< http://www.outlookindia.com > [snip] Recently, corporate globalisation has come in for some criticism. What happened in Seattle and Prague will go down in history. Each time the WTO or the World Economic Forum wants to have a meeting, they have to barricade themselves with thousands of heavily armed police. Still, all its admirers, from Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and A.B. Vajpayee to the cheering brokers in the stalls, continue to say the same lofty things. If we have the right institutions of governance in place-effective courts, good laws, honest politicians, participatory democracy, a transparent administration that respects human rights and gives people a say in decisions that affect their lives-then the globalisation project will work for the poor, as well. They call this 'globalisation with a human face'.
The point is, if all this was in place, almost anything would succeed: socialism, capitalism, you name it. Everything works in Paradise, a communist State as well as a military dictatorship! But in an imperfect world, is it corporate globalisation that's going to bring us all this bounty? Is that what's happening in India now that it's on the fast track to the free market? Does any one thing on that lofty list apply to life in India today? Are state institutions transparent? Have people had a say? Have they even been informed-let alone consulted-about decisions that vitally affect their lives? And are Mr Clinton (or now Mr Bush) and Mr Vajpayee doing everything in their power to see that the 'right institutions of governance' are in place? Or are they involved in exactly the opposite enterprise? Do they mean something else altogether when they talk of the 'right institutions of governance'?