Global Governance: A Work in Progress
		Hakan Altinay
		YaleGlobal, 26 January 2010

Management of transnational issues through voluntary international cooperation has come to be referred as Global Governance. The term sounds like global government, but it is really the opposite, as it refers to management of the transnational challenges in the absence of a world government. Neither transnational challenges, nor attempts to manage them are new. We have had things like the Rhodian Law of the Sea, which provided a framework to govern maritime losses. The Hawala system has worked over a thousand years through the proactive participation of countless actors across South Asia, Middle East and the Mediterranean. The Hanseatic League provided an early glimpse of true multilateralism. Nevertheless, the depth and breath of current international cooperation around transnational issues is unprecedented. 

Let’s review some of the manifestations of our existing international cooperation: It took several decades to develop a system to have telegrams across national borders. And yet, today owners of four billion mobile phones have a reasonable expectation that their phones will work seamlessly when they travel to another country. World GSM operators have agreed to sensible standard practices such as every operator dedicating 112 to emergency services.

At a mundane level, money can be wired across countries with tremendous speed and little inconvenience. SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, and IBAN, International Bank Account Number, are two systems which expanded to many a task which would not have been routine even for Rothschild.

We cooperate around the internet actively and every day. Tremendous amount of data, information and knowledge is open to all 6.7 billion of us. Encylopédistes of the 18^th century would be awe-struck by what is available through Wikipedia, JSTOR, Google Scholar and the like. Popular VOIP facilities such as Skype have rendered international telephony, a facility not available to Napoleon or Cengiz Khan, practically cost free for billions. CreaticeCommons is becoming a popular alternative to conventional trademarks practices. And, we all have access to trans-border broadcasting through satellite TVs, which makes diverse ideas, lives and sufferings accessible to great many, and nurturing awareness and a feeling of common humanity along the way.

We have assumed that traditional sovereign competencies of national states have been more resistant to international cooperation schemes. However, countries have the facility to ask other countries to apprehend criminal suspects through Interpol, which reports to have enabled 5,600 arrests in 2008. This is not a minor achievement.

We have rules governing safety at sea, pollution, and even a system for a global maritime distress, search and rescue system. There exists an audit scheme, albeit a voluntary one, to monitor compliance. Furthermore, we have a way to allocate satellite orbits, and the system is working with relatively little discontent.

We have mechanisms for global health challenges and even some vital successes. Small pox has been eradicated though international cooperation; And polio may be next. The world has had the wherewithal to come up with ad hoc responses when traditional mechanisms did not suffice; The Global Fund to Fight TB, AIDS and Malaria is one such ad hoc response with encouraging results. We have also managed to cooperate to protect the genetic diversity of our main crops, and have established the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

The world has demonstrated crucial capacity to identify ozone depletion as a potential problem with global consequences, and was capable of hammering out a set-up where the ozone depleting gases have been phased out. The basic grammar of the ozone problem is not very different from the climate change predicament, and the Vienna Convention and the Montreal protocol are no small accomplishments.

The first example of an international normative campaign for global rules was the anti-slavery movements of 19^th century, and their efforts took more than 50 years to produce the first international treaty on the issue. Another seemingly gargantuan task was around the land mines, one of the most popular ammunition of armed forces around the world. In the latter case, it took a mere seven years for a global consensus to be achieved, and for this once-popular weapon to be outlawed. There is now a new movement to establish norms concerning the trade and transfer of small weapons, which are responsible for many more deaths than nuclear weapons.

Another very significant development was the formation of the International Criminal Court. Not all the states are party to the International Criminal Court, and yet the mere existence of ICC would surpass even the most optimistic utopias of the multilateralists from the last century.

Amartha Sen has recently warned us against excessive fascination with ideal justice at the expense of multiple and seemingly disjointed ways of decreasing injustice. The patterns of global cooperation of the last decades seem to support Sen’s argument. Progress has been uneven and less than ideal, but, on balance, we should be encouraged by the advance of international cooperation and global governance on these multiple tracks. The more visible absence of progress is the exception, and should not be the basis of a debilitating cynicism; We need to celebrate our accomplishments and in the process muster the energy to overcome remaining challenges to a fuller global cooperation.

Two glaring gaps in the existing global governance schemes are effective procedures for Responsibility-to-Protect, and of course a framework to thwart climate change. One of the earliest modern attempts to set transnational norms was around proper conduct during the time of war. The first Geneva Convention dates back to 1864. Humanity has been aware of the ultimate crime of genocide, and has profusely sworn not to let it occur again since 1940s. Yet, what has come to be known as the Responsibility to Protect, has been systematically abdicated. As long as humanity is organized primarily through national states, there is an inherent problem to send national armies to harm’s way without clear national interest. Yet, that is not the only option we have. Humans have always taken up arms in other countries for their beliefs. The international brigade at the Spanish Civil war is the most celebrated example, but the practice is older. UN needs to have a mechanism to accept volunteers; ensure adequate representation of all regions so that no particular group ends up dominating the UN Army at any given conflict; and, of course ensure their discipline during their mission as there are too many examples of presumed rescuers harassing the very people they are meant to rescue. One can even imagine a set up where not just UNSC but UNSG or the college of all former UNSGs can endorse a given mission, so that action cannot be held hostage to veto by P5.

Climate change is clearly the most pressing issue facing us. Business as usual means that we will soon cross the point of no return in triggering a chain reaction of catastrophic results for human existence and civilization on Planet Earth. The qualities of the underlying dynamics make climate change an especially difficult challenge: There is some 30 years between cause and effect; that is carbon emissions and the full consequences of those emissions. The fact that significant percentages of adults continue to smoke demonstrates that humans find it difficult to give up immediate gratification in anticipation of deferred costs in 30 years. As such, climate change is the collective action problem from hell. After years of neglect, denial and foot dragging, humanity now seems to have harnessed the wherewithal to address climate change. No other challenge we face brings home our epic interdependence. Therefore, a solution to the climate change challenges could serve as the paradigm for solving other global public goods problems.

Ours have been a story of trial and error, and slippages as we found ways to cooperate across border, a process which we began thousands of years ago. The audit of current state of international cooperation and global governance patterns show that perseverance, creativity, pragmatism and vision are the answer, not despair or cynicism.

Hakan Altinay was a 2009 World Fellow at Yale University and is a Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution.

Copyright © 2010 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

		Global Governance:
		Developing global connections

When, at the dawn of globalization, the first trader left home to barter his goods or the first explorer left on a journey to discover new people or new places, the world was unknown, nor were there any rules. But as human connections spread, problems arose over how to transact business, whose law to follow, or how to avoid conflict. Over time, laws were promulgated over territories that outsiders were obliged to respect. But as global connections led to global problems, the need to develop collective rules of governance became apparent. Of the myriad issues calling for global governance, nothing is perhaps more urgent than a global agreement to deal with the threat of climate change.

	Runaway Globalization Without Governance
	Failure to develop global rules may force globalization in the wrong direction
	Nayan Chanda, Global Governance, 2008

	Global Governance: A Work in Progress
	Perseverance, creativity, pragmatism and vision are the answer
	Hakan Altinay, 2010

	Tobacco: From Miracle Cure to Toxin
	Thomas A. Wexler YaleGlobal, 12 June 2006

Many strange sights greeted Columbus and his men as they explored the New World in the fall of 1492. Certainly they did not anticipate that Europe would adopt any Amerindian customs. With a single line in his journal, Columbus described a group of Taino natives smoking rolled tobacco as they rested in the woods near Cuba's Bahia Bariay harbor that November: "The Spaniards upon their journey met with great multitudes of people, men and women with firebrands in their hands and herbs to smoke after their custom." Columbus, convinced about great riches in the New World, pursued only dreams of gold.

The explorer did not realize that Europe would soon fall under the spell of tobacco and the rest of the world would follow suit. In fact, Europeans embraced tobacco before many other common products including sugar, chocolate, coffee and tea.

Native Americans used tobacco for both medicinal and ceremonial purposes

Columbus could not have imagined tobacco's already long and complex history from his first brief glimpse of the Taino smoking. Amerindians cultivated tobacco across both American continents, and even societies that grew nothing else still grew tobacco. A privileged plant, tobacco was often separated from other crops in elaborate, reserved gardens. A wide array of tribes employed tobacco for symbolic and medicinal purposes, as part of a hallucinogenic mix of plants in shamanistic or religious rituals, and just for social occasions. The Yecuana of Venezuela told a Genesis-like story in which women were formed from clay that came to life when tobacco smoke passed over its surface. Carved monuments depicted Mayan deities as smokers. The Iroquois of New York used tobacco as a dental remedy because it anaesthetized the pain of tooth decay. After dinner, smoking tobacco was a common practice among the upper Aztec classes.

Columbus received tobacco leaves, along with other gifts from Amerindians. But history credits no single person with introducing the practice of smoking to Europe. There is a story that one of Columbus' men, Rodrigo de Xeres, demonstrated the custom to his neighbors in Spain. Frightened to see him exhaling thick clouds from his mouth and nose, they handed him over to the Inquisition, claiming that he had made a bargain with the Devil.

Amerindians introduced tobacco to other European explorers, sailors and settlers - but the plant would never have made the jump to European culture without the help of physicians. They seized upon the notion that many Amerindian cultures valued tobacco as a powerful healing agent. They did not share the Amerindian belief in the supernatural character of illness, but Europeans were eager to discover new plants from the New World with healing properties. In their zeal for finding herbal remedies, these doctors did not realize that they were promoting a major source of disease.

Virginia Tobacco Planters: Checking out a new slave

More than any other physician, the Spanish doctor Nicolas Monardes holds the dubious distinction of establishing tobacco's reputation as a plant with remarkable capabilities. In his immensely popular history of the medicinal plants of the New World, published in 1571, Monardes claimed that tobacco cured more than 20 ailments, including cancer. Imagine that as your legacy to the medical community! The French ambassador Jean Nicot was another champion, and one of the world's most addictive substances -nicotine - was named after him.

Gradually, recreational use supplanted medical use throughout Europe. Spanish doctor Juan de Cardenas, a disciple of Monardes, touches on the transition: "To seek to tell the virtues and greatness of this holy herb, the ailments which can be cured by it, and have been, the evils from which it has saved thousands would be to go on to infinity...this precious herb is so general a human need not only for the sick but for the healthy."

Tobacco was traded in Asia by 1575 and then moved to the rest of the world over the next 50 years. Portuguese, Spanish and, to a lesser extent, English merchant ships carried tobacco from American colonies to the Near East, Far East and Africa. From India, tobacco moved to Ceylon in the early 1600s, according Jordan Goodman in "Tobacco in History," and simultaneously spread from China to central Asia, Eastern Europe, Mongolia and Tibet. Cultivated tobacco could be found in Indochina and Taiwan by 1630. Thus tobacco completed its circumnavigation of the globe as a cash crop. In most locales, tobacco was introduced as a medicinal herb.

N. tabacum, the basic species of the tobacco plant, is adaptable to many soil and climate conditions. Tobacco does best in a warm, stable climate, growing in light soil, both drained, and heavily fertilized. The leaf varies greatly from region to region offering different tastes and flavors.

