In The News

Is France on Course to Bid Adieu to Globalization?

Pierre Haski July 21, 2011
The French have long been critical of globalizing forces that disrupt their nation’s economy or threaten their identity. Calls for démondialisation, or deglobalization, has emerged as a leading issue in the French presidential campaign. Intense opposition to engagement with the world builds among the left and right, along with alarm about the global debt crisis, structural youth unemployment and...

States Cannot Put Globalization Genie Back in Bottle

Jack Radisch July 8, 2011
Nations cannot escape globalized risks, explains Jack Radisch, OECD policy analyst, for Public Service Europe. “For many risks, the frontline of protection is a well-functioning regulatory environment,” he writes. Governments must set priorities before investing in prevention strategies. Risk analysis is required, and he notes that costs of the 2008 credit crisis triggered by subprime mortgages...

No Big Mac In Lao Idyll

Nayan Chanda June 6, 2011
With careful planning, cities connect with the world and maintain cultural diversity. In his column for Businessworld, Nayan Chanda explores Luang Prabang, the former royal capital of Laos: “The town also shows how pre-industrial economies can be integrated into a world of jet planes and high-speed Internet, while maintaining its old world charm.” Designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1995,...

Bound to Fail

Bo Ekman May 31, 2011
No nation can successfully block out the physical or intangible cross-border challenges imposed by others. Immigrants, disease, radiation, trade in natural resources or radical ideas like democracy leap and bound across borders. With global interconnectedness in so many areas, governance at the national level has become but a quaint endeavor. Any political, economic, military or spiritual system...

Nation of the Forest

Cathy Shufro May 30, 2011
Urbanization’s many pressures make it easier for people to alter long-held customs. For example, in Bhutan, city dwellers didn’t protest a rule aimed at protecting forests by reducing the number of prayer flags to mourn a loved one’s death, explains Cathy Shufro in an article for Yale Alumni Magazine. “Bhutanese have formulated guidelines, infused with Buddhist values, for how to reconcile old...

US Sours on Globalization

Nayan Chanda May 25, 2011
One concern trumps all others for Americans: a lack of jobs. Resentment is high about the high unemployment rate, ongoing layoffs, declining wages and rising costs even as multinational corporations earn record profits and hire low-cost labor in emerging markets. More US job openings are in retail and the service sector than manufacturing. Americans target their ire at globalization and market...

The Politics of Globalization

Peter Mandelson April 8, 2011
The politics of globalization can be improved, argues Peter Mandelson, former European commissioner for trade in an essay based on a March 2011 keynote speech on the future of globalization. Governments have the capability to tame what seems to be a senseless race to devour resources and amass profits. Collective action is the only way to control dangerous competition, prevent unreasonable...