In 20 years, the world has come full circle: in the mid-1980s
the process of globalisation intensified with the rich countries
taking the lead in interconnecting countries because it was in
their interest. Now in 2006, the same rich countries find the
process of globalisation — economic and ecological — too hot to
handle. They have become a roadblock in the way of global
integration. The question is where will we go from here? Can we
go back in time and close the processes of globalisation? Or can
we go into the future so that the rich and powerful are made to
comply with the needs of the rest? If the latter is the case,
how will it be done? Just think. In 1986, the world began
negotiations on the Uruguay Round, which culminated in 1994 in
Marrakesh. The General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (gatt) was
replaced with the World Trade Organization (wto). A number of
agreements were rammed through — on agriculture, on sanitary and
phytosanitary (sps) measures, on technical barriers to trade
(tbts) and trade-relat