domenica 21 ottobre 2018

The Millennium Development Goals and beyond – The Sustainable Development Goals.

Millennium Development Goals
The goals were set for 2015 in the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000) and took as a baseline the data for 1990.
'The United Nations Foundation is committed to helping the UN achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The MDGs are a commitment by the UN to establish peace and a healthy global economy by focusing on major issues like poverty, children’s health, empowerment of women and girls, sustainable environment, disease, and development.
We believe the eighth MDG – calling for a Global Partnership for Development – is probably the most important. It reflects the fact that the fates of all people and nations are linked. Unless we can help the world’s poor create a better life, no one’s prosperity can be secure.'
Below is a list of the eight MDGs and their individual targets.
The Millennium Development Goals:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  • Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day.
  • Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education
  • Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
  • Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
4. Reduce child mortality
  • Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five.
5. Improve maternal health
  • Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  • Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
  • Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
  • Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources.
  • Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water.
  • Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020.
8. Develop a global partnership for development
  • Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction—nationally and internationally.
  • Address the least developed countries’ special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction.
  • Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States.
  • Deal comprehensively with developing countries’ debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term.
  • In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth.
  • In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
  • In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies—especially information and communications technologies.
See also:
Success, failure, progress and after 2015
First read Own the Goals by John McArthur on;
and Promises to Keep – Crafting Better Development Goals, by Bjorn Lomborg in Foreign Affairs Nov-Dec 2014
This series of short articles is also very useful
“The report said huge regional disparities existed. Almost half of the 2 billion people who have gained access to drinking water since 1990 live in China or India. Meanwhile, many countries in Africa are not on track to meet the target by 2015, with some countries actually falling back to pre-1990 rates of coverage. More than 40% of all people globally who lack access to drinking water live in sub-Saharan Africa.” 2012
This is a quote from:
also:
“Millennium Development Goals progress reports overestimate access to safe water”
“New research suggests that official reports overestimate progress towards the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for access to safe drinking water. The researchers show that the current methods oversimplify the measure by not accounting for water quality; the key measure of safety. In four of the five developing countries studied, the reduction in reported progress would be substantial. It is likely that MDG safe-water progress in other developing countries is similarly overstated …” (2012)
For full article see:
Some experts argued that global progress in trying to achieve the poverty reduction MDG was the result of economic growth, particularly in China (lifting huge numbers out of poverty) and India, rather than the result of international cooperation and aid programs based on the MDGs. Progress globally is difficult to measure and very uneven. (Sept. 2015)
Experts argued that despite global progress in poverty reduction, Africa considered separately is unlikely to meet its 2015 MDG target due to the global recession and population growth. Progress is obviously relative to the scale of the challenge and many people are unaware of the extent of the problem in Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa 43% percent of the population lived in extreme poverty in 2012 compared with 56% in 1990. (2012). In this situation any progress is of course good news but eradicating extreme poverty would seem to be a very long term goal for Africa.

What did the millennium development goals achieve?

