Globalisation and Human Development

Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented debate on globalisation. Attention has focused on the origin and main features of globalisation and its potential impact on world economic, political and social order. This research and policy debate is understandable, as the pace and consequences of globalisation have implications for every individual, community or nation. Globalisation touches all of us. It is changing the lives of people in developed and developing countries, of persons living in a busy cities in America, Hong Kong or Buenos Aires and even of indigenous people living in the remote areas of Africa, Latin America or Asia. Recent financial and economic regional crises ranging from Mexico to Russia and East Asia, the failure of the New Millennium ‘Development’ Trade Round in Seattle, hot debates at the UNCTAD-10 Conference in Bangkok, and the recent South-South meeting in April 2000, have brought the discussion on globalisation to a new peak of rhetoric and passion. A selection of prominent statements and judgements on the nature of globalisation are presented here, but the debate is still far from over. Yet what is globalisation? Is it good or bad for human development? How does it affect the developing countries? Is it something new, or part of a longer historical process? What can developing countries do to maximise the benefits from globalisation and minimise its risks ? How to protect vulnerable groups from the volatility of the globalisation wave?