Peace and Foreign Policy

The U.S. government has made the rigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) a top priority of its foreign policy, using international trade negotiations as the means of continually ratcheting up the terms.

On Africa’s Atlantic coast, at the western extremity of the Arab world, lies Western Sahara, site of Africa’s longest post-colonial conflict.

One of the major challenges faced by the international community is how to address environmental problems that, although created locally, have global consequences.

Consistent with U.S. political interests to promote a private sector agenda, the World Bank has accentuated the private sector in its operations and highlighted financial support for the private sector in its own agenda in the last few years.

After a decade of rapid growth, the international financial system is now plagued with extreme volatility and crisis.

The Clinton administration continues to promote the deeply flawed “Washington consensus” of neoliberal globalization in the APEC countries.

The massive terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have placed the threat of terrorism on the front burner and have exposed the failure of the U.S. government to protect its citizens.

Indonesia’s recent economic and political collapse is a stark example of the outright failure of a development paradigm promoting large-scale economic growth without political, social, legal, and environmental safeguards.

The agenda of the WTO, the implementation of its agreements, and the much-praised dispute settlement system all serve to advance the interests of developed countries, sidelining those of the developing countries.

The failure of sustainable economic growth to take hold in the developing world demonstrates that “free trade” is not delivering on its promise to bring prosperity to the world’s poor.