globalization

Latin American Historians, Diplomats Slam The Economist for Racist Description

Historians Alex Aviña and Ignacio Sánchez Prado say the magazine blamed the quality of workers for Latin America's slower economic development, echoing centuries-old tropes rooted in racism. 

Coca Cola Can't Go Green While Selling Drinks Cold

by Bart Elmore

If the worldwide beverage giant wants to reduce its carbon footprint, it's time for it to reverse its historical commitment to make its drinks available cold—in electric coolers—across the globe.

Why "Progressives" Want to go Back to the 1950s

by Walter Russell Mead

Biden's developing economic and trade policies reflect a turning away from the free market "Washington Consensus" led by Democratic policymakers like Larry Summers. The political benefits of embracing protection, populism and labor seem clear, but the economic effects are uncertain. 

The Liberal Order Can't Defend Itself by Repeating History

by Peter Trubowitz and Brian Burgoon

Political leaders hoping to defend the liberal international order often invoke the Cold War idea of nations joining forces against the threat of Communism. They forget the lesson that western industrial nations built a sense of shared purpose around expanded democracy and domestic social security. 

Is Globalization Changing Mexico's Relationship to Death?

by Humberto Beck

Post-revolutionary Mexico embraced cultural commemorations of the dead—Diá de los Muertos—to help conceal the violence of the regime's rise. Now, that "traditional" culture is again being transformed by global cultural appropriation and the escalating violence of global drug trafficking.

The Bitter, Contested History of Globalization

Tara Zahra's book places the conflicts of the middle of the 20th century in the context of profound global debates about how interconnected the world should be, and on whose terms. 

Do Sanctions on Russia Portend a Return to the Interwar Order of Trade Blocs?

by Carl J. Strikwerda

The economic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised the specter of a new Cold War. But a better—and scarier—analogy might be the drastic contraction of global trade and the rise of colonial and imperial trade blocs between the World Wars. 

The Redistributive Agenda of the New International Economic Order, and How the IMF Thwarted It

by Sarah Babb

Henry Kissinger responded diplomatically to demands from Third World nations for changes in trade and investment rules to alleviate inequality with a pragmatic approach that recognized inequality as a major issue, but prevented poor nations from forming a united front or organizing around their more radical demands. 

The First Global Deflation is On—How Bad Will it Get?

by Adam Tooze

Worldwide, central banks are following the lead of the Federal Reserve and tightening their monetary policy. `It's unclear if policymakers have thought through the effects on employment, debt, and political stability. 

Can We Have International Cooperation Without Domination?

by Jamie Martin

There is no golden age of international relations free of the coercive power of capital. A different version of internationalism is needed. 

Jamie Martin: The Rotten Roots of the IMF and World Bank

The roots of IMF and World Bank interference in the political and economic affairs of developing nations are found in the internationalism that emerged after the first world war, and its paternalist and racist worldview. 

Palm Oil is Colonialism's Continuing Nightmare

by Max Haiven

The extraction and trade in palm oil in west Africa has been at the center of two centuries of exploitation and violence, which stands to get worse as the Ukraine war threatens the world supply of competing sunflower oil. 

Bill Clinton Defends Handling of Post-Soviet Russia

"The failure of Russian democracy, and its turn to revanchism, was not catalyzed in Brussels at NATO headquarters. It was decided in Moscow by Putin."

We're Talking about Climate Change with Outdated Colonial Language

by Priya Satia

The dominant climate activist theme of sacrificing in the present to protect the future is rooted in the intellectual history of economics which has driven the profligate consumption and gross inequality that threatens the planet. 

Russian Sanctions a "Watershed" Moment in Global Economic History

by Nicholas Mulder

"Sanctions are no longer scalpel-like instruments that exploit globalisation. At their current scale, they are a tempest that will change the nature of globalisation itself in major ways."

Biden's Virtual Summit Is Only the Beginning of Securing Democracy

by Leon Fink

Biden's virtual "Summit for Democracy" was not without faults, but it made important nods toward the idea that the power, health and security of labor in the global economy is a vital part of functioning democracy. More needs to be done. 

To Grasp Geopolitical Transformations, Don't Forget to Look at the Map

by Tim Marshall

Historians and thinkers in other fields could benefit from a greater attention to geography and a greater understanding of how ideas, politics and identities are anchored to the physical space of the earth. 

Ending COVID in Our Lifetimes Requires Seeing the Bonds of Shared Humanity

by Michael Hogan

"In the end, like those who sought to escape the plague in Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,” we are all vulnerable and at risk if we do not look to see that our fellow human beings both at home and abroad are safeguarded as well."

It isn't Just the Taliban that Ousted Americans from Asia: The End of Yale-NUS

by Jim Sleeper

"A deeper reason for Singapore’s expulsion of Yale is the same one that’s been given to justify America’s expulsion from Afghanistan: For all its glitter and wealth-generating capacity, American liberal capitalism has been undermining itself with manic speed, along with the civic-republican institutions, beliefs, and liberal education that have given the system its legitimacy."

The World the Suez Canal Made

by Aaron Jakes

"The purpose of the Suez Canal, from the perspective of both the Egyptian state and its European investors, was not simply to render the world more interconnected and international transport more efficient, but to extract transit fees from the ships passing through it."