PCDForum Column #68, Release Date January 25, 1994
by Atherton E. Martin
The development approaches currently pursued in the newly independent states of Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and parts of Latin American with the support of the World Bank and other major aid donors have created conditions that in many localities have eroded vital natural resources to […]
PCDForum Column #70, Release Date February 1, 1994
by Anwar Fazal
World leaders recently congratulated themselves on the successful conclusion
of a new agreement to free the global flow of trade and investment under the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The agreement, heralded as an
important step toward freeing the market to unleash the forces of global
economic […]
An Open Memorandum
January 1994
TO: Participants in the Global Sustainability Movement
FROM: Helena Norberg-Hodge, International Society for Ecology and Culture
RE: Building the Case Against Globalization and For Community-Based Economics
Those who promote the cause of free trade are misleading the public on two fundamental points. First they argue that economic globalization is inevitable. The only option is to […]
PCDForum Article #8, Release Date May 20, 1994
by Walden Bello
1994 is the year the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
mark their "golden" 50th anniversary. But it is an event most of the
world’s people have little cause to celebrate especially the countries and the
peoples whose economies are in a state of collapse, largely as […]
A feature of the People-Centered Development Forum, Revised July 18, 1995
By David C. Korten
An important starting point in any discussion of sustainable development is to
clarify the basic assumptions we each bring to the table. While the views on
sustainable development cover a broad spectrum, the following contrast of the
conventional wisdom and the emergent alternative wisdom on […]
May 17, 1994
Reflections on SID’s 21st World Conference
By David C. Korten
For me, the defining moment of SID’s 21st World Conference came during the discussion period
of the Closing Plenary on “Building Partnerships and Collaboration Towards Global
Transformation,” late Friday afternoon, April 8, 1994. A representative of the indigenous peoples
of the […]
PCDForum Column #69, Release Date February 1, 1994
by Willis W. Harman
Most of the debates on how best to address global problems such as
environmental degradation, climate-change, the punctured ozone layer, and
poverty fail to see them as symptoms of a more fundamental systemic condition.
We would easily see the absurdity in the situation of a patient who […]
PCDForum Column #74, Release Date May 15, 1994
by David C. Korten
The world now has a half century of experience with global governance. First
came the Bretton Woods institutions the International Monetary Fund, the World
Bank, and subsequently the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT, about
to become the World Trade Organization). They were created with minimal […]
January 10, 1994
The international community warmly applauds and espouses a strong commitment to the worldwide move toward democratic governance. Yet the decision processes of many of the institutions charged with assisting the development of low income countries actively undermine democratic governance and accountability. The multilateral banks (the World Bank, the IMF, and the regional development […]
PCDForum Article #9, Release Date May 20, 1994
by Gustavo Esteva
At midnight on January 1, 1994, NAFTA the North American Free Trade
Agreement between Mexico, the US and Canada came into force. Barely two hours
later, thousands of Indians armed with machetes, clubs and a few modern weapons
occupied four of the main towns in Chiapas, a province […]