The millennium development goals have targeted eight key areas – poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, disease, the environment and global partnership. Each goal is supported by 21 specific targets and more than 60 indicators. Below, we’ve looked at what has been achieved on some of the targets within each goal.
MDG 1: The number of people living on less than $1.25 a day has been reduced from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015, although the target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger was narrowly missed.
MDG 2: Primary school enrolment figures have shown an impressive rise, but the goal of achieving universal primary education has just been missed, with the net enrolment rate increasing from 83% in 2000 to 91% this year.
MDG 3: About two-thirds of developing countries have achieved gender parity in primary education.
MDG 4: The child mortality rate has reduced by more than half over the past 25 years – falling from 90 to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births – but it has failed to meet the MDG target of a drop of two-thirds.
MDG 5: The global maternal mortality ratio has fallen by nearly half – short of the two-thirds reduction the MDGs aimed for.
MDG 6: The target of halting and beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids by 2015 has not been met, although the number of new HIV infections fell by around 40% between 2000 and 2013.
MDG 7: Some 2.6 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water since 1990, so the target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water was achieved in 2010 – five years ahead of schedule. However, 663 million people across the world still do not have access to improved drinking water.
MDG 8: Between 2000 and 2014, overseas development assistance from rich nations to developing countries increased by 66% in real terms, and in 2013 reached the record figure of $134.8bn (£80.3bn).
Source The guardian July 2015 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/datablog/2015/jul/06/what-millennium-development-goals-achieved-mdgs
Here's another summary of the progress made according to a different source:
Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The extreme poverty rate in developing countries was at 47 percent in 1990 and has since dropped to 14 percent in 2015. In those same 25 years the global number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped from 1,926 million to 836 million. And undernourished percentage in developing countries has dropped from 23.3 to 12.9.
Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
The number of out-of-school children has dropped by half between 2000 and 2015: 100 million to 57 million. In sub-Saharan African, net enrollment rate has increased by 20 percent from 2000 to 2015. The global 8 percent increase in literacy rates has also narrowed the literacy gap between men and women.
Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
In Southern Asia, for every 100 boys enrolled in primary education, 74 girls were enrolled in 1990, and now 103 girls are enrolled for every 100 boys. In 1990 women made up 35 percent of the paid workforce outside the agricultural sector; today they make up 41 percent of said work force.
Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
The global number of deaths for children below the age of 5 has dropped from 12.7 million to 6 million between 1990 and 2015. The measles vaccination has prevented 15.6 million deaths between 2000 and 2013.
Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Globally, the mortality ration has dropped by 45 percent since 1990 with most of its decline occurring since 2000. Contraception use has increased by 9 percent among women between the ages of 15 to 49.
Goal 6: Combat HI/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
In 2003 0.8 million people with HIV were receiving Antiretroviral Therapy Treatment (ART), and by 2014 13.6 million people with HIV were receiving ART. Nine hundred million insecticide-treated mosquito nets were delivered to malaria prone countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2014.
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Since 1990, 1.9 billion people have gained access to clean, drinking tap water. Improved sanitation is now available to 2.1 billion people.
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Between 2000 and 2014, the official development assistance from developed countries rose from USD $81 billion to USD $135 billion. The global effort of the MDGs has also brought mobile-cellular signal to 95 percent of the world population, and access to Internet has grown from 6 percent to 43 percent between 2000 and 2015.
According to Ban Ki-moon, the MDGs results have taught world leaders lessons that will help with carrying out the Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years. He said, “Reflecting on the MDGs and looking ahead to the next 15 years, there is no question that we can deliver on our shared responsibility to end poverty, leave no one behind and create a world of dignity for all.”
Situation in September 2015 and serious comment on MDGs
Excellent articles from the Guardian Weekly Sept 2015, definitely to read:
Beyond 2015 – The Sustainable Development Goals

