Building a Win-Win World

“She finds paths from competition to cooperation . . . from global abuse to grassroots solutions—and thus from isolated despair to communal action.” —Gloria Steinem

World-renowned futurist Hazel Henderson extends her twenty-five years of work in economics to examine the havoc the current economic system is creating at the global level. Markets are now spreading worldwide—a spread which is often equated with the hope of democracy spreading along with it. But markets still run on old textbook models that ignore social and environmental costs—leading to a new kind of warfare: global economic warfare.

Building a Win-Win World examines how jobs, education, health care, human rights, democratic participation, socially responsible business, and environmental protection are all sacrificed to “global competitiveness.” Henderson shows many ways out of the dilemmas faced by all countries. She also describes a trend toward “grassroots globalism” —citizens movements that are addressing poverty, social inequities, pollution, resource-depletion, violence, and wars. Grassroots globalism, she says, is about thinking and acting—globally and locally. It is pragmatic problem-solving, implementing local solutions that keep the planet in mind. Such social innovations can raise the ethical floor under the global playing field so that the most ethical companies and countries can win.

“At a time when conventional economics is tottering into senility, a handful of thinkers are forging imaginative alternatives. Hazel Henderson is among the most eloquent, original—and readable—of the econo-clasts.” —Scientific American

“Hazel Henderson again challenges our fundamental economic systems, our musty ways, and our minds; she is a visionary who describes what should be our future.” —Joan Bavaria, President, Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies