Apple gives an effective overview of the political context of recent years, outlining the rightward turn in international economic politics and making connections with educational politics in a global context. He examines the complexity of the neoliberals demanding a weak state, the neoconservatives demanding a strong state and how those dynamics seem to be merging for centralized standards, content, and tighter control, even as education moves into market liberalization. He calls for a more progressive agenda, but notes the difficulty in the United States, since the teachers unions are weak and there is no ministry of education to which we can appeal.

This article was helpful for my project because it helped lay out the political context and helped me understand the neoliberal and neoconservative dynamics in education policy.

Armengol's essential argument is that (a) despite development efforts and globalization of the past two decades, Latin America has become increasingly poor and increasingly marginalized; (b) education could help combat this problem, but the current university system is rigid, conservative, and non-responsive to needed changes; and (c) distance and virtual universities can function not only as alternatives to traditional universities, but also as fundamental engines for restructuring the university system and, as a consequence, driving important social and economic changes. In other words, Latin America needs effective reform. Education can do it. But not until education is reformed. And DE can do that.

According to Armengol, the biggest problem with the current university system is that it is based on the "French, Napoleonic model." This model is insular, faculty dominated, usually operates in an information silo structure, and its pedagogy is primarily based on rote memorization. This model is inimical to the kinds of learning needed in an information global society, where collaboration, community, and information sharing are the dominant paradigm. Armengol's point is that distance education, with its collaborative, learner-centered pedagogy is the model needed to (a) help reform education and (b) help Latin America better function in a global society.

This article was helpful for my project because it helped me understand the current situation for distance education in Latin America. It also provided useful statistics.

The first part of Barkin's article is a fierce criticism of neo-liberalism, which is, according to him, responsible for "exacerbating the polarization of society in all of its dimensions" (p. 184). The second part of the article argues for a sustainable development-- a productive reorganization that encompasses local groups throughout the world. He recognizes that implementation strategies will vary among different regions and eco-systems, but the single common denominator is effective democratic participation. In discussing the importance of networks as a strategy for sustainable development, he does not mention ICT as a way of making that happen. But his critique and analysis clearly assumes the context of a globalized economy.

This article was helpful for my project because it emphasized the local in sustainable development. In globalization 3.1, which I try to argue for, there is a movement to more local and democratic solutions.

This is a case study of how the Open University and Distance Education Coordination (CUAED) division of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) planned and implemented an ambitious 18-month program to expand distance learning in Mexico. First, instead of licensing Blackboard, WebCT or other commercial products, they went the open source route and developed their own learning management system called the "PUEL" system. Second, they took over an abandoned 9,000 square meter textile factory in the State of Tiaxcala and created a Distance Education High Technology Center, where courses are designed, research and training are done, and best practices are disseminated, etc. Third, they restructured UNAM's old Open University and created a Board of Distance Education. The board coordinates, manages, and evaluates, but essentially they function to decentralize, to use the PUEL system to provide the necessary infrastructure and resources for their schools to actually perform distance education. Essentially, they centralized their decentralization. And they are extremely successful.

This article was helpful for my project because showed some of Mexico's current capacity for distance education in higher education.

In this 96 page publication, Carnoy explains globalization and how it has affected education reforms. His primary point is that since globalization has been dominated by financial-driven strategies and free-market ideologies, less has been spent on education instead of more, and this has been counter-productive, not only to education, but also to the nation-states' ability to function effectively in the global market.

In sum, Carnoy suggests that globalization can be and should be embraced, but some of the ideological rhetoric of finance-driven reforms should be resisted. Other reforms, however, such as decentralization, testing and standards, can work as long as there is a coherent and systemic effort by the public sector that produces more and more effective public spending.

Following is a more detailed summary of the book's seven sections.

Part I considers what globalization is. Carnoy argues that it is not merely a matter of trade, investment, or national economy, but a "new way of thinking about social space and time" (p.19). This occurs because the new information and communication technologies have redefined distance and time. On the one hand, Carnoy argues, this diminishes the power of the nation-state by producing new social movements and networks. On the other hand, this does not diminish the power of the nation-state in that ultimately, nations-states still influence "the temporal space in which capital has to invest and where most people acquire their capacity to act globally" (p. 21). Intriguingly, Carnoy makes the point that schools can become centers of new communities built around information and knowledge.

Part II considers the impact of globalization on work. In terms of education, his essential point is that while new information technology may displace workers and may influence short-term training and investments, that does not negate the essential fact that the new labor markets are increasingly information intensive, flexible, and disaggregative--and that our educational strategies should take that into account.

