I remember when my small town lost its last family owned and run pharmacy — a beautiful, old, turn of the century store and a high quality company that the family had managed over four generations of pharmacists. In fact, the pharmacist-owners had loved their jobs and helped each other in work while simultaneously knowing most of their long-standing customers and[Read More…]

      One of the most significant commitments of last five decade of twentieth century has been to economic growth and trade expansion, and we have been spectacularly successful in accomplishing the both. Global economic output expanded from $3.8 trillion in 1950 to $18.9 trillion in 1992, nearly a fivefold increase. And to achieve that economic growth and trade[Read More…]

In last five decade of twentieth century has been perhaps the most remarkable in period of human history in terms of scientific development as we have unlocked countless secrets. In this same period saw the creation of institution of global governance: the United Nations, the International monetary fund, the world bank, and the GATT which turned into World trade organization.[Read More…]

by E Ahmet Tonak and Vijay Prashad An article written by authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge for Bloomberg on March 24 sounded the alarm to announce the end of “the second great age of globalization.” The Western trade war and sanctions against China that predated the pandemic have now been joined by the stiff Western sanctions imposed against Russia after it[Read More…]

As global connections continue to develop in the twenty-first century under the conditions of globalization, periphery and semi-periphery nations try to adapt to the norms of core countries with the aim of developing a similar global influence as developed nations. Throughout history, people of different cultures have migrated to countries with cultures different from theirs. As people move from location[Read More…]

It seems like just a few short years ago that the theoretical economists and the insatiable capitalists were head-over-heels in love with globalization. And why not? As a continuation of old-style colonialism wealthy nations go anywhere on the planet to find the cheapest resources with the least amount of pesky environmental or labor regulations and pocket enormous profits when they[Read More…]

          In recent years a fierce debate has erupted in several countries regarding the impact of various free trade agreements. It is increasingly realized by people that what was publicized in glowing terms to them has turned out to be very harmful for them while some powerful interests may have gained. People are also realizing how big multinational companies often[Read More…]

IMF and WB do not function like UN agencies on a ‘One nation, one vote’ system. Voting power is pegged to the size of economy and on financial contribution to the WB. The after effects of some of the decisions of IMF/WB are as under: In 1994, Zambia declared that it could not hire an additional 9,000 school teachers it[Read More…]

It is overwhelming to assimilate what is really going on around us, from personal to socio-political to global. No one truly knows all sides of a story. The underlying story in the global media seems to be of doom, from climate catastrophe to rising fascism to the finanancialisation of every aspect of our life. As Michael Parenti said, “The dirty[Read More…]

During the early days of the coronavirus lockdowns, in some quarters there was a certain degree of optimism around. Although millions of people were suffering, the hope was that the Covid-19 crisis would shine light on societal and economic systems across the world, exposing some of the deep-rooted flaws of capitalism. There was a belief that people working together with their respective[Read More…]

“The only way to counter globalisation—just a plot of land in some central place, keep it covered in grass, let there be a single tree, even a wild tree.” This is how dear friend and eminent writer Mahasweta Devi, who passed away on July 28, at the age of 90, quietly laid out her imagination for freedom in our times[Read More…]

Implicit in all the rhetoric promoting globalization is the premise that the rest of the world can and should be brought up to the standard of living of the West, and America in particular. For much of the world the American Dream – though a constantly moving target – is globalization’s ultimate endpoint.

The world’s economies are facing a glut and there is excess manufacturing capacity, amounting to almost 30%, and China is no less a culprit with almost 40% overcapacity. The “Johnny-Come-Lately”, India is going to face a stone wall with its efforts to build a huge manufacturing capacity to take on China at this stage. And the trillions of dollars of investment required are supposed to be met through FDI inflows. The first question that stares us in the face is, “who in his right mind will be willing to invest in new manufacturing capacity, when there is so much over capacity coupled with slackening demand?”