Defining Poverty

The World Bank defines poverty in absolute terms. The bank defined extreme poverty in 2008 as living on less than US$1.25 per day (PPP) based on 2005 prices (up from US$1.00 per day in 2000), and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day. It has been estimated that in 2008, 1.4 billion people had consumption levels below US$1.25 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day.
As differences in the cost of living across the world evolve, the global poverty line has to be periodically updated to reflect these changes.
In 2015, the World Bank defined extreme poverty as living on less than US$1.90 (PPP) per day using 2011 prices, and moderate poverty as less than $2 or $5 a day (but note that a person or family with access to subsistence resources, e.g., subsistence farmers, may have a low cash income without a correspondingly low standard of living – they are not living "on" their cash income but using it as a top up).
The World Bank estimates that in 2015, 702.1 million people globally were living below the poverty line, down from 1.75 billion in 1990 and just over 900 million in 2012 (based on the latest available data). Of the 702.1 million in 2015, 347.1 million people, live in sub-Saharan Africa (35.2% of the population of Africa) and 231.3 million in South Asia (13.5% of the population there).
We should also bear in mind the effect of population growth. According to latest World Bank estimates, the share of Africans who are poor fell from 56% in 1990 to 43% in 2012. However, because of population growth many more people are poor, the report says. The most optimistic scenario shows about 330 million poor in 2012, up from about 280 million in 1990.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/publication/poverty-rising-africa-poverty-report
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/global-poverty-line-faq
The Sustainable Development Goals
  1. No Poverty - End poverty in all its forms everywhere
    • Extreme poverty has been cut by more than half since 1990- however, more than 1 in 5 people live on less than $1.25 a day
    • Poverty is more than lack of income or resources- it includes lack of basic services, such as education, hunger, social discrimination and exclusion, and lack or participation in decision making.
    • Gender inequality plays a large role in the perpetuation of poverty and it's risks; They then face potentially life-threatening risks from early pregnancy, and often lost hopes for an education and a better income.
    • Age groups are affected differently when struck with poverty; its most devastating effects are on children, to whom it poses a great threat. It affects their education, health, nutrition, and security. It also negatively affects the emotional, spiritual and emotional development of children through the environment it creates.
  2. Zero Hunger - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
    • Globally, 1 in 9 people are undernourished, the vast majority of these people live in developing countries
    • Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods for 40 per cent of today’s global population. It is the largest source of income and jobs for poor rural households. Women comprise on average 43 per cent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, and over 50 per cent in parts of Asia and Africa, yet they only own 20% of the land.
    • Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45 per cent) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year.
  3. Good Health and Well-being - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
    • Significant strides have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing some of the common killers associated with child and maternal mortality, and major progress has been made on increasing access to clean water and sanitation, reducing malaria, tuberculosis, polio and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
    • However, only half of women in developing countries have received the health care they need, and the need for family planning in increasing exponentially, while the need met is growing slowly- more than 225 million women have an unmet need for contraception.
    • An important target is to substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from pollution-related diseases.
  4. Quality Education - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
    • Major progress has been made for education access, specifically at the primary school level, for both boys and girls. However, access does not always mean quality of education, or completion of primary school. Currently, 103 million youth worldwide still lack basic literacy skills, and more than 60 per cent of them are women
    • Target 1 "By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes"- shows the commitment to nondiscriminatory education outcomes
  5. Gender Equality - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
    • Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large
    • While a record 143 countries guaranteed equality between men and women in their Constitutions by 2014, another 52 had not taken this step. In many nations, gender discrimination is still woven through legal and social norms
    • Though goal 5 is the gender equality stand-alone goal- the SDG's can only be successful if women are completely integrated into each and every goal
  6. Clean Water and Sanitation - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  7. Affordable and Clean Energy - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  8. Decent Work and Economic Growth - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  10. Reduced Inequalities - Reduce income inequality within and among countries
  11. Sustainable Cities and Communities - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  12. Responsible Consumption and Production - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  13. Climate Action - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy
  14. Life Below Water - Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  15. Life on Land - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
  16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
  17. Partnerships for the Goals - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
As of August 2015, there were 169 proposed targets for these goals and 304 proposed indicators to show compliance.
Some good, critical comment on the SDGs
A report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) criticized the goals of the SDGs as not ambitious enough. Instead of aiming for an end to poverty by 2030, the report "An Ambitious Development Goal: Ending Hunger and Undernutrition by 2025" called for a greater emphasis on eliminating hunger and undernutrition and achieving that in 5 years less, by 2025. It based its claims on an analysis of the experiences from China, Vietnam, Brazil and Thailand and identifies 3 pathways to achieving this goal: agriculture-led, social protection, and nutrition intervention-led, or a combination of these approaches.
The SDGs have been criticized for being contradictory, because in seeking high levels of global GDP growth, they will undermine their own ecological objectives. It has also been noted that, in relation to the headline goal of eliminating extreme poverty, "a growing number of scholars are pointing out that $1.25 is actually not adequate for human subsistence," and the poverty line should be revised to as high as $5.
A commentary in The Economist argued that the 169 targets for the SDGs are too many, calling them "sprawling," "misconceived," and "a mess" compared to the Millennium Development Goals. It also criticised the goals for ignoring local context and promoting "cookie-cutter development policies." They claimed that all other sustainable development goals are founded on achieving SDG number one. The Economist estimated that trying to alleviate poverty and achieving the other sustainable development goals will require about US$2 trillion to 3 trillion per annum for the next 15 years, which critics do not see as being feasible. The reduction in the number of people living in abject poverty has been criticized as a result of the growth of China; the MDGs have been mistakenly credited for this drop. The SDGs have also been criticized due to the inherent shortcomings in the very concept of sustainable development and the inability of the latter to either stabilize rising carbon dioxide concentration or ensure environmental harmony.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2015/jan/19/sustainable-development-goals-changing-world-17-steps-interactive
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2015/jan/19/sustainable-development-goals-changing-world-17-steps-interactive
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/nov/26/implementing-sustainable-development-goals

