In The News

"Suitcase Without A Handle": Brazil's Expression, Mercosur's Fate?

Marcos Jank October 14, 2004
Latin American trade alliance Mercosur, the world's fourth-largest economic entity (trailing the EU, the United States and Japan), may be facing an existential crisis. According to this analysis from InfoBrazil, a stalemate between major players Argentina and Brazil has stalled Mercosur’s progress. Argentina's isolationist tendencies present a fundamental incompatibility with the goal...

G-Force

October 11, 2004
Building on the creation of the G7, several countries have conspired to establish their own G-titled alliances. Although G7 still dominates policy in international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, these "alphanumeric bodies" have largely ceased to have meaning. Perennial problems, such as the perpetual pegging of the Chinese yuan to the...

Patriot Qualms

Paula R. Newberg October 6, 2004
The repercussions of the 2001 US Patriot Act are especially damaging to foreign aid and humanitarian relief. Provisions aiming to undercut terrorist funding have contributed to greater woes for organizations seeking financial backing. Washington-mandated bureaucratic gymnastics have rendered humanitarianism "a logistics nightmare," according to Brookings Institution scholar Paula R....

Where Have All the Protesters Gone?

James H. Mittelman October 4, 2004
The prevalent discourse on globalization seems to feature two sides pitted irrevocably against each other: supporters – corporate proponents of hi-tech, free-market promises – and the opposition – gangs of dreadlocked youth engaged in rowdy demonstrations. Yet this polarization of "boardroom versus protesters" is a caricature of a more complicated reality. Globalization scholar James...

Making Globalization Work for All

Jeffrey D. Sachs October 2, 2004
When world leaders met at the UN’s Millennium Assembly four years ago, they laid out ambitious proposals to alleviate global poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy. Yet in spite of a rhetorical commitment to development, says economist Jeffrey Sachs, rich nations like the US have been unwilling to commit the necessary aid. Much of the developing world is experiencing rising poverty and needs...

Fifty Dollar Oil

September 29, 2004
Forecast violence in the Niger Delta recently startled an already jumpy oil market. The double-punch of this insurgency and other negative news has brought the cost of oil in the United States close to US$50 per barrel, the highest price recorded to date. Why the extraordinary spike? Oil traders may be partially to blame. Opec nations, who import in foreign currency, may have difficulty...

Transcript of 'Yellow in a White World'

Harold Hongju Koh September 27, 2004
Globalization of Yale University began early. To mark the 150th anniversary of the graduation of the first Chinese student Yung Wing from Yale, Asian American Cultural Center and other organizations launched a lecture series. The first lecture entitled, "Yellow in a White World", was delivered by Harold Koh, Dean of the Yale Law School on September 27, 2004.