Monbiot argues that globalisation cannot simply be reversed, but might be captured and subjected to democracy by the people currently made answerable to it.

Unlike much anti-globalisation writing of its moment, the book risks proposing actual institutions. Monbiot advocates a directly elected world parliament, the reform of the United Nations and international financial bodies, and mechanisms for redistributing power from corporations and wealthy states.

He tests these ideas against anarchism, state socialism and representative government, returning to historical experiments such as the Roman plebeian assembly. Some proposals now feel utopian; others feel less fantastical than the existing arrangement, in which five states retain permanent veto power over everyone else’s emergencies.

Harper Perennial paperback, first printing of this revised edition, 2004. Good condition with cover wear and some highlighting.