In The News

World Set Back 10 Years by Bush's New World Order, Says Blair Aide

Paul Brown April 14, 2004
In a recent statement, the British prime minister's senior advisor Jonathan Porritt says US President George W. Bush has had a "devastating impact" on the world's work on sustainable development. Porrit accused the Bush administration's bad policies in a wide range of issues related to sustainable development, including climate change, international aid, family planning,...

Globalization Alone Isn't Enough

Stephen Haber April 11, 2004
At a recent Summit of the Americas meeting in Mexico, US President George W. Bush urged Latin American countries to adopt a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement so that the region could become even more integrated into the global economy. Latin American leaders, however, are cautious. In the 80s and 90s, most Latin American countries opened their economies to foreign trade and investment...

R & D: India's New Star Industry

Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar April 10, 2004
American multinational companies are setting up research and development (R & D) centers in India, participating in a new trend in the contemporary era of global capitalism - the outsourcing of production activities.. No longer content to only look overseas for low-wage service sector jobs like call centers, large US corporations are tapping into the technical expertise and specialized...

Kenya: Globalizing with Flowers

Jean-Pierre Lehmann April 9, 2004
Although Kenya has attracted some foreign dollars through tourism and export-based flower and tea industries, a majority of Kenyans remain mired in poverty. Jean-Pierre Lehmann, founding director of the Evian group, argues here that although its future could be bright, Kenya has not yet exploited its substantial political and economic assets in a way that will allow it to fully tap into...

Globalization 3.0 Has Shrunk the World

April 7, 2004
The process of globalization continues to produce new surprises. Thomas L. Friedman, whose 1999 classic “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” has been translated in 30 languages, offers an update on globalization since his last interview with YaleGlobal editor Nayan Chanda a year ago. Friedman says that the first phase of globalization - the globalization of countries - lasted from roughly 1400 until...

EU Food Rules Test African Development

William Wallis April 6, 2004
New food safety regulations, implemented by the European Union (EU), will make it mandatory "for all fruit and vegetable products arriving in the EU to be traceable at all stages of production, processing and distribution." These new regulations are intended to ensure against potential public health scares such as the mad cow disease that have plagued the EU in recent years. Yet, the...

World Trade Growth Picks Up Speed

April 5, 2004
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is reporting a 4.5 percent increase in trade in 2003, up 1.5 percent from their original cautious estimate. The gains are due, analysts say, to the partial recovery of the American economy and very strong growth in Asia and the post-Soviet states. China alone saw a 40% increase in merchandise imports and a 35% increase in exports. Numbers for 2004 are looking...