Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Global Issues, Expanded

Table of Contents


Clashing Views on Global Issues,
Sixth Edition, Expanded

Unit 1 Global Population





Issue 1. Are Declining Growth Rates Rather Than Rapid Population Growth Today?s Major Global Population Problem?

YES: Michael Meyer, from ?Birth Dearth,? Newsweek (September 27, 2004) NO: Danielle Nierenberg and Mia MacDonald, from ?The Population Story . . . So Far,? World Watch Magazine (September/October 2004) Michael Meyer, a writer for Newsweek International, argues that the new global population threat is not too many people as a consequence of continuing high growth rates. On the contrary, declining birth rates will ultimately lead to depopulation in many places on Earth, a virtual population implosion, in both the developed and developing worlds. Danielle Nierenberg, a research associate at the Worldwatch Institute, and Mia MacDonald, a policy analyst and Worldwatch Institute senior fellow, argue that the consequences of a still-rising population have worsened in some ways because of the simultaneous existence of fast-rising consumption patterns, creating a new set of concerns.
Issue 2. Should the International Community Refocus on Programs to Help Developing Countries Curb Population Growth?

YES: Terry M. Redding, from ?The Population Challenge: Key to Global Survival,? The 21st Century Papers (The Population Institute, 2007)NO: Steven W. Mosher, from ?McNamara?s Folly: Bankrolling Family Planning,? PRI Review (March?April 2003) Terry M. Redding, a communications consultant to The Population Institute, suggests that population growth is being unfortunately neglected in international development discussions, as the latter?s focus has been on other aspects of population such as reproductive health and women?s empowerment. Steven W. Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, an organization devoted to debunking the idea that the world is overpopulated, argues that self-interest was the motivation for past efforts on the part of international funding agencies, including the World Bank, to curb population by pressuring developing countries to adopt fertility reduction programs.
Issue 3. Is Global Aging in the Developed World a Major Problem?

YES: Pete Engardio and Carol Matlack, from ?Global Aging,? Business Week ( January 31, 2005) NO: Rand Corporation, from ?Population Implosion?? Research Brief, Rand Europe (2005) This Business Week cover story outlines the aging of the population in both the developed world and the newly emerging economies, suggesting that the time for action is now. This Rand Corporation study suggests that because of declining fertility, European populations are either growing more slowly or have actually begun to decline. Although these trends ?portend difficult times ahead,? European governments should be able to confront these challenges successfully.
Issue 4. Does Global Urbanization Lead Primarily to Undesirable Consequences? YES: Divya Abhat, Shauna Dineen, Tamsyn Jones, Jim Motavilli, Rebecca Sanborn, and Kate Slomkowski, from ?Today?s ?Mega-Cities? Are Overcrowded and Environmentally Stressed,? http://www.emagazine.com (September/October 2005) NO: UNFPA, from UNFPA State of the World 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth (2007) Divya Abhat, editor of E/The Environmental Magazine, and colleagues suggest that the world?s cities suffer from environmental ills, among them pollution, poverty, fresh water shortages, and disease. The UNFPA 2007 Report suggests that cities, in fact, facilitate a number of desirable conditions, such as gender-equitable change, more diverse employment possibilities, more economic well-being and security for women, women?s empowerment, and access to better health care, among other positive changes.
Unit 2 Global Resources and the Environment





Issue 5. Do Environmentalists Overstate Their Case?

YES: Ronald Bailey, from ?Debunking Green Myths,? Reason (February 2002) NO: David Pimentel, from ?Skeptical of the Skeptical Environmentalist,? Skeptic (vol. 9, no. 2, 2002) Environmental journalist Ronald Bailey in his review of the Bj?rn Lomborg controversial book, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2001), argues that ?An environmentalist gets it right,? suggesting that finally someone has taken the environmental doomsdayers to task for their shoddy use of science. Bioscientist David Pimentel takes to task Bj?rn Lomborg?s findings, accusing him of selective use of data to support his conclusions.
Issue 6. Should the World Continue to Rely on Oil as the Major Source of Energy?

