Globalisation

GLOBALISATION: West’s Loss of Gulf Funds East’s Gain

By IPS Correspondents
As politically motivated restrictions on investments by oil-rich countries intensify in the West, the sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) of the Gulf countries could opt to invest in Asia and other emerging markets despite attractive valuations in the slowing U.S and European markets.
Federico Mayor Credit:

MEDIA: IPS Has New Chairman

By Sabina Zaccaro
The IPS International Association has chosen Federico Mayor as new chair of its Board of Directors. He replaces Mario Soares, former President of Portugal (1986-1996), who has been guiding the IPS Board since 2002.
Ndougou Fall at the FAO meet. Credit: Sabina Zaccaro

DEVELOPMENT: About Farmers, Without Farmers

By Sabina Zaccaro
Record high food prices and their impact on poor countries will dominate the three-day UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) summit of world leaders that opened Tuesday in Rome. But the solutions to the food crisis cannot be left to governments only, according to several small farmers groups running a parallel civil society food forum.

DEVELOPMENT: Blessed and Cursed by Water

By IPS Correspondents
Millions of people are threatened by poor, unreliable, or non-existent water resources, and climate change could make things worse. IPS looked at some of the issues before participants at a World Bank conference on water and sanitation issues held in Oslo last week.
Glenys Kinnock Credit:

Q&A: Can Save the MDGs Yet

By Glenys Kinnock
White banners were draped across public buildings in much of Europe during 2005 as an unlikely coalition of celebrities, church groups and trade unionists took part in the Make Poverty History campaign. The Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised countries and the European Union responded by promising to double their aid to Africa by 2010 at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

ECONOMY: IMF Reforms Itself, A Little

By IPS Correspondents
The poor have been given a little more say in the IMF. It is still a small step, but the biggest such in the last 60 years.
Agricultural extension workers are central to food security. Credit: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

AFRICA: Agricultural Extension Work Both Important and Under-valued

By IPS Correspondents
At a time of international concern about the future of the world's food supply, it's a comment that gives pause for thought: "I teach university students agriculture and extension but many of them opt for other professions, especially in ICTs, because agriculture is 'for those who haven't gone to school'."

GLOBALISATION: New Curbs on Investment From the South

By Julio Godoy
Germany's decision to introduce controls on investments from the South in strategic domestic sectors is yet another indicator of growing protectionism in European and other industrialised countries against the neo-liberal globalisation they once masterminded.

GLOBALISATION: So, Back to Regulation, Then

By Julio Godoy
The financial crisis around the world marks the end of neo-liberal globalisation and the beginning of a new era of regulation of the global economy, political leaders and economists say.
A military chopper keeps vigil over Davao City Credit: Brad Miller

PHILIPPINES: Left Extremists Continue to &#39Punish&#39 Big Business

By IPS Correspondents
In the New Year's tradition of frightening off evil spirits with fireworks and noise, the communist New People's Army (NPA) ushered in 2008 by attacking the base camp of Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) in the village of Tablu, in South Cotabato province.

ECONOMY: Globalisation &#39Localises&#39 Inequality

By IPS Correspondents
Is the big North-South-divide finally diminishing? It seems to be, though slowly.

ECONOMY: Market Heating Up the Globe

By IPS Correspondents
One way to look at the climate problem is through the lens of the market. If you do, only one conclusion is possible - the climate change problem is a massive market failure, a failure of market mechanisms to factor in future costs of a change in climate in real time prices.

ECONOMY: Save the Market from Market Forces

By IPS Correspondents
Neo-liberalism is slowly fading away. That is, if we define neo-liberalism as an ideology that steadily wants to reduce and belittle the role of government, and promote ever freer markets.
Foreign workers in Japan rallying against discrimination and denial of basic rights on Sunday Credit: Catherine Makino/IPS

LABOUR-JAPAN: Foreign Workers&#39 Grievances Erupt At Rally

By IPS Correspondents
With its own population both aging and declining, Japan needs migrant workers to sustain its economy. But the government’s failure to formulate an accommodative policy was evident at a rally in the capital on Sunday attended by some 300 foreign workers.

ENVIRONMENT-PHILIPPINES: Locals Oppose Open Pit Mining For Copper, Gold

By IPS Correspondents
Under the fertile farmland and forests of southern Mindanao sits what may be one of the biggest copper deposits in South-east Asia. But whether the owners of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project should be permitted to tap the mineral lode is under question.

DEVELOPMENT-CAMBODIA: Urban-Rural Divide Set To Widen

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Phnom Penh’s skyline is set for a dramatic change, now that South Korean companies have confirmed plans to build two skyscrapers in the Cambodian capital. The 42-storey Gold Tower is scheduled to be completed by 2011, while a 53-storey structure will be ready the following year.

ECONOMY: Poll Finds Wide Perception of Unfairness

By Jim Lobe
An average of nearly two out of three people in 34 countries around the world believe that the benefits and burdens resulting from changes in their nation's economy over the last few years are not being distributed fairly, according to a new multinational survey released Thursday by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

ECONOMY: Lin Yifu&#39s World Bank Job May Add To China&#39s Clout

By IPS Correspondents
The pending appointment of a Chinese academic as chief economist in one of the world’s prime financial institutions, the World Bank, comes at a time of symbolic shifts in economic power from west to east and foreshadows a more assertive China on the international stage.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Diversity, a Birthright Waiting to Be Recognised

By Mario Osava
For many people, the World Social Forum (WSF)’s influence and effect is waning, perhaps because it has outpaced public opinion and the dominant political processes, but not the real needs of the times, which require complex and urgent solutions.
Drummers accompany marchers for the WSF&#39s Global Day of Action in Mumbai Credit: Sushovan Dhar

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Mumbai Marches on Against Globalisation

By IPS Correspondents
There was grim determination on the faces of the 500-strong crowd that marched through the streets of this western port city for the World Social Forum’s Global Day of Action on Saturday.

KENYA: Media’s Role in the Election Fallout

By IPS Correspondents
As Kenya’s tenth parliament met for the first time last week, the violence that rocked the country after the announcement of Mwai Kibaki as the presidential winner in the Dec. 2007 elections had largely died down. But the country is bracing for more violence and turmoil.
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