The modern tobacco industry began in the US in the late 19th century with the industrial revolution and a combination of innovations - flue-cured tobacco, safety matches and James Brosnack's cigarette machine, invented in 1880. There actually would be no cigarettes as we know them if chance hadn't intervened. Flue-curing - a heat-drying process - was accidentally discovered by a slave after a fire on a North Carolina plantation, and it yielded a mild taste smokers found more pleasurable than that of bitter dark tobacco. Flue-cured tobacco produced acidic smoke, easier to inhale than the alkaline smoke associated with air- or fire-cured tobacco. Brosnack's cigarette machine mechanized the rolling process, pushing loose tobacco onto a moving belt, compressing it, and then wrapping it in a paper tube that was glued and cut into a finished cigarette. One machine could accomplish the labor of 48 workers.

From the start, cigarette manufacturers were master salesmen, although their product is so addictive some claim it sells itself. They employed sophisticated advertising campaigns, giving rise to modern major tobacco companies and making the cigarette a 20th-century icon of consumer culture. Early cigarette promotions linked the product to figures whose opinions and taste were thought to be influential - singers, actresses, presidents and royalty. One marketing strategy associated cigarettes with personages of respectability; another used images of women to arouse interest.

Even as the Marlboro Man became one of the most successful international campaigns in the history of advertising, the image of cigarettes and smoking transformed in the US and Europe after a 1964 US Surgeon General's report confirming the link between smoking and lung cancer. In the 1960s, 50 percent of men in the US smoked. By 2003, that number was reduced to 25 percent. Today it would be unseemly if major figures comparable to Winston Churchill, General Douglas MacArthur and Sigmund Freud were so overt in their affection for tobacco. The story of tobacco has come full-circle, from miracle cure to dangerous addiction.

In many developing nations, over 60 percent of men currently smoke. Globally, the proportion of women smokers has trailed men, but is increasing. A major health tragedy could occur in the developing world within the next 30 years, even as governments of developed nations enact laws to protect their citizens against tobacco addiction and its toll on human life.

Anti-tobacco sentiment has always followed the product's circumnavigation of the globe. Earlier eras had their share of stuffy or rigid critics. Shortly after tobacco was introduced to China, the emperor forbade smoking or growing the plant. The penalty was decapitation. European leaders, notably James I of England, tried to curtail tobacco use, but were torn between profits earned by taxes and moral objections. Edicts were often overturned by successors. All along the anti-tobacco movement suspected that tobacco posed problems, but had trouble building momentum around a central argument. Still, James I's Counterblaste to Tobacco in 1604 strikes a telling note: "Smoking is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, (and) dangerous to the lungs."

Rights:© Copyright 2006 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

	Chili: A Small Fruit that Sets Global Palettes on Fire
	Nils-Bertil Wallin YaleGlobal, 11 June 2004

Chilli, chile, chili pepper, ají, hot pepper, lup chew, mirich, felfel, bisabas, and chilipippurik are just some of the names for the same small fruit that delights people all over the world. Botanists may dispute the chili pepper's original birthplace, but its amazing journey across the world and its adoption by almost every culture proves that the chili pepper is truly a global food. The chili pepper has been with many cultures for so long - over five hundred years in some cases - that most people would be surprised to discover that it originally came from South America.

Chili peppers are thought to have been eaten in Meso-America as early as 5000 BCE and to have been growing since 7000 BCE. Archaeologists have estimated that humans began farming chili peppers between 5000 BCE and 3400 BCE, which makes them one of the oldest crops cultivated by man. Clearly, chili peppers had been around long before Christopher Columbus discovered their heat on his travels to America. In fact, confusing the chili pepper with the pepper he was hoping to find in India, Columbus named it pimiento, or, Spanish for pepper. Chili pepper, however, has no relation to the black pepper, known as Piper nigrum, for which Columbus was searching. Columbus later brought the chili pepper back to Spain, calling it a spice even though it is a member of the Solanacenae family, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco. Columbus' error did not, however, impede the chili pepper's almost immediate migration across the world.

Despite Spain's apparent early claim to the chili pepper, the Portuguese appear to be the first traders to have spread the chili pepper globally. Portugal's maritime power - rounding the Cape of Good Hope and reaching India in 1498 - set a course for the chili pepper to leave South America. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 had effectively split the world in half between Spain and Portugal, and the Portuguese were keen to exploit their half, especially Brazil. By the 1500's they were regularly exporting chili peppers from Brazil, the only part of South America which Portugal could claim under the Treaty. One botanist of the 16th century referred to chili peppers from Goa, in the Indian Ocean, as "Pernambuco Peppers," named after the area in Brazil.

During their trips to India, the Portuguese traders stopped in various African ports along the way. The Africans' fondness for "grains of paradise", which have a gingery, peppery taste, prepared them to absorb the piquant chili pepper into their cuisine with ease. In only a few years, chili peppers had traveled as far east on the African continent as Mozambique. But trade was only one agent of the chili pepper's spread: Portuguese intervention in Africa also played a large part. The Portuguese chose to enslave Africans from as a diverse a geographical area as possible to populate their plantations in the New World. Such a strategy was thought to reduce the chance of rebellion since the slaves would lack a common language and culture once on the plantation. As a result, the Portuguese cast a wide net in procuring slaves from Africa, and wherever the Portuguese bought slaves they also brought chili peppers, which caused their widespread and quick dispersion across the continent.

While it is possible to trace the chili pepper's move from South America across the Atlantic Ocean, its travels across the Pacific are less certain. In 1529, the Treaty of Zaragosa defined Spanish and Portuguese jurisdiction in the Asia Pacific region: the Spanish received the Philippines, and Portugal received the Spice Islands, or Molucca. By 1540, the Portuguese were trading in Indonesia; soon after, chili peppers made their way to China. However, it is unclear if the Portuguese were the first to bring the chili pepper to China. Indians and Arabs were actively trading with the Chinese long before the Europeans arrived. Furthermore, Hunan and Szechuan provinces, whose cuisines use chili peppers most frequently, were connected to the non-Chinese world by the Silk Road trade route rather than by coastal ports. Moreover, at the time, there were no direct overland routes from Chinese ports to those two provinces. In 1549, the Portuguese reached Japan, but again it is unclear if they introduced the chili pepper there, because the Japanese had already ventured to Mexico in Spanish-designed ships. In 1564, the chili pepper reached the Philippines and then moved on to Melanesia and Micronesia along a Spanish-developed trade route.

While Africa, India, and Asia quickly absorbed the chili pepper, Europe seemed reluctant to use it as anything more than a curiosity or an ornamental. From Spain, the chili pepper moved to Antwerp, then to Italy in 1526, and on to England in 1548. Curiously, the chili did not reach Eastern Europe through trade with other Europeans. Rather, among the various theories, it is believed that Muslim merchants brought chili peppers from India through the Persian Gulf, on to Aleppo or Alexandria, and then north into Eastern Europe. Alternatively, the Turks could have brought chili peppers from Asia and then transported them through the Persian Gulf, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea in to Hungary, which they conquered in 1526. From Hungary, the chili pepper then moved to Germany. A third possibility has the Portuguese exporting chili peppers from Hormuz, one of their colonies, to Eastern Europe to compete with black pepper from India. A German botanist in 1542 gives a recipe that calls for "Calicut pepper" and "Indian pepper." Interestingly, it was not until 1868 that Europeans learned that chili peppers were not originally from India.

Most surprising is the length of time it took for the chili pepper to arrive in North America. Despite being grown in Mexico for centuries, it was not until the slave trade was in full swing that the chili pepper appeared. By 1600, the British and Dutch had broken the Spanish and Portuguese naval hegemony, freeing up the spice trade. But trade in spices did not wet the North American palate for hot chili peppers. Instead, it was the prevalence of chili peppers in African cuisine that caused their spread to the New World. Chili peppers had become such a crucial part of the Africans' diet that slave traders had to bring large quantities with them on their trans-Atlantic voyages. Furthermore, to maintain the African slaves' eating habits once in North America, the plantations had to grow chili peppers. As a result, it was not until the 17th century that the chili peppers had settled in North America.

Today there are five species of chili pepper: capsicum annuum, found primarily in Meso-America, which gives us cayenne, bell, and jalapeño peppers; capsicum frutescens, found in the Amazon basin, yielding the well-known Tabasco; capsicum chinense, found in the western Amazonia region; capsicum baccatum, found only in South America; and capsicum pubescens, which only appeared in Central America and Mexico in the beginning of 20th century and is unknown elsewhere. The chili pepper's global presence owes much to its resilience and capacity to be spread even without human intervention. The flesh of the chili pepper dries well and the seeds survive for long periods, which allowed the chili's easy transport on its first trans-Atlantic trip. Furthermore, the chili's small size proved tempting to birds who eat the fruit and deposit the seeds miles away.

Capsaicin, an alkaloid compound found only in chili peppers, determines the heat of the fruit. While the skin and seeds contain small amounts, it is the white membrane inside which contains almost 90% of the chili pepper's capsaicin. The name chili derives from the ancient Aztec dialect of Nahuatl, which called the pepper chiltepin.

The chili pepper not only adds pungency to different foods, it also appears to have analgesic properties. The capsaicin found in chili peppers may release substances within the brain which control pain as well as stimulate feelings of well-being. Capsaicin cream has been shown to reduce arthritis pain. It is also believed to be indicated as an herbal remedy for a variety of other ailments including backaches, varicose veins, vascular conditions, swollen feet, and rheumatism. The police have also found it to be an effective deterrent, often replacing mace and tear gas with pepper spray.

India is the largest consumer and exporter of chili peppers today. Exporting over 51,900 tons of chili peppers annually, India also exports chili oleoresin (a combination of oil and resin), powder, and crushed chili peppers. The top growing states for chili peppers in India are Andra Pradesh, Orissa, Mahrashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan. In all, India produces close to 8 million tons of dry chili pepper a year.

No matter how you prefer to take your chili pepper - whether in Indian curry, mixed with Thai fish sauce, Korean kimchi, Mexican salsa, Hunan kung pao, or as a pepperoncino in Italian antipasti - the fruit not only enlivens the dish and titillates your palate, it brightens your mood.

Rights: © Copyright 2004 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

	Tea: Still Hot After Five Thousand Years
	Sarah Alexander YaleGlobal, 4 June 2004

When you pour that lightly colored brew in your cup and lift that aromatic drink to your lips it is hard to imagine that you are continuing a five thousand year old practice. Tea is indeed one of the oldest drinks in history. The tortuous long path that tea has taken from China to reach the cup in you hand parallels the twists and turns taken by early processes of globalization.

This legendary drink is reputed to have come from a mistake - 5000 years ago, the Emperor of China was shocked to find some tea leaves in his pot of boiling water. Known for his scientific curiosity, he proceeded to taste the drink - and he loved it. It did not take long before tea became a staple of Chinese culture. By 800 A.D. a Zen Buddhist priest had already written a comprehensive history of its use. Tea was adopted into various religious and meditative services by the Zen Buddhists, who found that the substance enhanced spiritual concentration.

