In The News

Retro-Virals: Major Pact for Cheap Drugs

Arthit Khwankhom July 14, 2004
Thailand, Brazil, China, the Russian Federation, Nigeria and the Ukraine have signed a pact at the 15th International Aids Conference in Bangkok to cooperate in the production of generic drugs, lend mutual support in the improvement of respective health sectors, and pursue further research and development on HIV/AIDS drugs. This group of countries, all of whom have large populations of AIDS...

Last Chance to Avert Hibernation

Ernesto Zedillo July 13, 2004
Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former president of Mexico, blames the breakdown of the WTO’s Doha round of trade liberalization talks on flawed perceptions of international trade. Instead of coming to the bargaining table with the mindset that trade liberalization can stimulate wealth creation and promote peace and security, national trade...

Alternative Globalization

Bharat Jhunjhunwala July 2, 2004
The author of this editorial in the Ethiopian newspaper questions the wisdom of developing countries staying within the WTO and letting themselves be squeezed by the developed countries. He says that the basic inconsistency of the WTO is that it provides protection to the monopolistic control of technologies but prohibits the monopolistic pricing of natural resources. He argues that the...

Faces of Globalization

Jong-Heon Lee July 1, 2004
Korean films have recently experienced increased popularity such that they now control 70 percent of the domestic market share, a figure which is up from 35.1 percent in 2000. Whereas, in the past, South Korean films were of poor quality and attracted few viewers, now the industry is producing blockbusters like "Taegukgi" (the South Korean national flag) which not only fared well...

Brazil's Big Stake in Cotton Likely to Become Bigger

Todd Benson June 29, 2004
For some time now, Brazil has been a leading critic of cotton subsidies of over $3 billion paid out to American cotton growers. Its stand against such supports, which leads to increased output in the US and artificially depresses global prices, is finally paying off. With the World Trade Organization ruling in early June that American cotton subsidies violated international trade rules, Brazil is...

Can Corporations Safeguard Labor and Human Rights?

Susan Ariel Aaronson June 24, 2004
Recent scandals over US mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan have badly tarnished America’s human rights record. Grave as the abuses are, says globalization scholar Susan Ariel Aaronson, the Bush administration can help restore at least a measure of goodwill by promoting human rights and labor protections in the factories of US-based multinational corporations. The anti-...

Korean Businesses Ride Russian Economy

Kim Jung-min June 18, 2004
South Korean businesses' early entry into the Russian Federation and their aggressive manner in marketing seem to have paid off. Korean products have gained brand recognition among Russian consumers and are nowadays often put on the top shelves in stores around the country, some even earning the prestigious Narodnaya Marka title for "National Brands" from the government. Indeed, as...