Globalización

Reviewed by Luz María de la Mora, Trade Representative of the Mexican Ministry of Economy at the EU, Brussels

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was agreed, thousands of maquiladoras (assembly plants) have sprung up along the Mexican side of the Mexico/US border. Around a million workers are subject to violations of their human, labour, and health rights, the author argues, and this is a by-product of `free trade'. Abell advocates worker organising, appropriate training and access to information, and international solidarity, in order to avoid such abuses here and in the growing number of export processing zones (EPZs) around the world.

A fundamental question to be decided at the November/December 1999 World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting is whether to support or resist a new round of trade negotiations. The author argues that while many developing countries, and development NGOs, are right to feel that the earlier Uruguay round produced results skewed in favour of developed countries, there is nothing to be gained from resisting a new round: rather, developing countries should signal their willingness to get involved, but only if certain conditions are met.

Describing the way globalisation has affected India over the last decade, the author considers the impact of these changes on women, in the main areas of `development' due to globalisation: commercialisation, capitalisation, foreign trade orientation, and financialisation and industrial restructuring. She develops the point that the `skewed income and wealth' structure in India, and the gender discrimination suffered by women, has not altered in the face of the changes brought by globalisation: women continue to lose out, and are losing out more severely than before.

The author, the former president of Tanzania, answers this question resoundingly in the negative, arguing that while universal social principles may be possible, the inequity of wealth alone between countries means that social standards cannot currently be universally applied and adhered to. He goes on to argue that the equality of sovereign nations should be the basis for international economic, social, and political relations.

The author differentiates between globalism, an ideology, and globalisation, a process that affects us all. He compares globalism and nationalism, considering the positive, negative, and similar, aspects of each, using examples from Eastern Europe where a struggle is taking place between the two, interdependent, ideologies. He advocates 'the constant presence of both to avoid the hegemony of either'. This article is freely available as a chapter in Development and Culture.

Este artículo estudia a la naturaleza y alcance de la privatización a través del mundo, incluyendo un análisis de las entidades o intereses que promueven a esta política como si fuera una `panacea'. Identifica a un número de respuestas que los sindicatos de trabajadores del sector público han hecho a dichas políticas, especialmente donde éstas fueron impulsadas desde un punto de vista ideológico.

Iniciativas recientes de la OECD, el Banco Mundial, y de otros organismos en el área de la corrupción han recibido una amplia atención. Sin embargo, los autores argumentan que la incidencia de la corrupción está muy ligada a la contratación de servicios, las concesiones, y la privatización, donde las multinacionales con base en los países de la OECD están bien ubicadas para ganar negocios lucrativos.

This international NGO conference was held in Birmingham, England, in January 1999, to explore `the opportunities for civic action that global trends are creating for NGOs.' Discussions around NGOs and aid, capacity building, civil society, social capital, complex political emergencies, community development, advocacy, gender and microfinance took place, and the author highlights the most interesting points from each of these sessions.

In this personal Viewpoint, the author argues that globalisation has led to increased inequity in health and healthcare provision, just as it aggravates social inequity in general. He highlights the growing sacrifice of equity to efficiency, and the complicity of `elite' countries and companies in the deterioration of social conditions. Medical knowledge is being traded as a for-profit commodity, and the benefits of globalisation and liberalisation are bypassing poorer countries because of the concern for profit.