In a Globalized World, Winners and Losers
Published: October 22, 2008 [New York Times]
To the Editor:
Re “The Great Iceland Meltdown” (column, Oct. 19):
Writing about the current financial debacle, Thomas L. Friedman holds that in a globalizing world, “we are all partners now.” He hopes that “globalization will saveth.”
More than 20 years ago, a global commission headed by Willy Brandt, the former chancellor of West Germany, called for a partnership in international development. What have been the results?
At this month’s civil society forum (in which I participated), held just before the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings, representatives of grass-roots movements complained that the United States and other major powers still doggedly refuse to negotiate their lifestyles.
The market-driven form of globalization cannot “saveth” in the absence of democratic accountability and without restructuring the debt sustainability framework for developing countries.
James H. Mittelman
Bethesda, Md., Oct. 19, 2008
The writer, a professor of international affairs at American University, is the author of books about globalization.