People looking to get excited about American democracy in an election year needn’t look further than the current proposals on poor country debt relief from multilateral institutions being put forward by the presidential campaigns. This has gone from an issue that concerned only a few committed activists to one that engages the political mainstream.
Key Points
The Bush administration has pledged $350 million to tsunami relief. ItÂs a safe bet that at least $248 million of that money will be spent right here in the U.S.
Good governance. Consultation. Participation.
He wasn’t in the room when President George W. Bush announced it on Wednesday, but somewhere, Vice President Dick Cheney must have been smiling–well, smirking–when the commander-in-chief’s voice coupled the improbable name Paul Wolfowitz with the title “President of the World Bank.”
A steady feature in Pope John Paul II’s obituaries has been mention of his unwaveringly conservative stances on issues such as abortion, birth control, gay rights, and the ordination of women. While these positions were sources of consternation for many American Catholics, they far from represent the whole of John Paul’s ethical beliefs. Particularly in his teachings about the global economy, the Pope advanced a vision of social justice that challenges the current, narrow political debate about "moral values."
Two contradictory visions of globalization are sweeping around the world: one favors a top-down model of economic development via militaristic, corporate aggression. The other favors grassroots-led, democratic pluralism and seeks to produce diverse local development models suited to the needs of local communities.
When historians look back over the past 25 years, one of the great crimes they will identify is the Third World debt crisis.
en Espanol: El Legado de Iglesias y el Futuro del BID