Afternoon tea in 1886

Buddhist missionaries to Japan brought the drink with them as an essential part of their mediation practice. In the continuing evolution of the tea myth, some Indian and Japanese Buddhists later used the magical drink to tell the story of Buddha. In their version, Buddha awoke after five years of his seven year meditation and ate the leaves of the wild tea tree in whose shadow he sat to revive himself. Soon after its introduction, the Japanese created an entire culture around tea with the Tea Ceremony or "Cha-no-yu" - meaning literally 'hot water for tea'. The ritualized pouring and serving of tea by Geisha hostesses became a mark of grace and sophistication. The Irish-Greek journalist-historian Lafcadio Hearn, who was one of the very few foreigners to gain Japanese citizenship at the time, was privileged to see this practice and wrote extensively about the years and years it took for women to master the complex art form. The original Zen Buddhist element was lost as "tea competitions" became popular amongst nobles who would win jewels or armor for guessing a particular tea blend. In the 1300s, Buddhist monks tried to initiate a campaign to bring tea back to its original Zen roots, but to no avail.

As European trade with China and Japan increased, rumors of this new substance began to filter back with the caravans. No traders could quite describe how tea was produced: suggestions were as outlandish as that the leaves be boiled, salted, buttered, and eaten. It was not until 1560 - when Portuguese missionaries established a firm trade route with China - that tea began to be imported to Europe, by way of Portugal (and later the Netherlands). This account is contested, however, by those who claim that it was actually Arab traders who gave tea to the Venetians one year earlier. The first few shipments were expensive, making the service of the drink a sign of one's wealth and therefore increasing its popularity among Dutch elites. Not everyone was willing to embrace the unknown liquid though. Doctors and scholars, known as "tea heretics" could not believe that this dark, bitter substance was good for the public; academic debates raged for almost one hundred years before the mass popularity of tea (which was now cheap enough to be widely available) won out in the late 1600s. Despite the doctors' dire predictions, tea drinking actually increased the health of Europe. Water was too dangerous to drink at the time, and alcohol consumption had gotten out of hand. Tea, made with boiled, and hence safe, water was a vast improvement on the European diet.

Britain was a late coming to the tea trade; it was only introduced in London in 1652, the same year as coffee and cocoa. By 1700, the British were already importing over 240,000 pounds of tea. The heaviness of British cuisine - breakfast was ale and beef and dinner not much healthier - made the refreshment of an "afternoon tea", often accompanied by baked goods, a pleasant and healthy addition to the British way of life.

The British trading companies became the most famous of the European tea importers, partially because of the pivotal role the East India Trading Company played in the expansion of the British Empire into India. A new language developed in this trading business in which the Portuguese, British, Indian, and Chinese trading partners could communicate. The new "pidgin English" allowed all partners to share such terms as "chow" (food) or "cash" (money), which still exist in English slang.

The trading partners did not have as peaceful and cooperative a relationship as this might suggest. Claiming that local political instability was disruptive to business interests, the India Company began to slowly take over the coastlines of India (while also pushing out Dutch and French competitors) and to force local workers to produce opium, which could be sold to China in exchange for tea. This saved the British from having to spend actual British coinage on tea and kept the exchange of capital only within the empire. The trade of opium for tea led to the Opium Wars in the early 1800s, during which the British effectively wiped out resistance to their domination of the tea trade.

In the latter half of the 19th century, tea began to play a crucial role in various social movements in Europe and America. One woman who managed a bread shop in England convinced her bosses to allow her to serve tea to her favorite customers along with their purchases. The shop set up some tables in 1864 and women quickly vied for the right to drink their tea there. This new form of socializing in a 'tea shop' was the first venue for an unchaperoned woman to meet her friends and be alone, and thus inarguably contributed to women's emancipation. Likewise, tea was often the only non-alcoholic beverage choice at Inns, making it a favorite of the prohibitionists. One who abstained from alcohol was thus a "teetotaler".

The newly independent Americans also contributed to the development of tea, with the 1904 invention of "iced tea" at the World's Fair in St. Louis and the 1908 creation of the first 'tea bag', making consumption less time consuming.

Nowadays, tea comes in green, black, and oolong varieties. Though Europeans and Americans have traditionally favored black teas, the promises of health and dietary benefits from green teas (which are supposed to reduce cancer risk and raise metabolism) are raising its consumption. Everyone has their own individual way of drinking tea - with milk or sugar, plain, or with jam or honey as is the tradition of imperial Russians. Choosing a tea drinking method has become a way for people to express their own individuality - though this was probably not what the Zen Buddhists meant 1300 years ago when they advocated tea as a method of self-reflection!

Rights: © Copyright 2004 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

	Imagine Spaghetti Sauce Without the Tomato
	Nils-Bertil Wallin YaleGlobal, 5 November 2002

The great tomato, symbol of Italian cuisine, staple of many Mexican dishes, and the perfect condiment for a burger, was originally found in Peru. The tomato's global presence is undeniable, as is its adaptability to local recipes. Yet in its journey across the world, the tomato has lived under many names and endured false accusations.

No one knows exactly how the tomato moved from Peru to Mexico, but the Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortez supposedly brought it to Spain in the 1520's. From Spain, the tomato moved to Italy and France. It was known variably as the 'pomme dei moro' (Moor's apple in Spanish); 'pomi d'oro' (golden apple in Italian); and 'pomme d'amour' (love apple in French). The first varieties of the tomato were most likely yellow since Italians referred to it as golden. Interestingly, English is closest to the original name in Aztec, tomatl.

An illustration of early pasta making. A Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis (NY, 1976)

Despite the tomato's initial acceptance by Southern Europeans, Northerners were hesitant to experiment with the fruit. Since the tomato belongs to the same family as the poisonous nightshade and mandrake, Northerners assumed the tomato was also hazardous. Even after it was known that "love apples" were being eaten in Europe, the English still thought of the tomato as having an unpleasant odor and taste.

But the savory tomato soon won out over fears of death and bland diets. By the end of the 17th century, tomatoes were first mentioned in a cookbook from Naples. And by the mid 18th century, tomato recipes had finally insinuated themselves into the British kitchen.

Meanwhile, tomatoes sailed with the colonists across the Atlantic to North America; but they were planted more for their decorative, rather than saporific, qualities. Although Thomas Jefferson ate tomatoes for dinner, and people in New Orleans enjoyed tomatoes as early as 1802, it was not until the 1820's that tomatoes were consumed in any great amount in the U.S.

But with the advent of canning, tomato consumption steadily increased in the late 1800's. And thanks to the enterprising Joseph Campbell and his soup, tomato production started to soar in the 1920's. Since tomato types remain relatively unchanged with each generation, varieties with high solid content suitable for paste and canning could be developed and then maintained for many years. The recent discovery of high concentrations of lycopene, a cancer-fighting compound, in tomatoes has made them prized for their health benefits. Drinking tomato juice is thought to be a quick way to get a high dose of lycopene. Of course, people who enjoy bloody marys or bloody caesars appreciate tomato juice for its other qualities - as a complement to clear vodka.

Today, the U.S., China, Turkey, Italy, and India are the top five tomato producing countries. Production in China has gone from 14 million metric tons in 1996 to 17 million metric tons in 2000. Consumption has also increased; in 1996 China consumed 11.5 kilograms per capita, while in 2000 13.5 kilograms per capita was consumed. One must not forget that much of this consumption takes the form of ketchup, which is another story in itself.

The origins of ketchup are as distant from the trademark of Heinz as the tomato of Peru is from its current incarnation. In the 1600's British sailors on shore leave in China were treated to a local delicacy known as kachiap or ketsiap. Used as a dipping sauce, 'kachiap' was made from the brine and spices used to pickle fish. The British soon adopted, and then reformulated this sauce. The first British recipe for ketchup appeared in the early 1700's and included anchovies, shallots, vinegar, white wine, cloves, ginger, mace, nutmeg, pepper, and lemon peel.

In the early 1800's an American in Nova Scotia, James Mease, published the first recipe for ketchup made with tomatoes. By 1830, tomato ketchup was being sold across the U.S. But it was in 1872, when H.J. Heinz added tomato ketchup to his products, that the standard was established and production took off.

The tomato has become so prevalent in part because of its versatility. It has adapted itself to each cuisine with such ease few people would believe that the tomato originally came for Peru. Imagine telling an Italian that once pasta was not accompanied by pomidoro sauce or that 'insalata caprese' (tomatoes and mozzarella) would not have existed without the work of Spanish Conquistadors. And how would an Indian react to 'rogan josh' (a type of curry) or 'sambar' (a type of lentil soup) if these dishes did not have tomatoes? Add ketchup, to this list, and one sees how much different the world would be if the tomato had never left Peru.

The tomato is now so common that one can hardly imagine pizza, burgers, salsa, or french fries without it. While people the world over may argue that tomato is a fruit, yet eat it with vegetables, few disagree that life without the tomato would just not be as delicious.

Rights: © Copyright 2002 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

	Coffee: A Long Way From Ethiopia
	Nils-Bertil Wallin YaleGlobal, 5 November 2002

Whether it is mocha java, a cuppa joe, or half-decaf, skim, no-whip latte, coffee seems to be everywhere - even in Beijing's Forbidden City. But this ubiquitous pick-me-up was not always so prevalent, nor was it always so popular. At varying times a carefully guarded secret, and at others a banned drink, this has not prevented the dark brew and its aroma from spreading from its place of origin in Ethiopia to the entire world.

The story has it that coffee was discovered by an attentive Ethiopian goatherd who noticed a frenzy that overcame his flock after eating the ripe berry. From Ethiopia coffee moved to Yemen where it was cultivated for centuries before arriving in Turkey in 1453. It was in Turkey that the seeds were roasted and then mashed and mixed with water, similar to our modern version.

The first Viennese coffeehouse was founded by Franz Kulczycki in 1683

Italian traders introduced coffee to Europe and in 1600 Pope Clement VIII blessed the bean because it helped to sober up the population whose fluid intake was mostly alcoholic beverages. By the beginning of the 18th century, coffee had sailed to India and Indonesia with the Dutch. And while the Ottoman Turks had failed to overrun Vienna, current home to 1,717 cafes, their coffee had conquered the city by the time the first coffee house opened in 1675.

As drinking the black beverage gained popularity, the plant itself remained scarce until the Dutch foolishly gave a coffee bush to Louis XIV. Europe's cooler climate prevented the coffee plant from thriving until nurtured in a greenhouse. (Some say coffee was the mother of the greenhouse invention.) However, it was not until French naval officer Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu brought a single plant to Martinique in 1723 that coffee production began to explode - within 50 years one plant had fostered 19 million trees on the island.

Coffee soon made its way to Brazil in 1727 hidden in a bouquet of flowers. It quickly spread through the rest of Latin America and then onto Hawaii by 1823. In 1893 coffee returned home to Africa where it settled in Kenya and Tanzania. After a millennium of traveling, coffee had finally circumnavigated the globe.

Today, Brazil is the largest producer of coffee, harvesting over 1 billion kilograms in 2001. Vietnam, which did not start growing coffee until 1914, is the third largest producer with 780 million kilograms in 2001. Two types of coffee are produced worldwide, arabica and robusta. Arabica, which takes its name from its origins in the Arabian peninsula, accounts for three-quarters of world production and is grown mainly in South America. Robusta, accounting for one quarter of world production, is found mainly in Africa, Asia, and Indonesia where its hardiness can withstand the climate better than arabica. Robusta also has a higher caffeine content.

