct new alternative paths of global integration, methods of economic governance that are more responsive to the public's needs and more equitable, and democratic reform designed to make governments more representative.