THE STATE OF THE ART

Trade

GDP

* Forecast

Fig. 6.1

World trade and GDP by volume, 19802000. (Source: WTO.)

While the anti-globalization movement has no unified agenda, it

is a formidable collection of diverse groups, many of which are
well-informed and in possession of substantial funds; for example,
Anita Roddick, British CEO of the successful Body Shop eco-friendly
cosmetics chain, was among the protesters at Seattle. The WTO, actu-
ally a modestly-funded body with only 530 employees that can only
function by the consensus of its 142 member countries, has become a
symbol of all that protesters see as wrong with the world including
the power of multinationals, ecological issues, Third World famine and
debt, developed world job insecurity, and urban homogenization.

Defenders of the WTO point out that many of these issues are not

confined to regions directly influenced by free trade, multinationals, or
First World governments. For example, the ex-Soviet bloc has devas-
tated much of its environment under its former command economies
and the destruction of South-East Asian and Amazonian rain forests
is driven largely by inward development (land grabbing). The noted
economist Paul Krugman believes that in so far as global economic
integration creates transparency it is probably a force for wiser envi-
ronmental policies. He points out that states in the developed world
are in any case hardly consistent in their pursuit of free trade policies,
frequently finding reasons to block imports.