2003-04 International Focus Year Colloquium: "Globalization: 21st Century Challenges"

Since the 1960s, the forces of globalization have been transforming the world in every imaginable way. The most obvious changes have taken place in a global production system driven by rapid technological change. The international economic and financial system is characterized by historic levels of trade in goods and services and capital flows. Economic growth and progress has been accompanied by periods of economic and financial instability, an expansion in the level of global poverty, an acceleration of public health challenges, and enormous environmental pressures upon the earth. The end of the cold war brought forward a decade of rapid economic expansion for the advanced industrial countries and a global transition toward economic liberalization and democracy. The early years of the 21st century have seen the return of economic instability and a political and cultural backlash against the globalization dynamics of the 1990s. The role and function of international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations are now in question. The Post-9/11 world of the on-going “War Against Terrorism” and the aftermath of the Iraq war have delivered the global system into a period of great uncertainty.  (learn more)

Schedule of Events:

“The Bush Doctrine and Latin America: Recolonization and Resistance”
James Petras
Sept.  4, 2003
7:30 p.m.
The Forum

“International Aid Policy: Effective versus Humanitarian Aid?”
Patrice M. Franko
Oct.  30, 2003
7:30 p.m.
The Forum

“Global HIV/AIDS Policy: Asking the Right Questions”
Eileen Stillwaggon
March 25, 2004
7:30 p.m.
The Forum

“Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict — a Post-Iraq Perspective”
Michael T. Klare
April  15, 2004
7:30 p.m.
The Forum