After a mythical birth and a secretive adolescence, coffee has emerged a heroic world traveler. One need only glance at any business meeting, friendly encounter, or morning rush to recognize that coffee is the global invigorator.

Rights: © Copyright 2002 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

	From Famine to Fries: The Potato has Come a Long Way
	Nils-Bertil Wallin YaleGlobal, 30 September 2002

Once grown only in parts of South America the potato has become the most common food around the world. Its' journey is intimately linked with the story of globalization.

Originally found in the Andes Mountains by Spanish conquistadors in the late 1500's, the potato was first brought to Europe, then to India and on to China. Still, a wilder form of the potato was the staple diet of Peru as early as 8,000 years ago.

Once thought to be poisonous or the cause of leprosy, the potato nevertheless gained ground in Europe. Better suited to the damp climate of Europe than wheat, yet not as dependent on irrigation as rice, the potato was a more reliable crop. In fact, Frederick the Great required his subjects to plant the resilient tuber as a safeguard against starvation.

War also led to the popularity of the potato. Since it grows in the ground, invaders often missed the vegetable when destroying the enemy's crops. This is believed to be one reason for its prevalence in Ireland, which was plagued by war throughout the 17th century. Had the Athenians discovered the potato, they might have withstood the Spartan invasion longer during the Peloponnesian War. However, armies soon learned to look underground for the crop. The War of Bavarian Succession (1778-1779) was nicknamed the "Potato War" because both the Austrians and Prussians, unable to gain a victory, took to destroying each others' crops, mainly potatoes.

As a ready and resilient food-supply, the potato allowed populations to increase, people to move away from subsistence economy, and industry to take-off. However, over reliance on the potato brought its own peril as seen in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840's. Before the onset of the famine, Irish peasants were eating an average of 10 potatoes a day as well as feeding the potatoes to their livestock. A fungus that had arrived from North America wiped out the Irish potato crop which consisted of only two high-yield varieties. The Irish population, which had grown by 5 million in under a hundred years thanks to the hardy potato, fell by two million in over 6 years. As one scholar noted, "The Irishmen who had lived by the potato died by the potato."

China is now the largest producer of potatoes with a production of over 60 million tons yearly and a 14 million ton yield. India is the fourth largest producer with an annual output of over 25 million tons. And while production has increased in developing countries so has consumption: Asia now has a yearly consumption of 14 kilograms per person (a 16% increase), while Latin America consumes 24 kilograms (a 15% increase). World potato production lies at 293 million tons.

From its humble beginnings, the potato has gone from a suspicious tuber to gratin dauphinoise to aloo tikki. The gold the conquistadors craved can now be found in the meals of over a billion people today.

 
Rights: © Copyright 2002 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

		How was zero discovered?
		Nils-Bertil Wallin
		YaleGlobal, 19 November 2002
The phenomenon of zero.

From placeholder to the driver of calculus, zero has crossed the greatest minds and most diverse borders since it was born many centuries ago. Today, zero is perhaps the most pervasive global symbol known. In the story of zero, something can be made out of nothing.

Zero, zip, zilch - how often has a question been answered by one of these words? Countless, no doubt. Yet behind this seemingly simple answer conveying nothing lays the story of an idea that took many centuries to develop, many countries to cross, and many minds to comprehend. Understanding and working with zero is the basis of our world today; without zero we would lack calculus, financial accounting, the ability to make arithmetic computations quickly, and, especially in today's connected world, computers. The story of zero is the story of an idea that has aroused the imagination of great minds across the globe.

When anyone thinks of one hundred, two hundred, or seven thousand the image in his or her mind is of a digit followed by a few zeros. The zero functions as a placeholder; that is, three zeroes denotes that there are seven thousands, rather than only seven hundreds. If we were missing one zero, that would drastically change the amount. Just imagine having one zero erased (or added) to your salary! Yet, the number system we use today - Arabic, though it in fact came originally from India - is relatively new. For centuries people marked quantities with a variety of symbols and figures, although it was awkward to perform the simplest arithmetic calculations with these number systems.

The Sumerians were the first to develop a counting system to keep an account of their stock of goods - cattle, horses, and donkeys, for example. The Sumerian system was positional; that is, the placement of a particular symbol relative to others denoted its value. The Sumerian system was handed down to the Akkadians around 2500 BC and then to the Babylonians in 2000 BC. It was the Babylonians who first conceived of a mark to signify that a number was absent from a column; just as 0 in 1025 signifies that there are no hundreds in that number. Although zero's Babylonian ancestor was a good start, it would still be centuries before the symbol as we know it appeared.

The renowned mathematicians among the Ancient Greeks, who learned the fundamentals of their math from the Egyptians, did not have a name for zero, nor did their system feature a placeholder as did the Babylonian. They may have pondered it, but there is no conclusive evidence to say the symbol even existed in their language. It was the Indians who began to understand zero both as a symbol and as an idea.

Brahmagupta, around 650 AD, was the first to formalize arithmetic operations using zero. He used dots underneath numbers to indicate a zero. These dots were alternately referred to as 'sunya', which means empty, or 'kha', which means place. Brahmagupta wrote standard rules for reaching zero through addition and subtraction as well as the results of operations with zero. The only error in his rules was division by zero, which would have to wait for Isaac Newton and G.W. Leibniz to tackle.

But it would still be a few centuries before zero reached Europe. First, the great Arabian voyagers would bring the texts of Brahmagupta and his colleagues back from India along with spices and other exotic items. Zero reached Baghdad by 773 AD and would be developed in the Middle East by Arabian mathematicians who would base their numbers on the Indian system. In the ninth century, Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi was the first to work on equations that equaled zero, or algebra as it has come to be known. He also developed quick methods for multiplying and dividing numbers known as algorithms (a corruption of his name). Al-Khowarizmi called zero 'sifr', from which our cipher is derived. By 879 AD, zero was written almost as we now know it, an oval - but in this case smaller than the other numbers. And thanks to the conquest of Spain by the Moors, zero finally reached Europe; by the middle of the twelfth century, translations of Al-Khowarizmi's work had weaved their way to England.

The Italian mathematician, Fibonacci, built on Al-Khowarizmi's work with algorithms in his book Liber Abaci, or "Abacus book," in 1202. Until that time, the abacus had been the most prevalent tool to perform arithmetic operations. Fibonacci's developments quickly gained notice by Italian merchants and German bankers, especially the use of zero. Accountants knew their books were balanced when the positive and negative amounts of their assets and liabilities equaled zero. But governments were still suspicious of Arabic numerals because of the ease in which it was possible to change one symbol into another. Though outlawed, merchants continued to use zero in encrypted messages, thus the derivation of the word cipher, meaning code, from the Arabic sifr.

The next great mathematician to use zero was Rene Descartes, the founder of the Cartesian coordinate system. As anyone who has had to graph a triangle or a parabola knows, Descartes' origin is (0,0). Although zero was now becoming more common, the developers of calculus, Newton and Lebiniz, would make the final step in understanding zero.

Adding, subtracting, and multiplying by zero are relatively simple operations. But division by zero has confused even great minds. How many times does zero go into ten? Or, how many non-existent apples go into two apples? The answer is indeterminate, but working with this concept is the key to calculus. For example, when one drives to the store, the speed of the car is never constant - stoplights, traffic jams, and different speed limits all cause the car to speed up or slow down. But how would one find the speed of the car at one particular instant? This is where zero and calculus enter the picture.

If you wanted to know your speed at a particular instant, you would have to measure the change in speed that occurs over a set period of time. By making that set period smaller and smaller, you could reasonably estimate the speed at that instant. In effect, as you make the change in time approach zero, the ratio of the change in speed to the change in time becomes similar to some number over zero - the same problem that stumped Brahmagupta.

In the 1600's, Newton and Leibniz solved this problem independently and opened the world to tremendous possibilities. By working with numbers as they approach zero, calculus was born without which we wouldn't have physics, engineering, and many aspects of economics and finance.

In the twenty-first century zero is so familiar that to talk about it seems like much ado about nothing. But it is precisely understanding and working with this nothing that has allowed civilization to progress. The development of zero across continents, centuries, and minds has made it one of the greatest accomplishments of human society. Because math is a global language, and calculus its crowning achievement, zero exists and is used everywhere. But, like its function as a symbol and a concept meant to denote absence, zero may still seem like nothing at all. Yet, recall the fears over Y2K and zero no longer seems like a tale told by an idiot.

References:
1. Kaplan, Robert (2000). The Nothing that Is: A Natural History of Zero. New York: Oxford University Press.

2. Seife, Charles (2000). Zero: The Biography

Rights:
© Copyright Yale Center for the Study of Globalization 2002

		Ideas:
		Mind without borders

Over the millennia, while the human community has spread to the far corners of the world, what has connected us is our imagination. Whether it is our understandings of the universe, the ways we relate to the nature that surrounds us, or the creative inspirations that transform our existence, ideas have never been confined by geography. Like small rivulets flowing from different parts of the world, ideas have interacted, clashed and fused to create global human knowledge.

Please click on the link below.

		The History of Zero
		How from shunya , the Sanskrit word meaning
		nothingness, grew a numeral that changed the
		world.

Take a look at your evening meal and what do you see? Common foods that are so much a part of daily sustenance you would hardly suspect that they originally came from another country. But it is true.

Most of the foods that we commonly eat today are the product of globalization. And often a globalization that began centuries before the term came into use. Next time you eat one of the foods highlighted in the following articles imagine what life would be like if that food had never left its home country.

Please click on the links below to learn about the various foods that have made a significant impact in our life today.

	Spices
	The quest for spices helped pave the way for colonialism and global empires

	The Potato
	From a wild tuber to the french fry, the potato has withstood the test of time and traveled the world

	Coffee
	First thing in the morning or after dinner, what would we do without coffee?

