In The News

Why Are Globalizers So Provincial?

Alice H. Amsden January 31, 2002
A quick review of the national origins of leaders at the upcoming 2002 World Economic Forum reveals the provincial nature of purportedly global economic organizations. In order for institutions like the World Trade Organization to live up to their name, says MIT scholar Alice H. Amsden, leaders from semi-industrialized countries like Brazil, Mexico and China must be allowed among international...

Globalization Lessons from History

Harold James January 29, 2002
History professor Harold James argues that the political challenges globalization presents today are similar to the challenges at the turn of the twentieth century. These problems drive a wedge between the normal left/right division. As James notes, “a triple division, between anti-globalisation conservatives, pro-globalisation liberals and redistributionist leftists” occurs. With the...

That Dog Won’t Bark

William Safire January 24, 2002
China remains silent after it discovers 27 spying devices in a plane sold to them by the United States; Russia welcomes NATO to its borders; the Arab street does not publicly criticize the invasion of fellow religious extremists in Afghanistan. Why is it that whenever the United States resolves to “go it alone” anticipated opposition seems to melt away? Safire asserts that part of the reason is...

WTO Director-general Warns on Global Trading

Frances Williams November 10, 2001
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is recognized as the major trade organization of the world, but the emergence of many regional trade agreements (RTAs) has posed risks to global trade, according to the WTO director-general Mike Moore. Moore asserts that RTAs are developing their own rules within a specific region, which may make future negotiations at the WTO more difficult. Currently in...

Yes, This Is About Islam

Salman Rushdie November 2, 2001
In this New York Times op-ed article, controversial novelist Salman Rushdie rejects the official US stance that the war against terrorism is not about Islam. The US dissociates terrorism from Islam to maintain the global coalition against terrorism that necessarily includes Muslim countries. However, Rushdie says, Muslim demonstrations around the world in support of Osama bin Laden and the much...

How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science

Dennis Overbye October 30, 2001
While Europe was lost in the superstition of the Middle Ages, science reigned in the Muslim world as thinkers strove to understand the workings of Allah. The Koran was at once a source of inspiration for studying natural phenomena and comprehending them. Thus, astronomy, math, and other sciences flourished across the Islamic belt for centuries until science, for many reasons, began to decline....

Net gains for citizens

John W. Hunt September 28, 2001
Governments cut costs and improve service by putting more of their information and services online. The main obstacle, however, is access to the internet. A report by McKinsey Quarterly gives a model to implement web-based government services. The model follows three stages: 1) outsourcing of government services to a private supplier, 2) inter-departmental cooperation or “one-stop shopping” to...