Part III considers globalization's impact on educational reform strategies. Here, Carnoy argues that changes in the world economy have provoked three kinds of reforms in education: (1) competitiveness-driven reforms, (2) finance-driven reforms, and (3) equity-driven reforms.

1. Competitiveness-driven reforms aim to improve economic productivity by improving the quality of labor, even if this means spending more on education such as higher teacher salaries and expansion of educational levels. These types of reforms can be classified into four categories: (1) Decentralization, where local municipalities and schools are given greater autonomy in decision-making, (2) Standards, where some central authority gives clear signals to the community the academic expectations of schools, and (3) improved management of resources, such as universalizing access to schoolbooks, peer-tutoring, and utilizing communications technologies. and (4) improved teacher recruitment and training.

2. Finance-driven reforms have the primary goal of reducing public spending on education and are promoted by such international agencies of the IMF and the World Bank. Carnoy see three main finance driven reforms:

• shifting public funding from higher to lower levels of education, since higher education costs more and basic education costs less
• privatizing secondary and higher education
• reducing cost per student at all levels, which includes increasing pupil/student ratio

3. Equity-driven reforms, where the primary goal is to increase equality of economic opportunity. Here, Carnoy argues that globalization tends to push governments away from these types of reforms since (a) there is a better pay-of for higher-level skills over the lower-level skills and (b) finance-driven reforms tend to dominate educational change, and those reforms tend to increase inequity in education services.

Part IV discusses educational reforms in the global economy. Here, Carnoy argues that how governments respond to globalization depends on three key factors: "their objective financial situation, their interpretation of that situation, and their ideological position regarding the role of the public sector in education" (p. 47). After explaining the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s-90s, he notes that when the IMF and World bank were called upon to help relieve the debt problem, they imposed a set of "structural adjustment policies (SAPs)" that reflected a neo-conservative paradigm (p. 50).

In this section, Carnoy cites empirical studies that have shown the ineffectiveness of most reforms. For instance:

• studies show that the neoliberal policies promoted by the WorldBank and IMF are associated with increased poverty, increased inequality and slow or negative economic growth; these financial reforms have actually served to limit public resources for education
• decentralization and school autonomy movements have also been unsuccessful in producing any significant student achievement gains (especially when accompanied by free-market ideology)
• privatizing education through vouchers has led to increased inequality of educational outcomes and does not in itself improve student performance

In discussing reforms, specifically in Latin America, Carnoy notes that what has worked has been the reforms instituted by Chile, where the central Ministry has intervened and provided new materials and teacher training to the lowest-performing schools.

Carnoy discusses decentralization in some detail and notes how globalization has usually been accompanied by a free-market ideology, in which financial austerity is a condition of economic progress. According to Carnoy, the motives for educational reform have been essentially financial and ideological--not, really, educational. Such reforms have actually increased (not relieved) pressure on teacher salaries and, as a consequence, have produced resistance in those most central to education improvement. Carnoy argues that teachers are the key to producing academic success and that decentralization globalization reforms have actually done more harm in this regard than good.

Part V considers the impact of globalization on educational practices. In this section, he focuses primarily on competitiveness driven reforms, where increasing numbers of developed and developing countries are moving towards school assessment examinations intended to identify poorly performing schools and either shame them into doing better or suggest ways of improvement. Especially interesting is the research that has shown that students in Cuban schools (which obviously have not followed WorldBank policies) have scored almost two standard deviations higher than those in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina--schools that have followed all the policy recommendations of the new global thinking (p. 67). Carnoy's point here is that Cuban schools use tests as an incentive to invest more, not less in education, and he argues that for testing to be effective, it needs to be a part of a systematic effort to assist teachers and schools, not reduce their funding.

Overall, according to Carnoy, the World Bank ideological rhetoric and financed-based reforms have made teachers the villains. Consequently, they are the ones who have had to face the brunt of government attempts to reduce costs. This has been counter-productive, because what really matters in student achievement is the time teachers spend teaching, the effort they expend, and the quality of their teaching methods. These things are not measured, and they are ignored in the World Bank's policy considerations.

Perhaps the heart of the entire book is when Carnoy argues that if nations hope to increase the skills of their students, they will have to rely on the commitment of their teachers and to do this requires a "management system that takes teacher needs into account and involves their participation in improving the quality of education" (p. 71).

