This talk by Dr. William Robinson will explore the global police state that is emerging as world capitalism descends into a crisis that is unprecedented. The global police state refers to three interrelated developments: the ever-increasing omnipresence of systems of mass social control, repression, and warfare; militarized accumulation or the global economic exploitation of the systems in question; and the increasing move towards political systems that can be characterized as 21st century fascism, or, in an even broader sense, as totalitarianism. The technologies associated with the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution appear to be revolutionizing warfare, systems of social control and state-organized accumulation, in particular over-accumulation, that are generating crisis in the first place.
William I. Robinson is professor of sociology, global and international studies, and Latin American studies, at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He worked for a decade prior to entering academia as an investigative journalist in Central America and has lectured widely at universities around the world on the topics of the global economy, international politics, and contemporary world affairs. He is active in several social justice movements, including for immigrant rights in the United States and for justice for Palestine. Among his many award-winning books are Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity, Latin America and Global Capitalism: A Critical Globalization Perspective, A Theory of Global Capitalism, and Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, U.S. Intervention, and Hegemony. His most recent book, Into The Tempest: Essays on the New Global Capitalism, will be released later in 2018. He writes as well for a variety of academic and global justice news outlets, among them Truthout and Al Jazeera English.
Dr. Robinson’s talk is the closing keynote address for The 2nd Annual Society of Global Scholars Conference, Alter-Globalizations: Another World is (Still) Possible. All are welcome to attend.