	The Tomato
	From pizza, spaghetti & meatballs to salsa, rogan josh and ketchup, the tomato has adapted to every cuisine and continues to please

	Tea
	That cup of steaming tea has traveled a long way. In fact, tea’s history reveals globalization’s best and worst sides
	How a Soothing Drink Changed Fortunes and Incited Protests

	Chili
	The chili pepper has been with many cultures for so long, over 500 years to be exact

	Tobacco
	Cultivated in the Americas before discovered by the Europeans, tobacco spread around the world with its true nature in disguise

	攜手同行： 全球化意味著重新連結人類社會   Nayan Chanda 2002年11月19日 《耶鲁全球》杂志

今天，全世界的物品交換、思想交流、機構意見互換以及人們的互動成倍數成長，這個現象僅是歷史長流中的一個趨勢。在人類歷史上，人们对更为美好事物的追求一直激励着全球范围内的人口流动、贸易往来和思想文化的交流。

1962年，“全球化”第一次出現在我們的辭彙中，而現在，這個詞語已經從一個那時的專用術語變成了今天的一個口頭禪，〈經濟學人〉杂志把它稱為“21世紀最被濫用的詞語 ”。的確，現今沒有哪個詞語能夠對不同的人群有如此不同的意義，也沒有哪個詞語能夠召喚出如此豐富的情感。很多人把它看成佛教的終極目標：涅槃 — 一種無苦圓滿安樂的境界, 但是也有很多人把它譴責為一種新的混亂。
如果“全球化”這個詞語能夠得到適當的定義和應用，它是非常實用的，可以被解釋為人類歷史的主旋律。這個趨勢在最近的幾十年裏已經被增強和加速，而我們也 在視野中看見了它所有的恩惠和破壞力。正如地球的氣候在過去幾千年裏創造了自然環境，幾萬年裏相異文化和社會的接觸及相互影響促進了當今“全球人類社會” 的整合。
全球化, 在《韋氏字典》內定義為“使許多活動和渴望在全球範圍內出現或被應用的演繹過程”, 該過程已經持續了很長一段時間。在全球化這個詞的詞根“地球”（globe）出現的幾千年以前，祖先們就已經遍佈在世界的各地了。事實上，人類在各大陸塊 (南極洲除外)的遷徙和繁衍過程可以被看作最原始的全球化。大約五萬年前，出現在非洲的人類始祖開始散佈到南美和北美…世界各個角落。冰川時代後的海平面 上升，將美洲和歐亞大陸分隔開來，形成分離的兩塊大陸。直到哥倫布在1492年意外地到達加勒比海島，這兩個世界才重新的被連接起來。同一年，德國地理學 家馬丁•貝海姆 (Martin Behaim) 打造出了第一個代表地球的“球”，也就是我們今天所說的地球儀。
1492，因為新大陸的發現讓隔離了一萬多年的人們重新團聚，這被稱為“哥倫布交換”，是 “全球化”歷史上的一個里程碑。除此之外，還有植物和動物的互換，比如：一種秘魯的塊莖植物-土豆(馬鈴薯)，在那時開始散佈到全球；墨西哥的辣椒也佔據 了亞洲各國；從巴西到越南，埃塞俄比亞的咖啡在世界各地落戶。這時期，不同的社會不僅以不同的方式演化，並且建立了不同的政治和經濟結構，還發明了不同的 技術，種植了不同的作物，當然最重要的是發展了不同的語言和思考方式。這種多元的發展使重新連接不同文明這項工作變得既有挑戰性又極有經濟效益。
從歷史的角度來說，能夠促使人們離開他們神聖家園的動力主要有四種：征服（確保自身安全和擴大政治權力的渴望）、繁盛（更好的生活的追求）、宗教（擴張各 自崇信之神的旨意，改變其他人的信仰），以及人類天生的好奇心和遷徙的欲望。因此，歷史上最主要全球化使者往往是士兵、水手、商人、傳教士和探險者。人類 文明的黎明時期貿易的痕跡，在非洲內部的一些貝殼上可以找到，這證實了幾千年前，商人們帶著他們的貨物，航越重洋從一個大洲旅行到另一個大洲；傳教士們越 過沙漠和山脈，航行在海洋上；佛教從印度傳到了印尼，並創造了全球化的第一個紀念碑 — 婆羅浮屠佛塔；中國法顯和尚西元四世紀的印度之行，一千年後阿拉伯探險家伊本•巴圖塔（Ibn Batuta）的亞非歐三大洲行程，探險家們一直尋覓著新的邊界，試圖與邊遠地區的社會、經濟和文化建立新的聯繫。雖然這樣的旅行很緩慢也很危險，但是如 亞歷山大大帝、成吉思汗等雄心勃勃、永不滿足的領袖們卻帶兵遠離家園去征服新的土地。這樣的征服也意味著雙向的全球化，因為這些統治者們在影響被征服者的 同時也被當地的人文影響著。
隨著時間的變遷，每個歷史時期，總有一些不同的人擁有信念和決心去建立聯繫，無論是以統治者還是合作者的身份。17世紀荷蘭和英國東印度公司的崛起，使那 些背著工具、乘著小舟的商人小團體被大企業併吞。而孤獨的朝聖者和牧師們也被大型的宗教組織替代了，這些組織不僅僅傳播他們的宗教信仰，還推廣了他們的語 言、文學和建築。過去那些世紀裏面只有極少數的冒險家和旅行家能够將很多不同的人類社會連接在一起，而他們的後人不僅有乘坐飛機周遊世界的旅行者，還包括 了成千上萬的逃難者和移民，都在穿越不同的國界，四處移動。這些來去匆匆的人們擴大了世界各地的聯繫網，也方便了貨物、思想和文化的傳播。
相互聯絡的趨勢和交易象徵著過去五百年的商業歷史。巴西叢林的橡膠樹被英國殖民者移植到了馬來西亞，而橡膠在20世紀初為福特汽車公司提供了輪胎的原材 料；來自中國和印度的橡膠樹汁採集者也改變了馬來西亞的人種組成。新作物的引進，如美洲新大陸的玉米和紅薯，也對世界的人口分佈產生了巨大影響。水稻對耕 作土地的高要求，並未使中國的人口很快增長，但是那些能夠生長在邊緣土地的新作物的引進，對中國的人口增長形成了推動力。相同地，車臣地區的人口因為新大 陸玉米的到來而急速增長。
從羅馬帝國到兩個世紀以前的“泛大不列顛时代”(Pax Britannica)，到今天的所謂“泛美时代”(Pax Americana)，超級強國的力量成為了改變世界相互依賴性的作用力。西方和美國的跨國公司在全球的消費者產品供應鏈中扮演了領頭的角色。
自由貿易圈的擴大促進了經濟增長，孕育了『中產階級』持續的茁壯成長，中產階級增加了對世界各地生產的貨物和國際旅遊的需求。最明顯的當然要算世界上人口 最多的兩個國家 — 中國和印度，隨著收入和消費水平的提高，人們對人身自由和負責政府的要求也在提高。 雖然全世界大部分人口依然貧困，但是民主、人權和媒體自由等價值觀已經傳播開來。全世界192個國家中，擁有多黨制選舉的百分比從1974年的百分之三十 弱，增加到了現在的百分之六十強。
越過國界，傳播民主和人權思想最有影響的力量，即是20世界下半葉的資訊產業革命，電話、電視和英特網是這場革命中最重要的工具。在19世紀晚期，英國維 多利亞女皇花十六個半小時才能將一份祝福送給大西洋彼岸的美國總統詹姆斯•布坎南；今日，大量資訊以不同的形式（如文檔、音頻、視頻）以光速傳送。現今， 一通三分鐘的國際電話，從紐約到倫敦，只要不到10美分；相比之下，在1930年同樣的電話費用則是300美元。電信資費的降低，使資訊爆炸時代的優勢遍 及全世界。
衛星電視等發明，橫越海洋將人們的情感聯繫起來；英國戴安娜王妃香殞的消息，透過電視傳到世界各地，馬上招引無數的花圈。資訊自由流通，在整合政治分歧 上，確實的發揮了效應；美國9/11恐怖襲擊甚至引起伊朗年輕族群，發起了一次燭光祈禱聚會。當然，資訊流動在某些時候，使觀念上的阻隔變得更加僵硬，比 如說，阿拉伯語系的半島衛視 (Al-Jazeera) 對以色列和巴勒斯坦之間的暴力衝突報導，讓阿拉伯人和以色列人之間的鴻溝加寬。
通訊和交通成本的降低促進了經濟成長，文盲的降低和醫療服務的改善更是提高人們的生活品質。人們的身體更健康，也更長夀了；生活在貧困中的人數降低了（雖然在非洲和南亞有所增加）。
然而快速的增長也是需要付出代價的，消滅貧困的行動帶來了負面的環境影響。比如，農業的擴張和林木產品的交易，使得世界上每年有1%的雨林消失。緊密連接 的全球通訊運輸網絡在協助經濟增長的同時，也使這個世界在疾病、惡意破壞和恐怖主義面前更加脆弱。最明顯的例子--愛滋病，傳播於非洲和南美洲的病毒，已 經擴散到全世界每一個角落，日感染人數高達14000；同樣是病毒感染，1997年的“我愛你”電腦病毒被馬尼拉的惡作劇者製造出來，給全球帶來了7億美 元的損失。9/11的劫機者成功地利用了電子傳送，得到了所需要的操作資金，並且依靠英特網購買機票，組織了行動。從9/11恐怖襲擊以來，賓•拉登最常 用的與世界連接的工具，就是衛星電視。
並非說這些利弊以前沒有存在過。歷史的觀察上，科技的突破總是帶來了不同程度的騷動，也創造了贏家和輸家。當殖民者和探險家將歐亞舊大陸與美洲新大陸連接 起來的時候，他們給美洲帶來了天花、流感等傳染病毒，幾乎製造了一次人口組成上的大屠殺，四個印第安人裏面就有三個會因為這些疾病而死亡。美洲、亞洲、非 洲和中東很多地方的殖民化加快了當地的經濟整合，但是也打亂了這些地方傳統社會的結構和政治權力的分佈。對採礦和耕種勞動力的需求，將大約一千萬非洲奴隸 送出了非洲，不過珍稀金屬和新產品的流動讓歐洲和亞洲的經濟得到發展。
在『連接全球』這項工作上，世界上還沒有扮演了比美國更重要的角色，美國本身卻也是現代全球化的一個早期產物。在19世紀後期的全球化高潮中的六千萬離開 故鄉、移民海外的人潮裡，絕大多數都來到了美國，新大陸的移民和奴隸們建立起有史以來最富有的國家。從英國的水磨房和蒸汽機開始，美國人從世界各地的資源 裏吸取有效成分，使美國成為了領先的創新者和全球化最有力的引擎。第二次世界大戰太平洋戰役的勝利，以及馬歇爾計畫的實施，使美國的經濟和軍事力量，遍及 世界的每一個角落，並在冷戰結束的時候達到了最高點。柏林牆的倒塌象徵著，幾十年全球的思想意識分歧的結束，為“全球化”注入了一針興奮劑。很多人把全球 化這個現象跟美國化劃上等號，而有了排斥的心理。
冷戰的結束把貧富國家之間的差距變成了世界的焦點。全球化的確創造了前所未有的財富，但是同時也讓很多人陷入了貧困的泥沼。擁有發達的基礎設施、社會機構 和教育系統的工業國家以及開發中國家無疑是全球化最大的受益者，但是最窮的那些國家並沒有發展，有些甚至是退步的。因此，整體來看，世界貧困率持續的降 低，但是世界上仍有三分之一的人口依舊生活在極度貧困中，很多人沒有電力和可飲用水源。貧富國家和貧富階級之間的差異的的確在擴大。全球性共通的法則不斷 進化和發展，這些法則加上管理這些法則的機構（如國際貨幣基金組織和世界貿易組織），反映了貧富國家之間力量的不平衡。
多虧了當今資訊急速廣泛的傳播，貧窮的國家現在也更加覺悟到了他們和西方富裕國家之間的差距，貧窮的個人和單位也意識到了他們和有西方支持的當地精銳分子 之間的差距，而這種覺悟經常可以成為憤恨和抗議之源，比如委內瑞拉和菲律賓的反美遊行。發達國家的貨物、思想和娛樂 傳送著明顯或隱蔽的政治和文化訊息，發展中國家的人民對他們自己傳統社會被影響的感覺也因此被加強了。很多落後國家的暴政和痛苦加上西方發達國家的相對發 達吸引著很多人到其他地區去尋找財富，因此而產生的非法移民潮現在也成為了發達國家的主要憂慮之一。貨物和思想的交換給世界帶來了新的聯繫，但是同時也激 發了很多矛盾的反應 — 既有崇拜，又有懷恨的民族主義，以及宗教的阻力。在伊朗學生渴望美國式生活的同時，西方很多人卻反對著全球化，把它看成罪惡的自由市場式資本主義的象徵， 而世界上的很多人也認為西方國家領導的全球化的目標之一就是消滅伊斯蘭教。
全球化究竟意味著什麼呢？全球化會不會因為人們不斷增強的覺悟和對危險的認識（如恐怖分子對開放的國界和簡易的經濟交換的濫用）而消退？當然，歷史上有過 一次全球化消退的前例，那就是兩次世界大戰之間，由於關稅的增加和對移民的限制，自由貿易和人口的流動的確有過減慢。然而，這些限制並沒有減弱推動全球化 的四個基本動力：征服、繁榮、宗教和好奇心。同盟軍取得抵抗納粹德國和日本的勝利，其實重新打開了全球化的大門，使貿易和旅行獲得了更大的推動力。
肯定的是，歐洲反移民的情緒、西方國家的農業補助、知識產權以及9/11事件以後美國簽證政策緊縮一類的問題，給全球化整合的進程帶來了損壞，但是人們連 接這個世界的長期趨勢是難以被逆轉的。對繁榮的追尋，仍然推動著各國商業擴大到國境以外，促使著消費者們購買最好最便宜的商品，而不在乎商品的原產地。讓 伊本•巴圖塔（Ibn Batuta）離開家園的好奇心，讓成千上萬的人們到各地去旅行，觀看外國電影，吃不同的食物，欣賞各國音樂和體育競賽。現今全球化與過去的最大不同點， 便是它的明顯度和速度，加速了全球的互動放大了影響力；媒體的全球轉播，讓這些影響馬上被看見，這傳播階段在過去發生得很慢，而且經常是難以進入人們視野 的。重新連接人類社會這項既有益處又有陷阱的 歷史性程序，會繼續下去，也會變得更加的明顯，且更有挑戰性。不管是普通公民、學者或者政治家，我們的任務都應該是去理解和管理好全球化，努力地發展其有 利的方面並且限制其負面效應。

