Scholar skeptic about globalisation

Professor Walden Bello from Philippine said here on Thursday that Corporate-driven globalisation has been facing deep crisis. He was addressing on the second day of the ninth annual conference on "Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives", organised by Sustainable Development and Policy Institute (SDPI).
The professor who also won the Right Livelihood Award of SDPI, presented his paper 'The Crisis of the Globalist Project: Civil Society's Role and Response', discussed the existence of new space for southern societies due to the limitations of unilateral powers and obsolete multi lateral institutions.
At the unilateral level, the over extension of US economic and military power, EU - US fissure and current events in Latin America provide evidence that the tide is turning against neoliberalism, Professor Bello said.
He further said that in terms of the legitimacy of multilateral institutions, the IMF and the World Bank as well as the World Trade Organisation continue to find their popularity undermined as illustrated by funding and organisational indicators, he said.
Southern economies are addressing their economic crises by increasing civil society representation and generating alternatives in the space being created by limitations within the globalist project. The World Social Forum despite its various shortcomings had created such space, Dr Bello felt.
Dr Bello indicated that pre cold war alliances had changed and their divisions needed to be expanded upon by developing nations to create new spaces for engagement and called for a move beyond developmentalist and neoliberal models required to establish mechanisms that work to the advantage of developing nations.
In the session on 'The Underbelly of Globalisation- Gender and Economic Integration in South Asia', Dr Karin Astrid Siegmann from SDPI, Alessandra Mezzadri from the School of Oriental and African Studies, UK and Dr Veena Jha's findings were presented on the gender and globalisation interface, paying special attention to South Asia.
Dr Karin Astrid Siegmann emphasised that though economic globalisation creates economic opportunities for those endowed with productive resources such as human and physical capital, access to formal employment and geographical mobility, access of women and girls to resources such as rights to land, access to capital and technology, support for unconstrained mobility and equal access to education.
Dr Aliya Khan from Quaid-e-Azam University highlighted that the human face of globalisation was gendered and stressed the importance of looking at all policies through a gendered lens.
The session on 'Human Security in South Asia', concluded that the mainstream discourse on human security was gender blind and stressed the need for tenderising human security and making gender sensitive laws at national and international levels.
Nizamuddin Nizamani's paper on 'Balochistan Crisis-A regional Conflict Unfolding over Suleiman Range' said that the government had said to arrest a few hundred insurgents, whereas the local political parties have claimed that more than 4000 people had been imprisoned, only 200 of whom had been brought before the court.
The Taliban insurgency, US Iran tension, Durand Line issue, Chinese investment and the alleged Indian assistance to the insurgents in Balochistan were significant security threats in Balochistan, he highlighted and recommended drastic administrative measures, provincial autonomy, transparent elections and general amnesty in Balochistan for enhancing human security indicators in Balochistan.