In the Shadow of Debt:The Sad but True Tale behind a Quarter Century of Stagnation in the Philippines 

By Walden Bello*

Assaulted on all sides owing to its entanglement in the ZTE-NBN corruption scandal, the administration has confronted its critics with the image of an economy that is purring along, that is doing just fine except for the rise in the price of rice, for which it says it is blameless.

In this issue of Focus on Trade, Jayati Ghosh and CP Chandrasekhar analyse the financial crisis sweeping the US and Europe, and ask whether this will usher in a new era of market regulation and state intervantion, and an opportunity for developing countries to reasess their economic strategies.

ARE WE HEADING FOR GLOBAL STAGFLATION?

Jayati Ghosh

LEANING ON THE STATE

C. P. Chandrasekhar

THE GREAT UNRAVELLING

Jayati Ghosh

IN THIS ISSUE

WHERE'S THE HEAT? AN OUTSIDER'S VIEW OF THE BANGKOK CLIMATE TALKS

Nicola Bullard and Bea Moraras

CHINA'S ECOLOGICAL TIME BOMB

Dorothy-Grace Guerrero

WILL CAPITALISM SURVIVE CLIMATE CHANGE?

Walden Bello

IS THE WORLD BANK PROFITEERING ON BOGUS CARBON CREDITS?

WORLD BANK CLIMATE PROFITEERING

Daphne Wysham and Shakuntala Makhijani

CENTRAL PLANNING AND MARKET FREEDOM:

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SAME FUNDAMENTALIST MINDSET

Walden Bello

By Walden Bello*

(Excerpts from acceptance speech at the Outstanding Public Scholar Award Panel, International Studies Association, 49^th Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, March 27, 2008. Bello was the second recipient of the award, the first being Dr. Susan George in 2007. Members of the panel honoring Bello were George; Dr. Richard Falk, professor emeritus at Princeton University; Dr. Robin Broad, professor at American University, and Dr.Barry Gills, professor at the University of Newcastle.)

I would like, first of all, to say that I am very grateful to the International Political Economy Section of the International Studies Association for this award. I am very, very honored by the generous comments of Barry [Gills], Robin [Broad], Richard [Falk] and Susan [George]. And it really is an honor to be in the company of Susan, the first person to be given this award. Let me just say that, especially in comparison to Susan, I am not really sure that I am the best person to be named ISA's Outstanding Public Scholar for 2008, though I think I would consider myself a public intellectual or, as the French say, intellectuel engage-that is, one who marries analysis to action, or at least tries to.

We are saddened and alarmed that the peaceful protest led by Buddhist monks in the Tibetan capital on March 10, which was followed by a wave of sympathy protests in the neighboring Tibetan areas after that day, has drawn a strong response from the Chinese authorities. We also deplore the unrest that followed, even though we understand the problems that gave rise to them.
 
We are concerned about the police and military build-up in response to these events not only in Lhasa but also in Tibetan areas of western China.

We believe that news blockade and censorship of the media are not helpful for the Chinese people and the international community and damage the credibility of the Chinese government. 

By Walden Bello

THERE is now a solid consensus in the scientific community that if the change in global mean temperature in the twenty-first century exceeds 2.4 degrees Celsius, changes in the planet's climate will be large-scale, irreversible, and disastrous. Moreover, the window of opportunity for action that will make a difference is narrow -- that is, the next 10 to 15 years.

Throughout the North, however, there is strong resistance to changing the systems of consumption and production that have created the problem in the first place and a preference for "techno-fixes," such as "clean" coal, carbon sequestration and storage, industrial-scale biofuels, and nuclear energy.

Globally, transnational corporations and other private actors resist government-imposed measures such as mandatory caps, preferring to use market mechanisms like the buying and selling of "carbon credits," which critics says simply amounts to a license for corporate polluters to keep on polluting.