To be radical, in the oldest sense of the word, is to go to the root. One strength of truly progressive analysis is that it places what appear to be isolated events in a larger context. It seeks to make connections between seemingly disparate political issues by revealing underlying ideological frameworks.

(Editor’s Note: The failure of the Cancun WTO ministerial may eventually come to be viewed as marking the end of the current global trade agenda. Given the existing lack of multilateral consensus, the immediate future promises a shift of negotiating strategy toward bilateral agreements. This shift is a transitional moment, which brings with it opportunity and risk. The opportunity is to craft an historic new progressive multilateral trade agenda based on a North-South grand bargain involving agricultural trade policy reform in return for trade-related labor and environmental standards. The risk is that bilateral negotiations could be used to weaken existing labor protections and introduce undesirable investment rules that create global lock-in. For this reason, the debates over FTAA, CAFTA, and other country agreements matter very much, since they will impact the space for future multilateral agreements. As part of its commitment to provide prescriptions as well as timely critiques of U.S. foreign policy, Foreign Policy In Focus is producing this discussion paper by economist Thomas Palley. We welcome your comments, criticisms, suggestions and responses. Please send them to FPIF co-editor John Gershman <john@irc-online.org>.)