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Introduction to Global Issues - World Bank

11 Introduction to Global Issues VINAYBHARGAVAMore than at any other time in history, the future of humankind isbeing shaped by Issues that are beyond any one nation s abilityto solve. Climate change, avian flu, financial instability, terrorism, waves ofmigrants and refugees, water scarcities, disappearing fisheries, stark andseemingly intractable poverty all of these are examples of Global issueswhosesolution requires cooperation amongnations. Each issue seems at first to belittle connected to the next; the problems appear to come in all shapes andfrom all directions. But if one reflects a moment on these examples, somecommon features soon become apparent: Each issue affects a large number of people on different sides ofnational boundaries. Each issue is one of significant concern, directly or indirectly, to all ormost of the countries of the World , often as evidenced by a major or the holding of a Global conference on the issue . Each issue has implications that require a Global regulatory approach;no one government has the power or the authority to impose a solu-tion, and market forces alone will not solve the problem.

Some Definitions Global issues, globalization, and global public goods are related but differing concepts. Globalization generally refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade, production chains

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Transcription of Introduction to Global Issues - World Bank

1 11 Introduction to Global Issues VINAYBHARGAVAMore than at any other time in history, the future of humankind isbeing shaped by Issues that are beyond any one nation s abilityto solve. Climate change, avian flu, financial instability, terrorism, waves ofmigrants and refugees, water scarcities, disappearing fisheries, stark andseemingly intractable poverty all of these are examples of Global issueswhosesolution requires cooperation amongnations. Each issue seems at first to belittle connected to the next; the problems appear to come in all shapes andfrom all directions. But if one reflects a moment on these examples, somecommon features soon become apparent: Each issue affects a large number of people on different sides ofnational boundaries. Each issue is one of significant concern, directly or indirectly, to all ormost of the countries of the World , often as evidenced by a major or the holding of a Global conference on the issue . Each issue has implications that require a Global regulatory approach;no one government has the power or the authority to impose a solu-tion, and market forces alone will not solve the problem.

2 These commonalities amount almost to a definition of Global issue , andawareness of them will help throughout this book in identifying other suchissues besides those named above. First, however, a few other definitions anddistinctions will further clarify just what we mean by Global would like to thank Cinnamon Dornsife, Michael Treadway, Jean-Fran ois Rischard, and AsliGurkan for their advice and comments on earlier versions of this 06/28/2006 07:06 PM Page 1 Some DefinitionsGlobal Issues , globalization , and Global public goods are related but differingconcepts. Globalizationgenerally refers to the increasing integration ofeconomies around the World , particularly through trade, production chains(where parts for a final good, such as an automobile, are produced in onecountry and assembled in another), and financial flows. The term increasinglyalso refers to the movement of people and of information (including not onlyfinancial and other raw data but ideas, fashions, and culture as well) acrossinternational borders.

3 globalization can be understood as a driving forceaffecting many Global Issues , from migration to fair trade to debt relief. The concept of Global public goodsis a more recent one, and indeed itsdimensions and implications are still being worked out by researchers andpolicy analysts. The International Task Force on Global Public Goods hasdefined international public goods (a term that includes both Global andregional public goods) as goods and services that address Issues that: (i) aredeemed to be important to the international community, to both developedand developing countries; (ii) typically cannot, or will not, be adequatelyaddressed by individual countries or entities acting alone; and, in such cases(iii) are best addressed collectively on a multilateral basis. 1By this definition,most but not all of the Global Issues addressed in this book involve the creationof or the failure to create Global public goods. We will return to the topicof Global public goods later in the Global Issues Do We Face Today?

4 Global Issues are present in all areas of our lives as citizens of the World . Theyaffect our economies, our environment, our capabilities as humans, and ourprocesses for making decisions regarding cooperation at the Global level(which this book will call Global governance). These Issues often turn out to beinterconnected, although they may not seem so at first. For example, energyconsumption drives climate change, which in turn threatens marine fisheriesthrough changes in ocean temperature and chemistry, and other foodresources through changes in rainfall patterns. For purposes of this book wegroup Global Issues into the five thematic areas shown in Table Of course,there are also other possible categorizations and other approaches to all of the Issues listed in Table are discussed in this book. Rather,we have tried to cover the most important ones in each of the categories inTable where the World Bank has expertise. Global Issues in the area ofGlobal Issues for Global 06/28/2006 07:06 PM Page 2peace and security are also very important but are beyond the expertise andmandate of the World Bank.

5 The book therefore has four parts, covering theglobal economy, Global human development, the Global environment andnatural resources, and Global governance. Each part has several chapters, eachof which covers one of the Global Issues listed in Table chapter begins by defining the issue and identifying what makes itglobal in scope. The chapter then explores the key underlying forces thatshape the issue , the consequences of addressing or not addressing it, and pos-sible solutions, controversies, and international actions already under way orproposed. Each chapter ends with a brief review of the World Bank s ownperspectives on the issue and its role in seeking solutions. What follows is abrief Introduction to the four thematic areas and the Global Issues discussedwithin Global EconomyNational and regional economies around the World are becoming increasinglyintegrated with each other through trade in goods and services, transfer oftechnology, and production chains.