YES: Nansen G. Saleri, from ?The World Has Plenty of Oil,? Wall Street Journal (March 4, 2008) NO: Lester R. Brown, from ?Is World Oil Peaking?? Earth Policy Institute (November 15, 2007) Nansen G. Saleri, president and CEO of Quantum Reservoir Input and the oil industry?s preeminent authority on the issue, suggests that the world is ?nowhere close to reaching a peak in global oil supplies.? He argues that the future transition to oil alternatives will be the result of their superiority rather than the diminishing supply of oil. Lester R. Brown, founder and president of Earth Policy Institute, suggests that there has been a ?pronounced loss of momentum? in the growth of oil production, a likely result of demand outpacing discoveries, leading to declining oil production prospects.
Issue 7. Will the World Be Able to Feed Itself in the Foreseeable Future?

YES: Stephen Lendman, from ?Global Food Crisis: Hunger Plagues Haiti and the World,? Global Research (April 21, 2008) NO: Bee Wilson, from ?The Last Bite: Is the World?s Food System Collapsing?? The New Yorker (May 19, 2008) Stephen Lendman, a research associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal, argues that the global food crisis is related to rising prices in an economically troubled time rather than to a lack of food production. Bee Wilson, a critic for The New Yorker, argues that the global food system is in need of radical change if the world is going to be able to feed itself in the future but that such prospects are unlikely to happen, as the ?global manufacturers and wholesalers have an interest in continuing . . . stroking our colossal hunger.?
Issue 8. Is the Threat of Global Warming Real? YES: David Biello, from ?State of the Science: Beyond the Worst Case Climate Change Scenario,? Scientific American (November 26, 2007) NO: Richard S. Lindzen, from ?No Global Warming,? Environment News, The Heartland Institute (August 2006) David Biello summarizes the 2007 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which concludes that climate change is unequivocal, almost certain to be caused by human activity. Richard S. Lindzen takes issue with those who suggest that ?the debate in the scientific community is over? regarding the existence of global warming, and argues that to believe in such warming requires one to ?ignore the truly inconvenient facts.?
Issue 9. Is the Threat of a Global Water Shortage Real? YES: Mark Clayton, from ?Is Water Becoming ?the New Oil??? Christian Science Monitor (May 29, 2008) NO: Bj?rn Lomborg, from The Skeptical Environment: Measuring the Real State of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2001) Mark Clayton, staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor, suggests that changes in population, pollution, and climate are creating water shortages around the globe, leading private companies to take advantage of the increased demand for clean water while governments are slow to act.Lomborg contends that water is not only plentiful but is a renewable resource that, if properly treated as valuable, should not pose a future problem.
Unit 3 Expanding Global Forces and Movements





Issue 10. Can the Global Community ?Win? the Drug War? YES: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, from ?2007 World Drug Report? (2007)

NO: Ethan Nadelmann, from ?Drugs,? Foreign Policy (September/ October 2007) This 2007 report by the UN?s Office on Drugs and Crime provides ?robust evidence? that ?drug control is working? and ?the world drug problem is being contained.? Ethan Nadelmann argues that prohibition has failed by not treating the ?demand for drugs as a market, and addicts as patients,? resulting in ?boosting the profits of drug lords, and fostering narcostates that would frighten Al Capone.?
Issue 11. Is the International Community Adequately Prepared to Address Global Health Pandemics?

YES: Global Influenza Programme, from ?Responding to the Avian Influenza Pandemic Threat,? World Health Organization (2005) NO: H.T. Goranson, from ?A Primer for Pandemics,? Global Envision www.globalenvision.org (March 2006) The document from the World Health Organization lays out a comprehensive program of action for individual countries, the international community, and WHO to address the next influenza pandemic. H.T. Goranson, a former top national scientist with the U.S. government, describes the grave dangers posed by global pandemics and highlights flaws in the international community?s ability to respond.
Issue 12. Do Adequate Strategies Exist to Combat Human Trafficking?

