UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Human Sciences
⋄
DVA3701: ASSIGNMENT 5
Semester 1, 2026
⋄
Module Code: DVA3701
Module Name: Development Theory
Assignment No.: Assignment 5
Due Date: 17 April 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for DVA3701: Development Theory
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | DVA3701 Anti-Corporate Globalisation and the Capitalist Order
Introduction
The claim that anti-corporate globalisation initiatives represent a viable solution to the chal-
lenges of the current capitalist order deserves serious scrutiny. Since the late 1990s, a broad
and heterogeneous global movement has challenged the terms on which economic globalisa-
tion has been organised, targeting in particular the unregulated power of multinational corpo-
rations, the conditionality of international financial institutions, and the systematic exclusion
of the global South from the benefits of the world economy. In doing so, the movement has
raised questions that mainstream development theory has persistently avoided: who does
the global economy actually serve, and what kinds of collective action might begin to change
that answer?
This essay engages the movement critically. Section two traces its historical origins and key
arguments. Section three critically assesses whether anti-corporate globalisation initiatives
can, in practice, resolve the contradictions of the capitalist order, with particular attention
to the experience of the global South. The analysis draws on Perera (2003), Cherry (2013),
Satgar (2011), and Bull and Bøås (2012).
Page 1 of 13
College of Human Sciences
⋄
DVA3701: ASSIGNMENT 5
Semester 1, 2026
⋄
Module Code: DVA3701
Module Name: Development Theory
Assignment No.: Assignment 5
Due Date: 17 April 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for DVA3701: Development Theory
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | DVA3701 Anti-Corporate Globalisation and the Capitalist Order
Introduction
The claim that anti-corporate globalisation initiatives represent a viable solution to the chal-
lenges of the current capitalist order deserves serious scrutiny. Since the late 1990s, a broad
and heterogeneous global movement has challenged the terms on which economic globalisa-
tion has been organised, targeting in particular the unregulated power of multinational corpo-
rations, the conditionality of international financial institutions, and the systematic exclusion
of the global South from the benefits of the world economy. In doing so, the movement has
raised questions that mainstream development theory has persistently avoided: who does
the global economy actually serve, and what kinds of collective action might begin to change
that answer?
This essay engages the movement critically. Section two traces its historical origins and key
arguments. Section three critically assesses whether anti-corporate globalisation initiatives
can, in practice, resolve the contradictions of the capitalist order, with particular attention
to the experience of the global South. The analysis draws on Perera (2003), Cherry (2013),
Satgar (2011), and Bull and Bøås (2012).
Page 1 of 13