6 The interconnectedness of financial mar-kets is also expanding rapidly. Such integration offers greater opportunity forIntroduction to Global Issues3 TABLE A List of Global Issues by Thematic AreaThematic areaGlobal issuesGlobal economyInternational trade,* financial stability,* poverty and inequality,*debt relief,* international migration,* food security,* intellectualproperty rightsHuman development Universal education,* communicable diseases,* humanitarianemergencies, hunger and malnutrition,* refugeesEnvironment and Climate change,* deforestation,* access to safe water,* natural resourcesloss of biodiversity, land degradation, sustainable energy,*depletion of fisheries* Peace and securityArms proliferation, armed conflict, terrorism, removal of landmines, drug trafficking and other crime, disarmament, genocide Global governanceInternational law, multilateral treaties, conflict prevention,* reformof the United Nations system,* reform of international financialinstitutions,* transnational corruption.

7 * Global compacts,* humanrightsNote: Asterisks indicate that a chapter on this Global issue is included in this book. 06/28/2006 07:06 PM Page 3people to tap into more and larger markets around the World , and so increaseboth their incomes and their ability to enjoy all that the World economy hasto the same time, however, economic integration poses serious inherentrisks: in a globalized World economy, an adverse event such as a financialcrisis in one part of the World can easily spread to other parts, just as a con-tagious disease spreads from person to person. An example of such conta-gion was the East Asian financial crisis of 1997 98, in which a financial andcurrency crisis in Thailand quickly triggered similar upheavals in the Repub-lic of Korea, Indonesia, and elsewhere, prompting international interventionto avert a Global crisis. (See Chapter 3 for more about the East Asian andother financial crises.) Another example involves the globalization of tradeand labor markets: Concerns about the fairness of recent international tradeagreements and about the effects of freer trade on jobs and working condi-tions led to violent protests at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seat-tle in 1999; these protests helped change the dynamic of the latest round ofinternational trade negotiations.

8 (See Chapter 6 for a discussion of theseongoing negotiations.) There are also concerns that the World economy isgrowing in an unbalanced way, with rising inequalities in incomes One of the book is devoted to those Global Issues that fall under theheading of the Global economy. Of the many Issues that could be addressed,the book considers the following: poverty and inequality, financial stability,debt, migration, trade, andfood security. Poverty and InequalitySubstantial progress has been made in recent decades in reducing poverty the proportion of people living in extreme poverty worldwide has halvedsince 1980. Yet poverty remains deep and widespread: more than a billionpeople still subsist on less than one dollar a day, and income per capita inthe World s high-income countries, on average, is 65 times that in the low-income is not the only measure of poverty, nor is it the only one for whichthe recent numbers are grim. Over three-quarters of a billion of the World speople, many of them children, are malnourished.

9 Whereas the rich countrieshave an average of physicians per 1,000 population, the low-income coun-tries have just per 1,000. Maternal mortality in childbirth in many low-income African countries is more than 100 times higher than in the high-income countries of Europe. Vast numbers of people also struggle to survivein squalid, depressing living conditions, where they lack both opportunity toGlobal Issues for Global 06/28/2006 07:06 PM Page 4better their lives and the social recognition and voice to demand such oppor-tunity. These, too, are real and important aspects of widespread poverty is widespread inequality, again as mea-sured both by income and by other yardsticks. Measured in absolute terms,the income gap between rich and poor countries has widened over the lastseveral decades. The economic divide within countries is likewise large. In an increasingly interdependent World , the high prevalence and stubbornpersistence of poverty and inequality in developing countries the subject ofChapter 2 of this volume have implications for all countries.

10 Deep depriva-tion weakens the capacity of states to combat terrorism, organized crime,armed conflict, and the spread of disease, and these in turn can have severeeconomic, environmental, and security consequences for neighboring statesand the Global community. Poverty and inequality and their associated out-comes can no longer be contained within national boundaries. This makesthem a Global problem of huge proportions, and it means that alleviatingpoverty and reducing inequality are critical to maintaining and strengthen-ing regional and Global stability. That is why the United Nations has madereducing World poverty a top priority it is a target under the first of the Mil-lennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted at the MillenniumSummit and it is why the World Bank takes as its fundamental mission tobuild a World free of StabilityThe emergence of a Global , market-based financial economy has brought con-siderable benefits to those middle-income countries at the forefront of eco-nomic reform and liberalization the so-called emerging market largely to the opening of the financial sector in these countries,investors in other countries can now better diversify their investment choicesacross domestic and international assets, increasing their expected rate ofreturn.


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