Carnoy also discusses educational technology in some depth. Essentially, he demonstrates that in the past technology has mostly been expensive add-ons and not really served to teach more cost-effectively than traditional written materials. But in 1999, Carnoy is extremely optimistic about the new information and communication technologies and the extraordinary opportunity they offer for extending schooling to more difficult to reach communities.

Part VI considers globalization and cultural identity. Interesting here is Carnoy's observation that those less successful in the global marketplace turn in other directions for their identity and do so more intensely than in the past. Especially troubling is how the less globally successful are turning to religious fundamentalism. Carnoy notes that the fastest growing self-identify group is Muslim fundamentalists, but Christian fundamentalism and Hindu fundamentalism are growing and mobilizing as well. Obviously, this has serious consequences not only for education, but also for world peace.

Part VII sums up by suggesting some basic educational strategies for a global economy. Four major guideposts are:

1. the state will continue to be responsible for education and expansion in finance, management, and regulation
2. testing and standards, decentralization and school economy can work as long as the motives are to improve student performance instead of to cut costs
3. well-organized public administration is key to educational improvement
4. teachers are fundamental to the process and the quality of education will largely depend on the quality of teaching and teacher effort

Carnoy points out that there is no right way to organize an education system, but there are some objective realities that educational policy makers should keep in mind. They include:

• Since globalization increases the returns on higher levels of education, there will be pressure for more rapid expansion of higher secondary and university education. Privatization and well-run scholarships may be the most equitable way to achieve this.
• Since work will increasingly be organized around flexible, multi-tasking knowledge workers, planners should reconsider long held views about the balance between general education and vocational education
• Since workers need to be more flexible, so should educational systems--accepting adults returning for life-long learning
• Testing and evaluation brought about by globalization can have a positive effect on educational quality "when combined with an activist and well-organized public-sector effort to improve capacity for teaching and learning" (p. 85).
• Decentralization and local auto many can be productive and can help preserve identity and culture
• The new information and communication technologies have enormous implications for making education available to more students and ever-decreasing costs.

This article is a key reading for my project because it gives an excellent overview of how globalization (and especially global economic policies) have affected affected education, especially in developing countries.

Chandra mentions education briefly, but the point of the article is to give a broad overview of the GATS, with specific attention paid to how the GATS affects developing countries. After outlining the GATS's structure, key features, 4 modes of supply for services (cross-border, consumption abroad, commercial presence, movement of natural persons), Chandra outlines some basic concerns of GATS and tries to answer to what extent are they justified.

For instance, will privatization and deregulation only represent the interests of the developed world? Will the GATS undermine the sovereignty of local governments? For the most part, he demonstrates that fears of the GATS are overblown. He points out that while it is true there would be pressure on developing countries to open up to certain service sectors to foreign investment and technology, developing countries' interests are not solely limited to imports. There are several service sectors where developing countries would have an advantage and considerable export potentiaol--in labor-based services such as software, health, and engineering. This provides opportunities to some developing countries such as Brazil and Mexico, which are, Chandra argues, in a position to meet these supply gaps. Smaller and least developed countries, however, would have little to gain on the export side and here the argument of an unbalanced outcome may be valid. Still, the smaller countries do not have to schedule any commitments if they do not wish to. Chandra does address the genuine concern that there is a significant problem in ambiguity of language and lack of clarity of GATS's scope.

In the education sector, Chandra argues that exports via consumption abroad could help generate resources, create employment, expand facilities, and raise standards, though he also recognizes it could also put pressure on already scarce resources and crowd out domestic consumers. He also recognizes the possibility that a two-tiering effect could occur, where the private corporate segment caters to the affluent and provides higher quality, while the public segment becomes under-invested, under-staffed, and caters primarily to middle and lower income groups. But he argues that this dualism can be mitigated if the government introduces measures to channel resources generated in the private segment to the public education system (via taxes, requiring a certain amount of seats for the needy, public-private collaborative arrangements and the like). In other words, higher prices of education services need not affect the poor, says Chandra, "if the government can use policies of cross-subsidization and introduce safeguards to ensure equitable access for all " (p. 22). A private-public, equity-efficiency balance can be achieved. The important point here is that although many of the GATs critics believe otherwise, the GATS as it now stands does not take away the sovereignty of national governments to maintain this balance or to introduce limitations.

This article is a key reading for my project because it gives an excellent overview of the GATS, its structure, modes, and etc. It also addresses some key concerns for developing countries and offers specific advice concerning the education sector how one of the problems of GATS in education (two tier system) could be mutated. In demonstrating that, he also debunks one of the major myths of GATS.

