World Bank Archives - Page 7 of 19 - Foreign Policy In Focus

A Third Way: Globalization from the Bottom

by Abbas Jaffer, Erik Leaver | Aug 5, 2008

Just as many books have been written as there are individual viewpoints on the crises related to globalization. Mark Engler’s new title How to Rule the World: the Coming Battle Over the Global Economy has some unique offerings. It offers insight about the different currents at play in globalization, along with some new analysis about the rise of a distinct globalization that promotes social and economic democracy. This new movement is people-powered, and its future is promising.

The Food Crisis and Global Institutions

by Emily Schwartz Greco, Alexandra Spieldoch | Aug 5, 2008

Flooding the Future

by Laura Carlsen, John Feffer | Jul 3, 2008

When peasant farmers in Cacahuatepec set out to work in their fields in January 2003 they found heavy equipment bulldozing down the corn, fruit trees, and fences they depend on for survival. The indigenous Nahuatl communities of this region in the mountains above Acapulco demanded an explanation from Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission and for months received no answers.

The Commodities Bubble

by Sameer Dossani, Emily Schwartz Greco | Jun 27, 2008

For those following economic trends, the past 18 months are notable primarily for two reasons. First, the U.S. housing market, long seen as overvalued by alternative economists and even powerful economic institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), finally went from boom to bust. Over the span of a few months, housing in some markets depreciated by as much as 30%, and some economists estimate that losses may ultimately reduce value by as much as 50% in some cities.

Africa’s Unnatural Disaster

by Sameer Dossani, Emily Schwartz Greco | Jun 26, 2008

While the mainstream media doesn’t always ignore the pressing issue of hunger in Africa, it rarely explores the root causes of this problem. Behind most news on the issue, there’s an assumption that casts hunger as a natural result of unfortunate weather conditions, coupled with bureaucratic inefficiency and bad economic planning.

Mother Earth’s Triple Whammy

by John Feffer | Jun 17, 2008

This essay originally appeared in TomDispatch, a website run by Tom Engelhardt and associated with The Nation magazine.

Destroying African Agriculture

by Walden Bello, John Feffer | Jun 3, 2008

Biofuel production is certainly one of the culprits in the current global food crisis. But while the diversion of corn from food to biofuel feedstock has been a factor in food prices shooting up, the more primordial problem has been the conversion of economies that are largely food-self-sufficient into chronic food importers. Here the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) figure as much more important villains.

The Second Shockwave

by John Feffer, Michael Klare | Mar 18, 2008

While the economic contraction is apparently slowing in the advanced industrial countries and may reach bottom in the not-too-distant future, it’s only beginning to gain momentum in the developing world, which was spared the earliest effects of the global meltdown. Because the crisis was largely precipitated by a collapse of the housing market in the United States and the resulting disintegration of financial products derived from the “securitization” of questionable mortgages, most developing nations were unaffected by the early stages of the meltdown, for the simple reason that they possessed few such assets.

Chomsky on the Rise of the South

by John Feffer, Michael Shank | Jan 30, 2008

Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On January 15, Michael Shank interviewed him on the latest developments in U.S. policy toward regional challenges to U.S. power. In the second part of this two-part interview, Chomsky also discussed the Bank of the South, nationalization of resources, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Michael Shank: In December 2007, seven South American countries officially launched the Bank of the South in response to growing opposition to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other International Financial Institutions. How important is this shift and will it spur other responses in the developing world? Will it at some point completely undermine the reach of the World Bank and the IMF?

Balis Business-As-Usual Mandate

by Janet Redman, Emily Schwartz Greco | Dec 24, 2007

Following two weeks of climate talks in Bali that brought together nearly 190 countries and more than 10,000 delegates, observers and activists, it looks like there’s very little to show for negotiations that were less about urgent climate action than business as usual.