YES: Janie Chuang, from ?Beyond a Snapshot: Preventing Human Trafficking in the Global Economy,? Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies (Winter 2006) NO: Dina Francesca Haynes, from ?Used, Abused, Arrested, and Deported: Extending Immigration Benefits to Protect the Victims of Trafficking and to Secure the Prosecution of Traffickers,? Human Rights Quarterly (vol. 26, no. 2, 2004) Janie Chuang, practitioner-in-residence at the America University Washington College of Law, suggests that governments have been finally motivated to take action against human traffickers as a consequence of the concern over national security implications of forced human labor movement and the involvement of transnational criminal syndicates. Dina Francesca Haynes, associate professor of law at the New England School of Law, argues that none of the models underlying domestic legislation to deal with human traffickers is ?terribly effective? in addressing the issue effectively.
Issue 13. Is Globalization a Positive Development for the World Community? YES: Robyn Meredith and Suzanne Hoppough, from ?Why Globalization Is Good,? Forbes (April 16, 2007) NO: Steven Weber, Naazneen Barma, Matthew Kroenig, and Ely Ratner, from ?How Globalization Went Bad,? Foreign Policy ( January/February 2007) Meredith and Hoppough argue that the data supports the conclusion that globalization works for both rich and poor. They particularly point to the growing middle class in many countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America, to support this conclusion. Weber et al. argue that globalization and the American predominance that drives it amplify a myriad of evils, including terrorism, global warming, and interethnic conflict, creating a less stable and less just world community.
Issue 14. Is the World a Victim of American Cultural Imperialism? YES: Allan Brian Ssenyonga, from ?Americanization or Globalization,? Global Envision (October 2, 2006) NO: Tyler Cowen, from ?Some Countries Remain Resistant to American Culture Exports,? The New York Times (February 22, 2007) Allan Brian Ssenyonga, a Ugandan freelance writer for The New York Times, suggests that America is now selling its culture to the rest of the world ?as a new and improved product of what we (the world) have as a culture.? He decries the negative effects of the global spread of many things American. Tyler Cowen, a George Mason University professor of economics, argues that the ?complaint of ?(American) cultural imperialism? is looking increasingly implausible? as the evidence suggests that (1) local culture commands loyalty, and (2) cultural influences come from many external cultures, not just from America.
Issue 15. Is the Global Economic Crisis a Failure of Capitalism?YES: Katsuhito Iwai, from ?Global Financial Crisis Shows Inherent Instability of Capitalism,? The Tokyo Foundation, (December 8, 2008) NO: Dani Rodrik, from ?Coming Soon: Capitalism 3.0,? The Taipei Times (February 11, 2009) Katsuhito Iwai, professor of economics at the University of Tokyo, argues that the current economic collapse is a sign of the inherent instability of global capitalism. He argues that capitalism?s failure in this crisis is inherent because capitalism is based on speculation and therefore belief or faith in the strength of the system and its various parts. Dani Rodrik, professor of international political economy at Harvard University?s John F. Kennedy School of Government, contends that the current economic downturn is not a sign of capitalism?s failure but rather its need for reinvention and adaptation. Rodrik argues that this is precisely why capitalism will survive and thrive because it is so changeable based on new trends and conditions.
Unit 4 The New Global Security Dilemma





Issue 16. Are We in a New Cold War?

YES: Stephen F. Cohen, from ?The New American Cold War,? The Nation ( June 8, 2007) NO: Stephen Kotkin, from ?The Myth of the New Cold War,? Prospect Magazine (April, 2008) Stephen F. Cohen, professor of Russian studies at New York University, suggests that U.S.?Russian relations have ?deteriorated so badly they should now be understood as a new cold war?or possibly a continuation of the old one.? He argues that the origins of this circumstance can be found in the attitudes and policies of both the Clinton and Bush administrations. Stephen Kotkin, professor of history and director of the Program in Russian Studies at Princeton University, argues that Russia has not reverted to totalitarianism under Putin and his successor. Rather, it is a combination of a closed unstable political system and a growing economic power that poses a threat to the West for that reason, not because its poses a military threat.
Issue 17. Are We Headed Toward a Nuclear 9/11?

YES: Brian Michael Jenkins, from ?Terrorists Can Think Strategically: Lessons Learned from the Mumbai Attacks,? Rand Corporation ( January 2009) NO: Graham Allison, from ?Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy?Part I,? Yale Global Online (March 14, 2008) Brian Michael Jenkins, senior advisor to the President of the Rand Corporation, in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, posited that a team of terrorists could be inserted into the United States and carry out a Mumbai-style attack as terrorism has ?increasingly become an effective strategic weapon.? Graham Allison, Harvard professor and director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, affirms that we are not likely to experience a nuclear 9/11 because ?nuclear terrorism is preventable by a feasible, affordable agenda of actions that . . . would shrink the risk of nuclear terrorism to nearly zero.?
Issue 18. Is Religious and Cultural Extremism a Global Security Threat?

