In The News

Industrialised World Must Adapt to Rising China and India

Eisuke Sakakibara February 6, 2003
A former Japanese Finance Ministry official writes that like the industrialization of the late 19th century, the globalization of the last two decades has rapidly altered the world economy. China and India are poised to become important actors in the new economy, but for them to succeed, many things must fall into place. Industrialized nations, specifically Japan, must respond to the emergence...

A Better Life on the Production Line

Dan Roberts February 5, 2003
Since the mid-1990s, China’s leaders have thrown open their borders to virtually any multinational corporation that could inject millions of dollars into the nation’s economy. More importantly, these companies bring the information technology China so desperately craves. The cost of this foreign investment, however, is the establishment of a sweatshop industry that provides wealthy countries...

Lessons from History: Globalization Then and Now

Harold James February 5, 2003
The debate about globalization has changed since September 11th. Princeton University history professor Harold James points out that the terrorist attacks have led to calls for more controls on the free flow of capital, goods, and people, while the Enron scandal has sparked debates about regulation of business practices. Citing numerous historical parallels, James shows how such responses to the...

Political Will Needed to Eliminate Racial Discrimination

Zakki Hakim February 4, 2003
For those who take a long-term view of globalization, the phenomenon is in many ways a story of the movement of people. In some countries of Southeast Asia, Chinese descendants of early sojourners often hold positions of great economic strength but little political power. In Indonesia, people of Chinese descent are a tiny but wealthy minority of the population. Despite criticisms from observers...

Number of Hong Kong Emigrants Hit 22-Year Low Last Year

February 4, 2003
The shrinking of economies in Western countries, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Australia, has led to Hong Kong emigration figures tapering off in the past eight years. The better life once guaranteed by immigration has been slowly changing. If anything, China’s own entry into the globalization arena has seen its economy expand much faster, thereby attracting some of those...

No-Smoking Signs Spread Slowly Across Africa

Marc Lacey February 2, 2003
In the United States and Canada, restrictions on smoking and tobacco advertisements have been commonplace for years, but not so in Africa. In Uganda, British American Tobacco, a multinational corporation, provides thousands of jobs and is an important source of revenue in a struggling economy. Smoking is popular among Africans, but a few anti-smoking activists and lawyers are trying to change...

Lula’s Message for Two Worlds

January 30, 2003
First he inspired hope at a crowded haven for anti-globalizers. Then he received an ecstatic greeting from a globalized assembly of free traders meeting at a playground for the rich. Brazil's new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, moved last week between Porto Alegre and Davos with amazing ease. He was elected last year on a populist platform that railed against neo-liberal economics...