Intersectoral linkages

Water, sanitation, and hygiene

WASH experts have stated that without progress on Goal 6, the other goals and targets will not be able to be achieved.

Climate change

Nations and other parties negotiating at the UN have highlighted the links between the post-2015 SDG process, the Financing for Development process to be concluded in Addis Ababa in July 2015, and the COP 21 Climate Change conference in Paris in December 2015.
In May 2015, a report concluded that only a very ambitious climate deal in Paris in 2015 will enable countries to reach the sustainable development goals and targets. The report also states that tackling climate change will only be possible if the SDGs are met; and that development and climate are inextricably linked, particularly around poverty, gender equality, and energy. The UN encourages the public sector to take initiative in this effort for minimizing negative impacts on the environment.

Women and gender equality

Despite stand-alone goals on health, gender equality and education, among others, there is widespread consensus that progress against any and all of the SDGs will be stalled if women's empowerment and gender equality is not prioritized. Arguments and evidence from sources as diverse and as economically oriented as the OECD, to expected sources such as UN Women, bolster the case that investments in women and girls impact national and global development in ways that exceed their initial scope of interest.

Economic growth and infrastructure

World Pensions Council (WPC) development economists have argued that the twin considerations of long-term economic growth and infrastructure investment weren’t addressed properly and prioritized as they should be: “More worryingly, ‘Work and Economic Growth’ and ‘Technological Innovation and Infrastructure Investment’ joined the [SDGs] priority list at N°8 and N°9 respectively, a rather mediocre ranking which defies economic common sense”



We should also consider the contradictions involved in trying to achieve goals 1-3 and 8-9 at the same time as goals 13-15, as well as problems with achieving all of the goals given current global demographic trends.
This World Bank Analysis seems very convincing:
Also interesting:
demographic trends and the SDGs http://www.un.org/press/en/2015/pop1039.doc.htm
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/02/20/poverty-has-fallen-yet-many-cambodians-are-still-at-risk-of-slipping-back-into-poverty
and this aticle makes a powerful argument:
Progress on SDGs in 2017
“Implementation has begun, but the clock is ticking,” stated Mr. Guterres. “This report shows that the rate of progress in many areas is far slower than needed to meet the targets by 2030.” a quote from the report https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/sdg-report-2017.html
and 2018
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/




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US to withdraw from missile treaty

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martedì 16 ottobre 2018

Globalization - some history and current background to go with my previous notes


Prior to World War II






After to World War II













President Trump, banking deregulation and tariffs




















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Another point to consider





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venerdì 5 ottobre 2018

Some possible essay titles so far


How would you characterize Italy's role as an active member of the international community?

How should Italy and the EU respond to the refugee and migrant challenge? How is the situation evolving?

Opportunities and challenges: economic, social and political impacts of climate change in the Arctic and the need for cooperation.

(from the 2018 concorso) Trade, multilateralism (WTO) and protectionism. Is our society becoming less global?

 What are some of the main tasks and responsibilities of diplomatic staff working abroad in Italian embassies and consulates? Give examples. What kind of qualities do these people need to have?

What are the roots of the growth in populism in Europe? Where are we heading?
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The Italian Strategy in the Mediterranean



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What are the main characteristics, benefits and drawbacks of globalization?