YES: Hussein Solomon, from ?Global Security in the Age of Religious Extremism,? PRISM (August 2006) NO: Shibley Telhami, from ?Testimony Before the House Armed Services Committee: Between Terrorism and Religious Extremism? (November 3, 2005) Solomon argues that when religious extremism, which is a security threat in and of itself, is merged with state power, the threat to global security is potentially catastrophic and must be met with clear and uncompromising policies. He contends that this is present across all religions, and he uses both a born-again George Bush and a fundamentalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as his examples. Telhami, on the other hand, does not argue that religious extremism is the threat, but rather that global security threats are from political groups with political agendas and not extremism as such.
Issue 19. Is a Nuclear Iran a Global Security Threat? YES: U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Subcommittee on Intelligence Policy, from ?Recognizing Iran as a Strategic Threat: An Intelligence Challenge for the United States? (August 23, 2006) NO: Office of Director of National Intelligence, from ?Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities,? National Intelligence Estimate (November 2007) The House Select Committee concludes that Iran?s w
eapons program and missile development technology combined with the nature of fundamentalist regimes pose a grave security threat and thus must be addressed. The National Intelligence Estimate contends that Iran is not a global security threat because they have decided to suspend their nuclear weapons program and would not be able to develop the capacity for such weapons until at least 2015.
Issue 20. Will China Be the Next Superpower? YES: Shujie Yao, from ?Can China Really Become the Next Superpower?? China Policy Institute (April 2007) NO: Pranab Bardhan, from ?China, India Superpower? Not So Fast!? YaleGlobal Online (October 25, 2005) Yao analyzes the current state of the Chinese economy and policy and postulates several possible scenarios for development. Ultimately, Yao surmises that China will develop as the next superpower by the mid-twenty-first century. Bardhan argues that there are many variables and factors that can and will hinder China?s development into a superpower, including vast poverty, weak infrastructure, and China?s authoritarian government.
Issue 21. Is the International Community Making Progress in Addressing Natural Disasters? YES: United Nations, from ?Risk and Poverty in a Changing Climate: Invest Today for a Safer Tomorrow,? Summary and Recommendations: 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (2009) NO: David Rothkopf, from ?Averting Disaster: Calamities Like the Haiti Quake Aren?t Just Predictable?They?re Preventable,? Newsweek ( January 25, 2010) The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat, a unit within the United Nations, suggests that countries are making ?significant progress? in strengthening their capacities to address past deficiencies and gaps in their disaster preparedness and response. At the center of progress is the plan, Hyogo Framework for Action 2005?2015, which is aimed at reducing human and nonhuman disaster losses. David Rothkopf, president of Garten Rothkopf (an international consulting agency) and a member of former president Bill Clinton?s international trade team, argues that the efforts of international organizations to prevent natural disasters from escalating into megadisasters ?have fallen short of what is required.?
Issue 22. Has Al-Qaeda and Its Jihad against the United States Been Defeated? YES: Fareed Zakaria, from ?The Jihad against the Jihadis: How Moderate Muslim Leaders Waged War on Extremists?and Won,? Newsweek (February 22, 2010) NO: Scott Stewart, from ?Jihadism in 2010: The Threat Continues,? STRATFOR (January 6, 2010) Fareed Zakaria argues through the acts of moderate Muslims across the Islamic world, ?We have turned the corner on the war between extremism and the West and . . . now we are in a new phase of clean up and rebuilding of relationships.? His argument rests on the actions of Muslim regimes in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia who are fighting back against jihadism, engaging in military and political policies that are marginalizing extremists and consequently winning the war. Scott Stewart contends that despite Western victories against al-Qaeda based in the Afghan?Pakistan border region, regional groups and cells have taken up the slack and the threat of extremism and jihad is still strong and ominous. He focuses on the work of these groups in Somalia, Yemen, and North Africa to illustrate this continued fight.