This book is a collection of articles that reflect how policies of neoliberal globalization have unfolded and impacted Philippine society, in particular, the policies of trade and investment liberalization, privatization and deregulation. The first and final chapters take more holistic views of the Philippines; while other chapters particularly address labour flexibilization; labour control strategies of transnational companies in export-processing zones; and analysis of the government’s interest in ‘charter change’ (revision of the Constitution).

Through most of the book, the stance is not so much to criticize foreign investment per se, but to show that the role foreign investment has played has been one of colluding with local agents to extract surplus benefits which could go towards true industrialization at the cost of the struggling majority of Philippine society. The chapter that would probably be of most interest to Asian labour activists is the third one, ‘Labor Flexibilization and Imperialist Crisis.’ Here, the author elaborates on the various laws and administrative orders of the government which, in the name of making the Philippines a more attractive investment location, allows labour to be more ‘flexible’. Flexibilization may be external (i.e.,contractualization) or internal (through work intensification and productivity-based wage indexing). Flexibilization is accompanied also by policies that deter and limit union power.