中文翻譯: 董欣
Translated from English by Xin Dong

錢達安（Nayan Chanda）是《耶魯全球》網路雜誌的主編。他的文章並不反映耶魯全球化研究中心的觀點。

耶鲁全球化研究中心版權所有

YaleGlobal Online © Copyright 2003 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

	Vivre ensemble: La mondialisation est le retour à la symbiose humaine Nayan Chanda

La croissance exponentielle de la circulation des biens, des idées, des institutions et des personnes à laquelle nous assistons aujourd'hui fait partie d'une tendance historique à long terme. Tout au long de l'histoire de l'humanité le désir d'améliorer et d'agrandir l'espace de vie a poussé les populations à se déplacer partout dans le monde avec leur bagage matériel et intellectuel.

Depuis sa première apparition en 1962, le terme de "mondialisation" (ou "globalisation" pour employer l'expression anglaise) est passé du jargon au cliché. La revue The Economist l'a appelé "le mot le plus galvaudé du vingt et unième siècle". Il est clair que, de mémoire vivante, aucun terme n'a voulu dire autant de choses pour autant de gens. Et n’a autant déchaîné les passions. Pour certains, c'est une sorte de nirvana, un état de grâce où règnent la paix et la prospérité universelles; pour d'autres, il s'agit d'un nouveau genre de chaos qui doit être condamné.

Pourtant, correctement défini et appliqué, le terme a une valeur d'usage certaine. On peut se le représenter comme un fil conducteur qui n'a pas cessé de courir tout au long de l'histoire de l'humanité, comme une tendance qui s'est intensifiée et accélérée durant les dernières décennies pour apparaître en plein jour avec tous les avantages et toutes les forces de destruction qu'il recèle. De même que le climat a façonné l'environnement au cours des âges, l'interaction entre les cultures et les sociétés pendant des dizaines de milliers d'années a abouti à l'intégration croissante de ce qui devient la communauté humaine mondiale.-

La mondialisation -- processus qui donne, selon la définition des dictionnaires, aux diverses activités et aspirations une "extension qui intéresse le monde entier" -- a commencé depuis bien longtemps. Des milliers d'années avant que n'apparaisse la racine du mot -- "monde" ou "globe" --nos ancêtres s'étaient déjà répandus sur la surface de la terre. En fait, leurs migrations et leur peuplement de tous les continents (à part l'Antarctique) représentaient une sorte de proto-mondialisation. Il y a une cinquantaine de milliers d'années, l'homo sapiens, apparu en Afrique de l’Est, avaient commencé à migrer aux quatre coins du monde, y compris l’Amérique du Nord et du Sud. L'élévation du niveau de la mer a la fin de l’ère glaciaire avait séparé le continent américain de la masse eurasiatique, créant deux mondes qui étaient désormais coupés l'un dru l'autre. Ils ne se réuniraient étaient désormais coupés l'un dru l'autre. ils ne se réuniraient de nouveau qu'en 1492, lorsque Christophe Colomb aborderait par un heureux hasard aux îles antillaises. Cette même année, un géographe allemand, Martin Behaim, allait construire le premier globe terrestre connu.

Ce rétablissement des liens entre les continents, né des routes commerciales ouvertes par Colomb, est l'un des événements marquants de l'histoire de la mondialisation. La découverte du Nouveau Monde allait réunir des peuples qui étaient restés séparés pendant plus de dix mille ans. Non moins importante allait être la circulation des plantes et des animaux. Par exemple, une tubercule péruvienne, la pomme de terre, est depuis lors devenue un aliment de base dans le monde entier; le piment rouge du Mexique allait conquérir toute l'Asie et une culture éthiopienne, le caféier, allait s'implanter du Brésil au Vietnam. Pendant ce temps, les sociétés non seulement évoluaient dans des directions opposées et mettaient en place diverses structures économiques et politiques, mais inventaient aussi différentes techniques, plantaient différentes cultures et donnaient avant tout naissance à différentes langues et manières de penser. C'est cette pluralité qui a donné à la reprise des liens entre les civilisations tout son prix et toute sa portée.

Du point de vue historique, quatre raisons principales ont poussé les sociétés à quitter le refuge de la famille et du village: le désir de conquête (pour asseoir leur sécurité et étendre leur puissance), la prospérité (en quête d'une vie meilleure), le prosélytisme (propager leur foi et convertir les autres) et la satisfaction d'un besoin moins spirituel -la curiosité et l'attrait de la découverte, qui paraissent être des traits fondamentaux de la nature humaine. Dans ce sens, les principaux moteurs de la mondialisation ont été les soldats et les marins, les marchands, les missionnaires et les aventuriers.

Les échanges commerciaux datant de l’aube de la civilisation ont ainsi laissé des traces dans les coquillages marins retrouvés au plus profond de l’Afrique. Il y a des millénaires les marchands produits aux quatre coins du globe en traversant les mers. Les missionaires ont franchi les déserts, les montagnes et les océans. L'expansion du bouddhisme de l'Inde à i'Indonésie a légué le temple de Boroboudour, l'un des premiers monuments de la mondialisation . Du moine bouddhiste chinois Faxian, qui . s'est rendu en Inde au quatrième siècle, l'explorateur arabe Ibn Battuta qui a parcouru mille ans plus tard l'Europe, l'Asie et l'Afrique, les aventuriers n'ont pas cessé de découvrir de nouvelles frontières et d'établir liens entre des sociétés, des cultures et des entités économiques lointaines. Malgré les distances et les dangers, des chefs ambitieux et avides, tels Alexandre le Grand et Gengis Khan, se sont aventurés loin de leur pays et se sont emparés de terres nouvelles. Ainsi est née la mondialisation dans les deux sens, car conquérants et conquis s'influençaient mutuellement.

Les acteurs dont l'élan et la détermination ont créé des liens de domination et de coopération ont changé au fil du temps. Les petits groupes de marchands transportant leurs produits à dos d'homme et par la voie maritime ont été remplacés par des entreprises géantes, à commencer par les Compagnies hollandaise et anglaise des Indes orientales au dix-septième siècle. Les pèlerins et les prêtres solitaires ont fait place à de grandes sociétés religieuses qui ont propagé leur foi de même que la langue, la culture et l'architecture de leur pays. Les quelques aventuriers et voyageurs intrépides des siècles passés, qui avaient établi des passerelles entre des sociétés éloignées, ont été remplacés par des milliers, voire des millions de réfugiés et d'émigrants fuyant au-delà des frontières, ainsi que par des centaines de millions de touristes sillonnant tous les cieux de la planète. Toutes ces allées et venues approfondissent et élargissent les -Liens entre les quatre coins du monde et facilitent la circulation des marchandises, des idées et des cultures.

L'histoire des échanges commerciaux des cinq cents dernières est marquée par d'autres tendances et activités qui ont renforcé les liens de symbiose. Les hévéas des jungles brésiliennes transplantés en Malaisie par des colons britanniques au tout début du vingtième siècle ont fourni la matière première des pneus de la première automobile fabriquée en série par Ford; les travailleurs chinois et indiens employés sous contrat pour saigner les arbres à caoutchouc ont définitivement transformé la composition ethnique de la Malaisie. L'introduction de cultures provenant du Nouveau Monde, comme le maïs et la patate douce, a eu des conséquences profondes sur le plan démographique. Par exemple, l'accroissement de la population chinoise, freinée par le manque de terres irrigables pour le riz, a été stimulé par de nouvelles cultures qui pouvaient pousser sur des sols marginaux. De même, la population de la Tchétchenie a rapidement augmenté après l'arrivée du maïs en provenance du Nouveau Monde.

De l'Empire romain à la Pax americana actuelle, en passant par la Pax Britannica d' il .y a deux: siècles, la puissance des super-États a constitué une autre force qui a changé la nature de l'interdépendance. Les multinationales occidentale et américaines dominent maintenant la nouvelle chaîne d'approvisionnement qui. alimente mondialement la production de biens de consommation.

La sphère d'expansion du libre-échange, en s'élargissant,a donné un coup de fouet à la croissance économique et a £ait naître ure classe moyenne montante qui, à son tour, a stimulé la consommation de biens produits à l'échelle mondiale et le tourisme international. L'exemple le plus frappant est celui des deux pays les plus peuplés du monde, la Chine et l'Inde. L'augmentation du revenu et de la. consommation a donné lieu à une liberté individuelle plus grande et à un désir croissant d'être gouverné de manière responsable. Même si la vaste majorité de la population mondiale est toujours pauvre, les idées de démocratie, de respect des droits humains et de liberté de la presse ont gagné du terrain. Sur les cent quatre-vingt-douze pays du monde, ceux qui tiennent des élections multipartites pour choisir leur gouvernement sont passés de moins de 30 % en 1974 à plus de 60 % à l'heure actuelle.

