In The News

A Pipeline to Peace

George Perkovich April 18, 2005
After years of distrust and suspicion, India and Pakistan are discussing the possibility of a joint pipeline, which will bring badly needed gas to western India. Aside from the potential economic benefits to both countries, the project is environmentally safe and most importantly, will encourage the two countries to cooperate more. The problem, however, is that the oil pipeline would originate...

Lou Dobbs Fuels American Immigration Paranoia

Evelyn Shih April 18, 2005
As the dollar continues its steady fall, many Americans have begun to fear a permanent downward spiral of the entire economy. According to this Yale Herald opinion, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs blames outsourcing and illegal immigration for this trend. For over a year, Dobbs has dedicated a permanent segment on his daily news show to those two subjects, speaking to a willing audience of middle-class...

'Wake Up and Face the Flat Earth'

April 18, 2005
Since Columbus discovered the New World in 1492 and reconnected peoples that had been separated for ten millennia, globalization has become increasingly fast-paced. The interconnected world, facilitated by information technology and trade liberalization in the late 20th century, is the most recent wave of human societies' efforts to connect each other even more closely. In his previous book...

'Wake Up and Face the Flat Earth' – Thomas L. Friedman

April 18, 2005
In his previous book, "The Lexus and the Olive Tree," New York Times foreign affairs columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman wrote about this shrinking world. Discussing his recent book, "The World Is Flat," with Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, Friedman observes that not only has the world shrunk to a tiny size thanks to a communication revolution, it has even been...

China-India Entente Shifts Global Balance

Clyde Prestowitz April 15, 2005
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's recent diplomatic visit to India resulted in a number of potentially historic agreements. Economist Clyde Prestowitz suggests that collaboration between the two Asian nations may reshape globalization in the 21st century. The European age of exploration set into motion a first wave of globalization – setting the stage for centuries of Western economic,...

Globalization Is Not Made in the West

Robbie Robertson April 13, 2005
Too often, globalization is seen as an exclusively Western phenomenon, an aggressive force that often endangers indigenous cultures and ways of life. But, as Robbie Robertson writes, this view is not simply reductive – it is inaccurate. "Globalization is not about rampant capitalism, technology, or homogenization," he writes, "It is about the changed environments people create...

China's Strategy Gives it the Edge in the Battle of Two Sock Capitals

Don Lee April 12, 2005
At first glance, the Robin-Lynn Mills sock factory in Fort Payne, Alabama, seems impressive – with some the world's most advanced knitting machines, costing over US$25,000 each, a single sock is spun in 75 seconds. The Three Star factory in the Chinese city of Datang, on the other hand, stands in stark contrast: Its machines only cost US$1000 and take much longer to complete a sock....