In The News

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...

Transcript of 'Globalization 3.0 Has Shrunk the World to Size Tiny'

Nayan Chanda April 7, 2004
The following is a transcript of Nayan Chanda's interview with the New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman conducted on March 25, 2004.

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...

Innovative India

April 5, 2004
As the American elections draw near, the Economist takes a refreshing look at the outsourcing debate. Examining advances made in research and development (R&D) in India’s high-tech centers such as Bangalore, the article reports that many Indian IT professionals are rightly vexed about the portrayal of their country as merely “a source of cheap labor and a telecommunications link.” Although...

A Normal Country

Andrei Shleifer March 30, 2004
In this Foreign Affairs’ essay, Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman argue that the popular image in the west of Russia as a “disastrous failure” needs to be rethought. General belief holds that Russia has failed to leave its communist past behind, and as a result, has transformed itself into “a collapsed state inhabited by criminals threatening other countries with multiple contagions.” Contrary...

Letting Foreign Workers Past the Gate

March 29, 2004
If Japan is to play a leading role in the economic development of Asia – one of the world’s fastest growing regions – it must embrace globalization, which includes opening its borders to foreign labor. As this editorial in The Japan Times points out, foreigners are becoming increasingly vital to the Japanese labor force. Immigrants work in factories, hospitals, fish ports, and farms. Yet as...

A Tale of Two Cities

Kerry A. Dolan March 29, 2004
Forbes magazine compares the stories of a dozen Americans laid off in Silicon Valley because of offshoring to those of their Indian counterparts who gained some of those jobs in Bangalore, India's offshoring hotspot. Before losing their jobs, American workers in the technology industry were going about their usual business –taking home plump checks, closing on a condo, and generally enjoying...