The concept of 'globalization' has in an extraordinarily short time become the dominant motif of the contemporary social sciences. "Central Currents in Globalization" is an integrated collection of four multi-volume sets that represent the systematic mapping of globalization studies. The series sets out the contours of a field that now crosses the boundaries of all the older disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The result is a gold-standard collection of over 320 of the most important writings on globalization, structured around four interrelated themes: Violence; Economy; Culture; and Politics. The series editor, Paul James (RMIT, Australia), is joined by sixteen internationally-renowned co-editors from around the globe who bring their subject expertise to each volume, including Jonathan Friedman, Tom Nairn, R.R. Sharma, Manfred Steger, Philip Cerny and Micheline Ishay. Together, the four sets provide an unparalleled resource on globalization, providing both broad coverage of the subject, historical depth and contemporary relevance.The features include: compiles the most important English-language articles and translations in the various sub-themes of globalization; combines contemporary and classic pieces, together with some lesser-known works that have nevertheless made a major contribution; represents the vast range of cultural, philosophical and political approaches, both within and beyond the dominant British and North American traditions; each volume employs the same accessible structure - Historical Developments, Key Debates and Critical Projections; and each volume is introduced by an accessible and broad-ranging 10,000 word overview, and each section is prefaced by short contextualizations of the chosen articles. Set 1 includes: "Globalization and Violence", Volumes I-IV. Volume 1, "Globalizing Empires: Old and New" (with Tom Nairn, RMIT, Australia) examines the historically-deep process of empire-building, bringing it up-to-date with contemp