The forces and processes of globalization -- increased trade liberalization, improved environmental standards and "universal" human rights -- have disillusioned a majority of the world's population. Thanks to the Seattle fiasco and street demonstrations in Prague, it is clear that no matter how hard developed countries and multilateral institutions push their agendas, globalization cannot proceed without giving serious consideration to deep-rooted public frustration around the world -- especially in developing countries.
The organizers of the fourth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, which will take place this November, would be advised to note that the same technological progress that has reduced barriers to international integration has also created information superhighways that have made people even in the remotest regions more aware of global inequalities. Gone are the days when jargon-spewing officials could pass sweeping decisions behind closed doors without making the implications of such decisions transparent and taking responsibility for them.
The time has come to acknowledge that market transactions and liberal trade-regimes based on unequal market power or uneven levels of social, economic, political and technological development worsen the very fabric of globalization that the developed world so doggedly espouses.