In The News

Online Game, Made in US, Seizes the Globe

Seth Schiesel September 5, 2006
Almost 7 million people around the world join in playing World of Warcraft, an online game that offers true global competition. Developed by Blizzard Entertainment, based in California, the game breaks cultural barriers by appealing to a massive global audience and offering an increasing array of languages. In the past, popular interactive games attracted hundreds of thousands of players at most...

Indians Along With Half the World's Consumers Buy Into Globalization: Survey

August 31, 2006
More than half the world’s consumers believe that globalization has improved their lives and created new opportunities, according to an ACNielsen global consumer survey. Most of the support for globalization comes from Latin America, with 75 percent, and Asia Pacific, with 70 percent. Six of the top ten countries appreciating globalization were in Asia Pacific, including India and China. French...

Why Globalization Is in Trouble – Part I

Branko Milanovic August 29, 2006
The dominant world powers historically pushed for globalization as a means of increasing wealth and influence. Yet those nations fret as the emerging powers of India and China embrace the same strategy. This two-part series by World Bank economist Branco Milanovic explores why both the world’s wealthiest and poorest nations fear globalization. In the first article, Milanovic argues that citizens...

Van Gogh From the Sweatshop

Martin Paetsch August 29, 2006
A cottage industry of artists making cheap knockoffs of famous paintings transformed a Chinese village into an art factory. Estimates suggest that the suburb of Shenzhen’s community of 10,000 workers produce about 5 million works of art each year. The finished works head off to retailers around the world, from Wal-Mart to galleries. The studios even accept custom orders: Art buyers can request...

Japan's History Problem

G. John Ikenberry August 28, 2006
By not admitting errors during World War II, Japan remains isolated, with closest neighbors – China and South Korea – suspicious of its goals. With annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, the prime minister defiantly resists any remorse about Japan’s aggression more than sixty years ago. Ironically, Japan has won respect throughout the world for its constitution that emphasizes peace and...

Muslim Myopia

Irshad Manji August 25, 2006
Islamic scholar Irshad Manji does not dispute the claims laid out by mainstream British Muslims last week that the blunders in Iraq and Lebanon provide fuel for extremism. However, she also calls upon Muslim representatives in the West to be accountable for any of their own contributions to violence. Muslim-on-Muslim violence is endemic throughout the world, with Muslims responsible for as many...

A Misreading in India

Amelia Gentleman August 24, 2006
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo executives were confident that they could handle allegations, made by the Center for Science and the Environment, that products sold in India contained pesticides. But executives did not anticipate how quickly the news would spread through India, how local politicians would seize the opportunity to denounce the multinational corporations, and how explosive the issue could...