In The News

Transcript of 'Global Challenges'

William J. Clinton October 31, 2003
The following is a full transcript of the public address, "Global Challenges," given by former US President William J. Clinton at Yale University on October 31, 2003.

Is the Arab Reform Chorus Serious or Fraudulent?

Rami G. Khouri October 1, 2003
Rami G. Khouri, executive editor of Lebanon's Daily Star, argues that the 'guns and cash' provided by donor nations influence the rhetoric of Arab states. Whatever the foreign donor takes up as an important issue, the Arab state parrots in turn. For example, Middle Eastern governments have adopted the rhetoric of human rights reform, equitable development, and now the 'war on...

A Very Dangerous Game

Martin Wolf September 30, 2003
Overspending in America to stimulate its economy has pushed the US fiscal deficit way out of balance – up to about six percent of US GDP. To service this debt, the US government has sold US$870 billion in Treasury bonds to foreign governments since 1999, creating a significant current account deficit. Martin Wolf argues that the US has mortgaged its economy by selling overpriced treasury bonds to...

Globalization: Preserving the Benefits

Anne. O. Krueger September 25, 2003
Facing mounting criticism around the world, proponents of globalization have risen to its defense. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger argues for a renewed commitment to the principles of free trade that have fueled the last half-century’s ever-increasing economic expansion. Though she accepts the frequently valid misgivings of globalization’s critics, Krueger claims that its...

Bold Action Can Still Save Doha Round

Clyde Prestowitz September 19, 2003
With the collapse of the WTO trade talks last week, things do not bode well for the Doha Round – planned specifically to help developing countries – or for the global trading system in general. Former Reagan administration trade negotiator Clyde Prestowitz says, however, that in one simple unilateral move the US could earn enormous global goodwill and save the floundering world trading system....

Lonely at the Top

Clyde Prestowitz September 13, 2003
Although the US experienced an outpouring of sympathy from much of the world after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, over the past two years it has encountered much resistance to its leadership on issues from Iraq to free trade. The US has lost any goodwill it received after the attacks, says former Reagan administration official and author Clyde Prestowitz, because Washington has pursued a...

Africans' Burden: West's Farm Subsidies

Marc Lacey September 10, 2003
Ugandan cotton farmers are a prime example of developing world farmers who are losing the competition with their subsidized counterparts in Europe and the United States; simply making ends meet is difficult. At the new meeting of the Doha trade talks in Cancun this week, African countries are demanding either an end to the American and European policy of subsidizing farmers – a policy which...