La force la plus puissante qui a contribué à transmettre au travers des frontières les idées de démocratie et de respect des droits de ï'homme est la révolution de la technologie de l'information qui a eu lieu durant la seconde moitié du vingtième siècle. Le téléphone, la télévision et l'Internet en ont été les principaux outils. A la fin du dix-neuvième siècle, les salutations de la reine Vic Victoria au Président américain James Buchanan ont mis seize heures et demie pour traverser ï'Atlantique le long d'un câble! Aujourd'hui, d'énormes quantités d'informations multiformats (texte, communication vocale, vidéo} sont transmises â 1a vitesse de la lumière. Un appel téléphonique de trois minutes de New York à Londres coûte actuellement moins de dix centimes américains, alors qu'il. revenait à trois cents dollars en 1930! Cette baisse spectaculaire des tarifs a mis à la portée d'une grande partie de l'humanité les fruits des progrès foudroyants de la téléinformatique.
Par ailleurs, des innovations telles que la télévision par satellite a permis aux individus d'être en communion de sentiments par-delà les frontières et les océans: la nouvelle de la mort de la princesse Diana annoncée sur les écrans de la télévision par câble a immédiatement entraîné des envois de couronnes de fleurs de tous les coins du monde. La libre circulation de l'information contribue aussi à réduire les fossés politiques: les événements du il septembre 2001 ont donné lieu à une veillée aux bougies chez les jeunes Iraniens. Mais elle a également durci les attitudes le long de frontières idéologiques. Al-Jazira, la chaîne arabophone de télévision par satellite, en diffusant en direct des images des violences commises par Israël et la Palestine, a élargi le gouffre entre Arabes et Israéliens.
La diminution du coût des communications et des transports a favorisé l'essor de la croissance économique, tandis que l'alphabétisation et l'amélioration des soins de santé ont renforcé la qualité de la vie. Les habitants de la planète vivent plus vieux et en meilleure santé, alors que le nombre de pauvres a diminué dans la plupart des régions (sauf en Afrique et en Asie du Sud, où il a augmenté).

Mais l'accélération de la croissance n'est pas non plus sans imposer son prix. La réduction de la pauvreté dans le monde a des conséquences négatives pour l'environnement. Près d'un pour cent des forées tropicales humides disparaît chaque année de la surface du globe en raison de l'expansion de l'agriculture et du commerce des produits forestiers. Le maillage serré des télécommunications, qui a facilité le progrès économique, a aussi exacerbé la vulnérabilité du monde à la maladie, aux actes de malfaisance et à la terreur, entre autres. L'infection due au VIH chez les êtres humains a commencé en Afrique et en Amérique du Sud, mais elle s'est propagée dans le monde entier et quelque 14 000 personnes sont aujourd'hui touchées chaque jour. En 1977, le virus informatique "I Love You", lancé par des plaisantins à Manille, a causé dans le monde entier, en moins de cinq heures, des dégâts chiffrés à 700 millions de dollars. Les terroristes du il septembre ont eu recours aux transferts bancaires électroniques pour financer leurs opérations et à l'Internet pour coordonner leurs mouvements et acheter leurs billets d'avion. Depuis les attentats, le moyen préféré d'oussama Ben Laden pour communiquer à partir de son repaire est la télévision par satellite.

Ce mélange de bon et de mauvais n'est d'ailleurs pas nouveau. Tout au long de l'histoire, la modernisation technique s'est accompagnée de bouleversements et a fait des gagnants et des perdants. Lorsque le Vieux Monde s'est relié aux Amériques par ses colonisateurs et ses explorateurs, de nouveaux pathogènes tels que la variole et la grippe ont ravagé les populations, tuant trois sur quatre Amérindiens. La colonisation de l'Amérique du Nord et de vastes parties de l'Asie, de l'Afrique, du Moyen-Orient et de l'Amérique latine a détruit les structures sociales et politiques traditionnelles tout en accélérant le processus d'intégration économique Le besoin de main-d'oeuvre pour extraire le minerai d'argent et travailler dans les plantations a abouti au transfert d'une dizaine de millions d'esclaves de l'Afrique. De l'autre côté, l'économie des pays d'Europe et d'Asie a connu un essor extraordinaire, alimenté par l'afflux de métaux précieux et de produits nouveaux.

Aucun autre pays n'a joué une rôle aussi important dans la reconnexion du monde que les Etats-Unis, eux-mêmes l'un des premiers produits de la mondialisation moderne. Sur les quelque 60 millions de personnes qui ont quitté leur lieu d'origine durant la période de mondialisation la plus intense vers la fin du dix-neuvième siècle, la plupart se sont installées aux Etats-Unis. Le pays le plus riche de l'histoire a été construit par des immigrants et des esclaves. Utilisant les ressources de l'extérieur -- à commencer par les machines hydrauliques et à vapeur provenant d'Angleterre -- les Etats Unis sont devenus le plus grand innovateur et le plus puissant moteur de la mondialisation. La victoire dans la guerre du Pacifique et le lancement du plan Marshall ont propagé aux quatre coins du monde la puissance économique et politique américaine, jusqu'à son apogée au terme de la guerre froide. La chute du mur de Berlin a symbolisé la fin d'une division idéologique du monde et a impulsé le bond en avant de la mondialisation elle-même. Il n'est dès lors pas étonnant que beaucoup s'indignent contre la mondialisation en la considérant comme un euphémisme pour l'américanisation.

En même temps, la fin de la guerre froide a davantage mis en relief l'autre fossé énorme qui sépare les pays riches des pays en développement. Si la mondialisation a créé des richesses sans précédent, les laissés-pour-compte ont été pareillement nombreux. Ceux qui ont tiré le plus grand profit de la mondialisation sont les pays industrialisés dont l'infrastructure, les institutions et le système éducatif sont développés, ainsi que les pays à revenu intermédiaire qui ont ouvert l'économie. Les pays les plus pauvres, quant à eux, n'ont pas avancé et ont parfois même régressé. Ainsi, malgré la baisse générale du taux de pauvreté, près d'un tiers de l'humanité vit encore dans la misère, sans accès à l'électricité ou à l'eau potable. Le fossé s'est également élargi entre pays riches et pays pauvres, de même qu'entre nantis et indigents d'un même pays. Les règles de l'engagement mondial qui ont apparu et les institutions qui les gèrent -- principalement le Fonds monétaire international et l'Organisation mondiale du commerce -- reflètent le déséquilibre des forces entre nations riches et nations pauvres.

Grâce à la diffusion plus large de l'information, les déshérités sont davantage conscients du fossé qui les sépare de l'Occident riche et des élites nationales appuyées par l'Ouest. Cette prise de conscience peut être une source puissante de ressentiment et de protestation, comme le montrent les manifestations antiaméricaines au Venezuela et aux Philippines par exemple. Les messages politiques et culturels que véhiculent ouvertement ou de manière subliminale les produits, les idées et les divertissements du monde développé ont renforcé le sentiment de bouleversement qui frappe bien des sociétés traditionnelles. Face à la misère et à l'anarchie qui règnent dans beaucoup de pays, les étalages de lumière de l'Occident fascinent de nombreux individus et les incitent à tenter leur chance hors de chez eux. L'afflux croissant d'immigrants illégaux qui submerge les pays développés est devenu un problème très préoccupant. La reconnexion du monde par le biais des produits et des idées a également fait naître des réactions contraires, qui vont de l'admiration à la résistance nationaliste et religieuse. Tandis qu'en Iran des étudiants réclament un mode de vie à l'américaine, nombreux sont ceux, en Occident, qui s'opposent à la mondialisation en tant que symbole de l'iniquité du capitalisme libéral. Nombreux sont ceux également, de par le monde, qui voient dans la mondialisation dirigée par l'Ouest une tentative de destruction de l'Islam..

Que faut-il en conclure ? La mondialisation sera-t-elle contrainte à faire marche arrière devant les désillusions et les dangers, telle la menace des terroristes qui tirent férocement parti de l'ouverture des frontières et de la facilité des opérations financières ? Il existe en fait un précédent au recul de la mondialisation: entre les deux guerres mondiales, le libre-échange et la libre circulation des personnes ont connu un ralentissement brutal dû au renforcement des obstacles tarifaires et â la fermeture des portes devant l'immigration. Mais ces restrictions n'ont pas pour autant entamé les quatre raisons essentielles de la mondialisation, dont il a déjà été question: la soif de conquête, la recherche de la prospérité, le prosélytisme et l'élan de la curiosité. En fait, la victoire des Alliés sur les Nazis et le Japon ont rouvert les écluses de la mondialisation et redonné de la vigueur aux échanges commerciaux et touristiques.

Certes, bien des problèmes pourraient entraîner le grippage du moteur de l'intégration internationale -- tels que le sentiment d'opposition de plus en plus vive à l'immigration en Europe, les subventions agricoles, les préoccupations concernant les droits de propriété intellectuelle en Occident et les restrictions de visa d'entrée aux Etats-Unis depuis le 11 septembre. Il serait toutefois difficile d'inverser la tendance séculaire à la symbiose entre les populations à l'échelle du globe. La recherche du gain n'a pas cessé de pousser les entreprises à s'étendre au-delà des frontières et les consommateurs à acheter des produits de qualité à des prix raisonnables, quel qu'en soit le pays d'origine. La même curiosité à l'égard d'autrui, qui a amené tous les Ibn Battuta de la Terre à parcourir la planète, incite maintenant des million de gens à voyager, à voir des films étrangers, à goûter la cuisine de différents pays, à écouter des concerts internationaux et à assister à des manifestations sportives mondiales. La différence la plus marquée entre la mondialisation du passé et celle d'aujourd'hui réside dans la visibilité et la rapidité. La vitesse accélérée de l'interaction mondiale en a télescopé l'impact, et l'extension des médias à l'échelle du globe a rendu cette interaction instantanément visible -alors que dans le passé tout se déroulait comme au ralenti et souvent loin des regards. Fort de toutes ses promesses et quelles qu'en soient les embûches, le processus historique de remise en symbiose des membres de la communauté humaine est un phénomène durable, de plus en plus visible et marqué par des enjeux croissants. Notre tâche -- que nous soyons citoyens, érudits ou hommes d'Etat -- consiste à comprendre et à gérer la mondialisation, sans épargner nos efforts pour en encourager les aspects favorables et en éloigner les effets néfastes.

Nayan Chanda est rédacteur en chef de YaleGlobal Online. Son article ne reflète pas les opinions du Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

Traduit par Alain Archambault

© Droits réservés par Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

		Coming Together:
		Globalization means reconnecting the human community
		Nayan Chanda
		YaleGlobal, 19 November 2002

Folk art from Mexico

The exponential growth in the exchange of goods, ideas, institutions and people that we see today is part of a long-term historical trend. Over the course of human history, the desire for something better and greater has motivated people to move themselves, their goods, and their ideas around the world.

Since the first appearance of the term in 1962 'globalization' has gone from jargon to cliche. The Economist has called it "the most abused word of the 21st century." Certainly no word in recent memory has meant so many different things to different people and has evoked as much emotion. Some see it as nirvana - a blessed state of universal peace and prosperity - while others condemn it as a new kind of chaos.

