In The News

Taking It to the Streets

Nayan Chanda September 14, 2011
Inspired by protests in the Arab world, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in August to support one man’s fast. India is already the world’s largest democracy, and the goal of these protesters is reforming democracy to expose and end pervasive corruption. Government employees at every level routinely demand extra fees, small and large, simply to do their job. Favoritism, bribes and...

Writing the Global Journey

Salil Tripathi September 12, 2011
The age-old quest for a better life, the ever-increasing speed of travel that forms the heart of globalization, has also transformed modern literature. London-based writer Salil Tripathi describes Amitav Ghosh and Salman Rushdie, both born in India and now living and celebrated in the West, as among the most successful authors in portraying an individual’s ability to survive and adapt to a...

Colombia: Saving Dying Languages

John Otis August 29, 2011
Colombia currently ranks fourth in the world in the number of spoken indigenous languages, after Brazil, Mexico and Peru. Nevertheless, only three of those indigenous languages are spoken by more than 50,000 people, and most of the indigenous languages could vanish by the end of the century, reports John Otis for the GlobalPost. Increasingly more indigenous people choose to learn Spanish over...

The Great Failure of Globalization

Jeffrey Sachs August 24, 2011
US and European leaders are in denial over realities of global capital markets and competition from Asia, contends Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Sachs argues that rapid globalization, responsible for the sharp economic decline of the west, has disproportionately hurt the unskilled and middle class while benefiting the wealthy. “The path to recovery now...

Globalization Has Role in This Double Whammy

Simon Nixon August 12, 2011
Globalization of communication, trade and financial networks highlights the potential of both prosperity and imbalances. “The creation of a rules-based multi-lateral trading system has been one of the greatest triumphs of the past 65 years,” writes Sam Nixon for the Wall Street Journal. Yet he also credits globalization with speculative bubbles, unrealistic expectations and uneven distribution of...

Beyond Debt Woes, A Wider Crisis of Globalization?

Peter Apps August 8, 2011
In recent decades, the world economy thrived on globally-driven growth and tightening interconnections among nations. In the process, nation states have lost control of the internet, financial markets, exploitation of natural resources and other global forces. “In the short term, that leaves policymakers looking impotent in the face of fast-moving markets and other uncontrolled and perhaps...

Of Reversing Globalization

Nayan Chanda August 2, 2011
Threats to the status quo and fear of change, often helped along by outside forces, is the foundation for extremism. Economic crisis in Europe combined with high levels of immigration suggest that support for protectionist, anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic policies will only strengthen, explains Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s editor, in his regular column for Businessworld. French politicians on the left...