In The News

Bavaria and the Case for Free Trade

Timothy Guinnane February 13, 2003
The small state of Bavaria joined, in 1834, a pan-German free-trade area that preceded the formation of a unified Germany. Integration into Zollverein, as this area was called, hurt some Bavarians and benefited others. The author argues that the downsides to such integration – as with today's globalization – are comparatively short-lived. Today, critics of globalization from both developed...

Mixing Free Market, Minority Domination and Democracy Results in World On Fire

Pat Sewell February 10, 2003
In her recent book, World on Fire, Yale University professor Amy Chua argues that it is the resentment of long-standing minority domination that has so much of the world’s citizens ready to take up arms. Pat Sewell examines the author’s contentions and assesses her sweeping proposals for solving the most challenging problem facing global society since the Second World War. – YaleGlobal

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...

A Discussion On Ethical Globalization

January 15, 2003
Is globalization unethical? That seems to be the view of many critics of globalization. Former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson is taking an initiative to address that concern. The Ethical Globalization Initiative that she directs seeks to integrate human rights norms and standards into a more ethical globalization process and to...

Power to the Privileged

Amy Chua January 7, 2003
A central theme of global integration in recent years has been the spread of free markets and democracy. Yale professor Amy Chua argues that these features of globalization can create serious problems in countries where economic levers lie in the hands of an ethnic minority. She gives the example of Venezuela, where a president elected by the poorer section of society and the majority ethnic...

Globalization: Concept and Concerns

C. Rangarajan January 6, 2003
Writing for The Hindu, India’s national newspaper, C. Rangarajan outlines the concept of economic globalization and its problems. One of the concerns of the current period of globalization is its connection to unequal distribution of wealth within and between countries. Looking at ‘developing economies,’ and at India in particular, Rangarajan examines the impact globalization has had so far and...

Strict International Patent Laws Hurt Developing Countries

Amy Kapczynski December 16, 2002
In 1998, 39 pharmaceutical companies filed a lawsuit against South Africa. They hoped to stop the government from producing the generic drugs that would have made treatment affordable for the country's AIDS victims. A public outcry ensued, and critics accused pharmaceutical companies of valuing profit over human life. Although these same companies were eventually pressured into dropping...