These notes go with the long article on globalization that I will put in the dropbox.
Globalization (or globalisation) refers to the increasingly global interconnectedness of cultures, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the increasingly global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction in barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas (as well as invisible barriers such as complex and slow bureaucracy) and the transfer of such goods and services to consumers. It also involves the freer movement and circulation of workers around the world, delocalization (relocation of factory and service providers from one country to another) and glocalization of products and services. Globalization contributes to economic growth in developed and developing countries through increased specialization and the principle of comparative advantage. All this helps to lower the price of goods and thus benefits the consumer and raises the standard of living. Globalization of financial markets makes money available at low interest rates for investment.
The rapid increase in the process of globalization has been the result of a number of factors: the end of the Cold War and the end of the relative isolation of countries like Russia, the old Warsaw Pact states and China, and their integration into the global trading system; the work of the World Trade Organization to eliminate or reduce trade barriers; the work of the World Bank, which is a lending institution whose aim is to help integrate countries into the wider world economy and promote long-term economic development; the work of the International Monetary Fund which aims at promoting global monetary cooperation and financial stability and thus supporting trade; developments in transport technologies, infrastructure and procedures and thus reductions in transport costs, e.g. container ships and ports, low-cost airlines; developments in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) that facilitate trade, e.g. the internet, cell phones and satellite technologies.
Supporters of globalization also argue that it promotes peace. In the 1960s and’70s there was very little trade between the West and the Communist bloc. Today the level of trade between, for example, the US and China or the EU and the Russian Federation is very high, and it is difficult to imagine how such trading partners could become involved in a conflict without seriously damaging their own economies (even in a situation like that in Ukraine where tensions are high).
The countries that gain least from globalization will be those least integrated within the global trading system, either by choice (by political decision and the maintenance of strong trade barriers) or through a lack of the necessary infrastructure (e.g. ports, airports and roads), or know-how and expertise, or technology, or an adequate industrial base or a secure business environment (e.g. failed or partially failed states or states with high levels of corruption, bureaucracy, red-tape and insecurity of ownership).
The term globalization can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, and popular culture, particularly via the internet and social media or on satellite TV across political borders. Many Western political commentators identify its most positive effects in the spread of democratic and human rights values at a grass roots level, a phenomenon which authoritarian regimes may find difficult to control. Paradoxically, cultural globalization in this sense may actually lead to tension and political instability, at least in the short term, as the rapid changes taking place in the Arab world demonstrate. On the other hand, globalization may lead to a mixing of cultures and an enriched, more vibrant multicultural society. This is an important argument both for the EU and for a city like New York.
Globalization also means the growing role of international organizations, both global and regional, like the UN, the WTO, the IMF or the EU and AU, and the diminishing ability of nation states to confront their problems alone – problems which are now often global challenges requiring international cooperation at an ever increasing level.
Critics of globalization make a series of points:
Globalization encourages competition to lower prices. This may damage developed economies with strong social welfare systems which find themselves in competition with countries like China where social welfare costs for companies are small or non-existent, and overheads may also be relatively low. Many Europeans commentators would argue that this aspect of globalization outweighs the benefits to Western consumers of low-cost goods because European companies will be unable to compete and either close, move their factories and other production facilities abroad where costs are lower, or outsource part, or all, of the production process to other companies located in low-cost areas. This will lead to more unemployment in the developed economies. They call for trade limits on countries like China until those countries provide their own workers with adequate health care, education and pensions. The freer movement and circulation of workers around the world has also been criticized as leading to a decline in salaries as workers from the host state compete with migrants (often willing, or forced, to work at lower pay rates and usually less organized in terms of unions), and a rise in social tensions between these two groups. There may also be rising friction due to cultural and linguistic differences. Further criticisms in this field concern the risk of increased threats to security, terrorism and pandemics. The greater volume of trade makes it difficult for the customs authorities to effectively check the goods being transported and this has, it is argued, made illegal trafficking in drugs, arms, organs and human beings easier. The same argument is made for the increased number of people moving across borders.