If properly defined and applied, the "g-word" actually does have some utility. It can best be understood as a leitmotif of human history. It is a trend that has intensified and accelerated in recent decades and come into full view with all its benefits and destructive power. Just as climate has shaped the environment over the millennia, the interaction among cultures and societies over tens of thousands of years has resulted in the increasing integration of what is becoming the global human community.

Globalization - defined by Webster's dictionary as a process that renders various activities and aspirations "worldwide in scope or application" - has been underway for a long time. Thousands of years before the root word for this concept - 'globe' - came into use, our ancestors had already spread across the earth. In fact, the process by which they migrated and populated all the continents except Antarctica was a kind of proto-globalization. Some 50,000 years ago early forms of homo sapiens, who developed in east Africa, began to travel to the far corners of the world, including to the continents of North and South America. Rising sea levels at the end of the ice age separated the Americas from the Eurasian land mass, creating two worlds that were now cut off from each other. They would not be reconnected until Christopher Columbus's serendipitous landing on a Caribbean island in 1492. That same year a German geographer, Martin Behaim, built the first known globe as a representation of the earth.

The reconnection was called the 'Columbian exchange,' and it is celebrated as a landmark in the history of globalization. The discovery of the New World brought together peoples who had been separated for over 10,000 years. No less significant has been the exchange of plants and animals. A Peruvian tuber, the potato, has become a staple throughout the world, Mexican chili pepper has taken over Asia, and an Ethiopian crop, coffee, found new homes from Brazil to Vietnam, to name just a few. In the intervening period, societies have not only evolved in radically different ways and developed different economic and political structures, but they have also invented different technologies, grown different crops and, most importantly, developed different languages and ways of thinking. That diversity makes the job of reconnecting civilizations both challenging and rewarding.

Historically there were four main motives that drove people to leave the sanctuary of their family and village: conquest (the desire to ensure security and extend political power), prosperity (the search for a better life), proselytizing (spreading the word of their God and converting others to their faith), and a more mundane but still powerful force -curiosity and wanderlust that seem basic to human nature. Therefore, the principal agents of globalization were soldiers (and sailors), traders, preachers and adventurers. Signs of trade in the dawn of civilization can be seen in old seashells carried deep into the interior of Africa. Thousands of years ago traders carried goods from one part of the globe to another across oceans. Missionaries traversed deserts and mountains and sailed the seas. The spread of Buddhism from India to Indonesia led to the creation of the Borobudur temple, which is one of the first monuments of globalization. From the Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian's journey to India in the 4th century, to the Arab explorer Ibn Batuta's travels to Europe, Asia and Africa a thousand years later, adventurers have continued to find new frontiers and establish connections among far-flung societies, cultures and economies. Even though travel was slow and dangerous, ambitious and acquisitive leaders - from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan - ventured far from home and brought new lands under their sway. Conquest meant globalization in both directions, since the rulers often ended up being as influenced by those they ruled as vice versa.

The cast of characters whose drive and determination have established links of both domination and cooperation has changed with times. Small bands of traders carrying their wares on their backs or in boats have been replaced by giant enterprises, starting with the Dutch and British East India Companies in the 17th century. In place of solitary pilgrims and priests have come vast religious organizations that spread their beliefs, along with their languages, literatures and architecture. The few intrepid adventurers and travelers of past centuries who brought distant societies together have given way to thousands and even millions of refugees and immigrants fleeing across borders, as well as hundreds of millions of tourists jetting around the world. All these comings and goings deepen and broaden the connections among far parts of the world and facilitate the transmission of goods, ideas and cultures.

The commercial history of the past five hundred years is marked by other trends and transactions that have strengthened the bonds of interconnectedness. The rubber plants uprooted from the jungles of Brazil and transplanted in Malaysia by British colonialists in the first years of the 20th century provided the raw material for the tires in Henry Ford's Model T; the indentured rubber tapper from China and India altered Malaysia's ethnic composition forever. The introduction of new crops like corn and sweet potatoes from the New World had a dramatic impact on demography. For example, the growth of population in China, which had been held in check by the shortage of irrigable rice fields, got a boost from new crops that could be grown on marginal soil. Similarly, Chechnya's population grew apace after the arrival of corn from the New World.

From the Roman empire, to Pax Britannica two centuries ago, to the Pax Americana of today, the power of super states has been another force changing the nature of interdependence. In the emerging global supply chain that now feeds consumer production worldwide, Western and American multinational corporations have taken a lead role.

The expanding circle of free trade has boosted economic growth and spawned a burgeoning middle class, which, in turn, has increased consumption of globally produced goods and rise in international tourism. Most striking have been the world's two most populous countries, China and India. With rising income and greater consumption has come more personal freedom and a growing demand for accountable government. Even though the vast majority of the world population is still poor, the ideas of democracy, human rights and press freedom have spread. The percentage of countries which hold multi-party elections to choose their governments has grown from less than thirty percent in 1974 to over sixty percent of the 192 countries in the world.

The most powerful force for transmitting the ideas of democracy and human rights across borders is the revolution in information technology in the second half of the 20th century. The telephone, television and the Internet have been the key tools. In the late 19th century, it took Queen Victoria sixteen and a half hours to send a message of greeting across a transatlantic cable to President James Buchanan. Today vast amounts of information in multiple formats - text, voice, video - are transmitted at the speed of light. Moreover, a three minute call from New York to London costs less than a dime, instead of the $300 it cost in 1930. This dramatic drop in the price of telecommunications has made the benefits of the information explosion available to much of humanity.

Meanwhile, innovations like satellite television have connected people's emotions across borders and oceans: the news of Princess Diana's death flashing on cable TV's immediately elicited wreathes of flowers from around the world. The free flow of information is also helping bridge the political divide: September 11 triggered a candlelight vigil among young Iranians. But it has also been hardening attitudes along ideological boundaries. The Arabic-language satellite station Al Jazeera's live broadcast of Israeli-Palestine violence has widened the gulf between Arabs and Israelis.

The falling cost of communications and transportation has boosted economic growth while literacy and better health care have improved quality of life. People the world over are living longer and healthier lives, while the number of people living in poverty has dropped in most regions (though it has increased in Africa and South Asia).

Yet faster growth has its cost, too. The reduction in poverty worldwide has negative environmental consequences. Close to one percent of the world's rainforest is disappearing every year because of expanding agriculture and trade in forest products. The closely knit global communication network that makes growth possible has also made the world as a whole more vulnerable to everything from disease and mischief to terror. HIV infection in humans developed in Africa and South America but has spread to the entire world, now infecting some 14,000 people each day. In 1997, in barely five hours the "I love you" computer virus released by pranksters in Manila wreaked $700 million worth of damage worldwide. The September 11 hijackers made use of electronic transfers of funds to finance their operation. They also relied on the Internet to coordinate their moves and buy airline tickets. Since the attacks, Osama Bin Laden's favorite means of communicating with the world from his cave has been satellite TV.

Not that any of this mixture of the good and the bad is new. Throughout history, the introduction of breakthrough technologies has brought disruption, and created winners and losers. When the Old World connected with the New World through colonizers and explorers, new pathogens like small pox and influenza caused a "demographic holocaust," killing three out of every four Native Americans. The colonization of the Americas and vast parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, has destroyed traditional social structures and political power while speeding up the process of economic integration. The need for labor to mine silver and work the plantations resulted in the transfer of some 10 million slaves from Africa. On the other hand, the economies of Europe and Asia boomed, fuelled by the flow of precious metals and new commodities.

No other country has played as significant a role in reconnecting the world as the United States, itself an early product of modern globalization. A vast majority of some 60 million people who left their place of birth in the most intense period of globalization in the late 19th century went to the US. Immigrants and slaves built the richest nation in history. They drew upon world resources - starting with the water mill and steam engine technology from Britain - and emerged as a leading innovator and the most potent engine of globalization. With the American victory in the World War II Pacific arena and the launch of the Marshall plan, US economic and military power has spread to far corners of the world, culminating in the end of the Cold War. The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the end of a global ideological division and gave a boost to the latest burst of globalization itself. It is no wonder many around the world see - and resent - globalization as a euphemism for Americanization.

At the same time, the end of the Cold War has brought into sharper focus the other huge chasm that exists between the rich and the developing nations. While globalization has created unprecedented riches, many people have also been left mired in poverty. Industrialized countries with developed infrastructure, institutions and education, and middle income countries which opened up the economy have benefited most from globalization, but the poorest countries have not grown, or in some cases have even sunk back. Thus despite the overall fall in the rate of poverty, close to a third of the world population still lives in utter poverty without access to electricity or drinking water. The gap between the rich and the poor countries and between the wealthy and the indigent within countries has also widened. The rules of global engagement that have evolved, and the institutions that manage them - from the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organization - reflect the power imbalance between wealthy and poor nations.

Thanks to the wider diffusion of information, today's have-nots are more aware of the gap between themselves and the rich West, and between themselves and Western-backed domestic elites. This consciousness can be a powerful source of resentment and protest, such as the anti-American demonstrations from Venezuela to the Philippines. Overt or subliminal political and cultural messages carried with goods, ideas and entertainment from the developed world have added to the sense of disruption in many traditional societies. Combined with the misery and misrule in many countries, the bright lights of the West lure many to seek their fortunes elsewhere. The rising tide of illegal immigrants washing over the developed countries has become a major concern. The reconnection of the world through goods and ideas has also evoked conflicting responses - from admiration to bitter nationalistic and religious resistance. While students in Iran clamor for an American-style life, many in the West oppose globalization as the symbol of iniquitous free market capitalism. Many people around the globe also see a Western-led globalization aimed at destroying Islam.

What does all this mean for globalization? Will globalization be forced to retreat in the face of growing disillusionment and dangers such as terrorists' who abuse open borders and easy economic transactions? There is, of course, a precedent for such a decline in globalization. Between the two World Wars, free trade and the free movement of people did slow to a crawl, thanks to the raising of tariff walls and a closed door to immigration. But those restrictions did not dampen the same four basic motivations - conquest, search for prosperity, proselytizing and curiosity - that have driven globalization. The Allied victory against the Nazis and Japan, in fact, reopened the flood gates of globalization, giving a further boost to trade and travel.

To be sure, many issues could throw a wrench into the engines of international integration - issues like the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe, the West's farm subsidies and intellectual property rights concerns, and the tightened visa policies of the US since Sept. 11. However, the secular trend of people connecting with the world would be hard to reverse. The search for prosperity still drives businesses to expand beyond their borders and consumers to buy the best at an affordable price, irrespective of the country of origin. The same curiosity about others that led the likes of Ibn Batuta to leave home leads millions to travel, to watch foreign movies, eat different foods and enjoy international music and sports events. The biggest difference between the globalization of the past and that of today lies in its visibility and speed. The accelerated speed of global interaction has telescoped its impact and the global spread of the media has made it instantly visible - something that in the past happened in slow motion and often out of sight. With all its promises and pitfalls, the historical process of reconnecting the human community is here to stay and increasingly visible and increasingly a challenge. Our task - whether we are citizens, scholars or statesmen - is to understand and manage globalization, doing our best to encourage its favorable aspects and keep its negative consequences at bay.

 

Nayan Chanda is editor of YaleGlobal Online. His essay does not reflect the view of the Center for the Study of Globalization.

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