Globalization Audio

How can we understand the dynamics of globalization? Author David Singh Grewal explains that the idea of network power supplies a coherent set of terms and concepts, which are applicable to individuals, businesses, and countries alike.

French intellectual Laurent Cohen-Tanugi argues that economic globalization exists in a complex dialectic with the traditional geopolitics that it has, ironically, helped to revive.

One strategy to improve the economies of the Middle East would be to reverse the brain drain, a development that contributed to the high tech sector in Taiwan and India. Marcus Noland and Michelle Wucker discuss whether public policies can contribute to this process.

Does labor abuse and outright slavery still exist in the United States? Yes, says author and journalist John Bowe, who travels from Florida to U.S.-owned Saipan to investigate modern global slave labor.

In a lively session, Ethan Kapstein of INSEAD proposes just what the international community can reasonably do to build a global economy that will be fairer to all.

Economist Joseph Stiglitz offers new thinking about the questions that shape the globalization debate, including a plan to restructure the global financial system, ideas for how countries can grow without degrading the environment, and a framework for free and fair global trade.

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz details what a trade agreement might look like if based on principles of economic analysis and social justice for the world economy. He points to how less developed countries are currently disadvantaged in the negotiating process.

Moises Naim explains that the counterfeit trade is worth 630 billion dollars a year, including fake airplane parts, medicines and even gas stations, and growth in trading people, arms and drugs is equally staggering.

Political economist Benjamin Friedman argues that economic growth is a prerequisite for a liberal, open society. He contends that it encourages tolerance, democracy and generous public support for the poor, while economic stagnation and insecurity result in the very opposite.

A distinguished panel of Kemal Davis, Steve Macedo, and Mary Robinson outline the problems of growing inequality caused by globalization and propose practical solutions. Moderated by Gideon Rose.

William Easterly, Joseph Stiglitz, and Michael Weinstein discuss the main features of globalization, asking what is new, what drives the process, how it changes politics, and how it affects global institutions like the UN.

Economist Clyde Prestowitz believes that the United States is sliding toward economic decline under globalization, arguing that these trends are creating not only increased economic strength in Asia, but also geopolitical power.

Globalization, particularly outsourcing, is leveling the playing field around the world, says columnist Thomas Friedman, making India a major player.

While a leading free trade proponent, professor Jagdish Bhagwati does not advocate total laissez-faire economics. Instead he argues that continued globalization needs to be "managed."

"We are creating new and ever more dangerous problems for ourselves simply by doing what it is that we like to do," says Walter Russell Mead, "And the idea that more capitalism necessarily creates more stability in the world is an illusion...." We must get our foreign policy back on track.