At the turn of the twenty-first century, globalization - both the process and the idea - bestrode the world. Widely acclaimed by political and economic pundits as the most important phenomenon of our time, it took the world by storm. Two decades later, it has come under sustained attack by the re-invigorated forces of the extreme right and radical left. Does globalization still matter in our unsettled world? Responding in the affirmative, this study develops and applies a new framework of an 'engaged theory of globalization' to analyze some of today's most pressing global challenges: the rise of national populism, ecological degradation, rapid urbanization, new sources of insecurity, and the changing landscape of higher education. Offering a comprehensive appraisal of globalization in our unsettled times, the authors explain why and how transplanetary interrelations continue to matter in a world that is wavering between globalist expansion and nationalist retrenchment.

Manfred B. Steger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa and Global Professorial Fellow in the Institute of Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. He is the author or editor of twenty-seven books, including: The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (2008), Justice Globalism: Ideology, Crises, Policy (2013), and Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (2017).

Paul James is Professor of Globalization and Cultural Diversity at Western Sydney University, where he is Director of the Institute for Culture and Society. He is a scientific advisor to the Mayor of Berlin and a Metropolis ambassador. He is an editor of Arena Journal and an author or editor of 35 books, including Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back in (2006). He has been an advisor to a number of agencies and governments, including the Helsinki Process, the Canadian Prime Minister’s G20 Forum, and the Papua New Guinea Minister for Community Development.