Globalization is criticized as producing a tendency towards a global mono culture (and the destruction of local cultures) and towards a mono culture of crops, which reduces agricultural biodiversity and could put the world at risk of sudden reductions in food production due to crop diseases.
Since the start of the current economic recession in 2008 many experts have argued that globalization makes the spread of a financial or economic crisis more likely because of the interconnectedness of the world economy, and thus renders the global trading system less stable, rather than more stable as supporters claim. However, other economists point out that this interconnectedness is not a new phenomenon as the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Depression of the 1930s demonstrates. In fact, they argue that today’s global institutions and our awareness of global economic realities have made it possible for countries to react more effectively this time by adopting common policies rather than pursuing protectionist policies as happened in the 1930s. However, the globalization of financial markets and the removal of or reduction in the rules controlling financial and banking transactions, together with the availability of credit on easy terms to those who were not really credit-worthy led, in the opinion of many critics, to a financial culture of irresponsibility based on short term gains from the stock market and property markets, and lending to high-risk borrowers rather than sound, long term investment of this money in industrial and technological projects and research. This, they say, led directly to the financial bubble and crisis in the US real estate market, in particular the sub-prime mortgage market (but also in the Spanish and Irish real estate markets). It also allowed too much lending to some states and now too much speculation against these states and their currencies (e.g. Greece, Greek Treasury bonds and the Euro) on financial markets. Critics argue that a distinction should be made between the real economy (the production of goods and services) where the bankruptcy of even the biggest company will not create an economic crisis for a government, and the financial sector where financial institutions may lend on such an enormous scale that should they face bankruptcy they put the country’s entire economic system at risk. This argument leads to the conclusion that financial institutions require much stricter regulation and oversight than other types of companies.
Critics argue that poor countries, particularly small poor countries with little or no industrial base, and thus dependent on the export of agricultural produce or raw materials are under pressure from developed economies and emerging economies to open up their economies to foreign companies. They may thus be exploited or face very great fluctuations in the global price of the commodities that they export. See the current situation:
This may prevent them from accumulating enough capital to develop and grow their economies. It is argued that they may need to protect strategic industries, with trade barriers and national institutions and management, in the early stages of the development of these industries, as most developed countries themselves (e.g. Italy and Japan) did and China still does.
Globalization has also been criticized for prioritizing global economic growth (in which it has been very successful) over global issues such as sustainable development, climate change, deforestation, the reduction in biodiversity and global warming. A series of conferences (the most recent, the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris November 2015, in Lima in December 2014, and at UN HQ in New York in September 2014) ) have attempted to address these issues, but there is great disagreement among commentators as to the effectiveness of these conferences and the extent of the progress made. Some praise conferences as a ‘breakthrough’ (the UN) in terms of commitment, while others see them as too little, too late (many NGOs).
Cultural globalization has also been criticized as leading to a dehumanized monoculture based on materialist and essentially Western values. In this context we should note the rising criticism, in the more traditional fringes of some cultures, of international institutions like the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF and even the UN itself as Western (i.e. ‘foreign’) and imperialist.
Finally, globalization has also given international criminal and terrorist organizations more space to operate and these threats to security will require an ongoing, collective response.
Conclusion – Concern about a trade war and a sudden reversal of the trend to economic globalization is rising with President Trump tariffs on Chinese imports, and the Chinese response, and his use of the threat of tariffs in negotiations with Europe, Mexico and Canada. A trade war would, in the opinion of most economists be disastrous. However, the reintroduction of more effective rules to govern international finance is an aim shared by the EU and many experts, but Trump has moved in the opposite direction
See also: https://youngdip.blogspot.com/2018/10/globalization-some-history-and-current.html
A re-examination of the terms of trade between developed, emerging, and developing countries is also clearly necessary and the goal of ongoing global negotiations. Moreover, as many of the problems of the 21st century are now on a global scale only shared global strategies and cooperation will succeed in dealing with them (e.g. climate change and the COP21 meeting in Paris in 2015). As Sustainable Development Goal 17 makes clear, in order to deal with the problems caused or made worse by population trends a global partnership will be necessary. However, critics argue that so far negotiations on global challenges have produced only modest consensus and even less in terms of practical results.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/20/the-guardian-view-on-globalisation-its-death-is-the-making-of-it
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/25/dead-end-globalisation-youth-rage
2018 Trump, Tariffs, Aims, Trade War? Dangers?


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