In The News

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August 29, 2004

Week in Economics: Sign of Slowdown

Anna Fifield August 27, 2004
A Financial Times weekly roundup of economic news demonstrates a projected slowdown in the world economy. In China, dependence on agricultural imports has raised concerns about food security, and the IMF is projecting a significant reduction in the country's economic growth rate. Despite a continued increase in Japanese exports, meanwhile, domestic investment and consumer spending in...

Certified Globalization

Tim Bartley August 26, 2004
In recent years, certification – private regulation of corporate labor and environmental practices – has developed through complex interactions with and reactions to governments, NGOs, and corporations. Indiana University sociologist Tim Bartley traces this history and outlines the controversy surrounding the adoption of these standards. While critics view certification as thinly veiled...

Coping with World Population Boom and Bust – Part II

Joseph Chamie August 24, 2004
In a growing number of countries, average fertility rates have fallen below replacement levels, the numbers necessary to ensure stable population. While concerns about shrinking populations have arisen in the past, the issue now affects almost all regions of the world. In the second installment of a two-part series, UN demographer Joseph Chamie details governments' struggles to curb the...

The Barrel of the Gun, How Not to Promote Democracy

Ronald Meinardus August 23, 2004
The spread of democracy and globalization – defining characteristics of the modern era – have resulted in the erosion of national sovereignty, according to this op-ed from the Jakarta Post. The author contends that information technology, failed authoritarian regimes, and pure human nature facilitated the worldwide proliferation of democracy. A byproduct of this spread is the seemingly...

Coping with World Population Boom and Bust – Part I

Joseph Chamie August 19, 2004
The world’s population - currently at 6.4 billion - has quadrupled over the past century. In the first of a two-part series, UN demographer Joseph Chamie says that the global population boom has been accompanied by revolutionary changes in life expectancy, fertility, population aging, and large-scale migration – issues that will fundamentally shape the politics of the next century. Even with...

Olympics in an Age of Global Broadcasting

Emma Wensing August 10, 2004
For forty years now, the Olympic Games have been televised to audiences around the globe, providing a public forum for assertions of national greatness and claims of superiority. In this context, writes Olympics scholar Emma Wensing, international sport "can be seen as a substitute for war, as physical prowess becomes a measure of a nation’s standing on an international stage." Yet...