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Transcript of 'Global Challenges'

William J. Clinton October 31, 2003
The following is a full transcript of the public address, "Global Challenges," given by former US President William J. Clinton at Yale University on October 31, 2003.

Following the Pepper Grinder All the Way to Its Source

R. W. Apple Jr. October 29, 2003
If it had not possessed such a monopoly over pepper during Europe’s Age of Exploration, “India might well never have been colonized at all,” remarks the managing director of Cochin Spices. His company is a modern-day link between the world’s most ubiquitous spice and its oldest source. They buy raw pepper from local farmers in southwest India, where the spice originated, and process it....

When Jobs Move Overseas (to South Carolina)

Yilu Zhao October 26, 2003
Why would a Chinese refrigerator company move to America, where wages are ten times higher than at home? Prestige, argues Yilu Zhao, and political benefits back home. The Chinese government is pushing to put 50 of its companies on the Fortune Global 500 list and sees foreign investment and a greater share of the US market as the surest way. Thus state-owned companies, like the refrigerator...

APEC Acts with Speed on Trade

Achara Pongvutitham October 22, 2003
Thailand wrapped up the summit of APEC leaders in Bangkok on a sharp note. Delivering the summit's Bangkok Declaration to the World Trade Organization's offices in Geneva immediately after the close of the meeting, Thailand and APEC members were “clearly sending a signal to the EU that it should come back to the negotiating table" on the issue of agricultural subsidies....

Sizzling Economy Revitalizes India

Amy Waldman October 20, 2003
For young urban Indians, there seems to be no better way to celebrate Gandhi's birthday than going to the mall. The Indian middle class is spending money like never before – and now they have a lot more to spend. This year's visible economic confidence is partly a result of the political decision in the early 1990s to open up the Indian economy to increased foreign trade and...

We Have to Make Globalization Work for All

Joseph Stiglitz October 17, 2003
Why has globalization gained such a bad reputation? It was once the phenomenon supposed to 'save' the world system and provide a framework for global equality and integration. So is the concept inherently flawed, or does the fault lie with the implementation of policies? Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz asks these questions and reflects on what went wrong with globalization during the...

The Bigger Problem: Weapons of Individual Destruction

Raenette Taljaard October 15, 2003
The American hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has turned up little so far, but in the meantime coalition soldiers and Iraqi civilians continue to be victims of armed violence. By ignoring the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, says Raenette Taljaard, a member of the South African Parliament, the international community is failing millions of people around the world....