The rules of globalization

The real threat to the global trading system isn't posed by anti-globalization activists, says Dani Rodrik

Published May 21, 2008 7:37PM (EDT)

Responding to the argument that Nancy Pelosi's effective suspension of "fast track" approval of trade bills has led to a "time out" on trade, Harvard economist Dani Rodrik makes a sound point:.

If this is indeed a time out, I say "good"! For the real threat to the global trading system today is not that we will forgo signing more trade agreements, but that we will fail to implement the reforms needed to sustain globalization. By presenting the debate as one between globalizers and anti-globalizers (instead of what it really is: a debate over the rules that govern globalization) globalization's cheerleaders are radicalizing and doing considerably more damage to the economic system they admire so much.


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

MORE FROM Andrew Leonard


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Globalization How The World Works