This presentation does not discuss the GATS, but it gives an extremely clear and precise overview of cross-border higher education in the context of the developing world. The authors provide numerous statistics (primarily from the UK's HE Statistics Agency) about cross-border education and development world demographics.

After defining cross-border higher education:

Cross-border higher education includes higher education that takes place when students follow a course or programme of study that has been produced, and is continuing to be maintained, in a country different from the one in which they are residing. Cross-border higher education may include higher education by private and/or for profit providers.

.... the authors give a brief history of recent failures of education in the developing world and discuss briefly what is going on in India, Jamaica, and Sierra Leone. They demonstrate that (a) there is a huge unsatisfied demand (b) access needs to be expanded, (c) cross-border is happening now, but of low-quality with high costs. One surprising fact is that in 2005, cross-border enrolments in countries with low rankings on the Human Development Index are practically negligible. Hundreds of thousands in rich world counties. Less than 100 in 30 African countries taken together (excluding South Africa).

The authors then ask what can be done to make cross-border education more relevant. The primary issues that must be addressed are Accessibility, Affordability, and Availability.

Especially interesting is that the authors say that cross-border education has much to learn from C.K. Prahalad and colleagues who have recently published The Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid (2005). They note that Prahalad points out that there are 4 billion poor people in the world who aspire to better lives, and they urge the multi-national corporations to look at globalization strategies through a new framework of inclusive capitalism, expecting not only growth and profits, but incalculable contributions to humankind. They point out that in order to operate successfully in these environments, multiple partners are needed. Daniels urges the same for higher education strategies.

The authors also cover new technologies for cross-border education, as well as the one big issue almost everyone is concerned about: quality assurance and accreditation.

Essentially, this paper is a call for (a) the developing countries not to fear cross-border education, and (b) the for-profit education sector to establish partnerships with local government authorities, communities, NGOs, financial institutions and other education providers to cut costs, improve efficiency, and become more relevant.

The authors are convinced there is coming soon an explosion of enrollments from developing countries and that we should be prepared with quality assurance systems. Daniels believes that UNESCO and the OECD can contribute in that regard.

This presentation (also accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation from the above URL) is without a doubt the most clear, precise, and readable account of cross-border education and its relationship to developing countries I have read to date. It is used extensively in my paper, especially in defining cross-border education and connecting it with the real-world situation of developing countries. It is extremely helpful, not only in the numerous statistics it offers (statistics in cross-border education are notoriously difficult to find), but also in just setting out the context for cross-border education in the GATS--although interestingly, the GATS is not mentioned once in the presentation.

This book was prepared for the Regional Preparatory Ministerial Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean for the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in Bavaro, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from 29 to 31 January, 2003.

The first part of the report essentially sets the context--defining an Information Society, and citing research that shows that information digitization and communication can have a strong positive impact on economic development and productivity--it is even estimated that it could even make up 20% of Latin America's GDP in the near future (p.17). Further, the digitization process can also be used to improve learning opportunities and raise educational standards, which then can benefit society as a whole. The report recognizes the extraordinary opportunity that the Information revolution offers developing countries in the global market. But it also recognizes the grave consequences of not participating and essentially being shut out due to a sort of international digital divide.

The report argues that ICT can (a) promote education and health care, (b) improve economic efficiency, (c) increase cultural and political participation, (d) assist in poverty reduction, (e) promote equality by integrating marginalized groups, and (d) support the creation of global partnerships. The authors claim that the question is no longer a matter of whether to "get connected" but when and how.

The report concludes with the "Bavaro Declaration" which includes guiding principles and a listing of priority issues. The guiding principles (there are 12) essentially proclaim that the Information Society should benefit individuals, communities and society in general; contribute to the eradication of poverty, the creation of wealth, the promotion of democratic participation and ensure equal opportunity; be inclusive, nondiscriminatory, global, and led by governments.

This publication is important for my project because it provides a full and well-researched argument for the importance of Latin America building the capacities for entering into the "Information Society." This is key for sustainable development. The article also gives statistics and arguments for supporting Information and Communication Technologies as a means to accomplish sustainable development.

This report ranks the world's 64 largest economies in terms of their ability to support e-business and how amenable their market is to internet-based opportunities. Though the focus is on business, the study obviously has much to offer the educational planner considering ICT as part of the delivery, support, or management of distance learning.

The report recognizes the wireless phone phenomena. In most of the developing world, there are more mobile phones in hands than PCs on desks, and it is interesting how phones themselves are becoming delivery mechanisms for internet services. Across Latin America, mobile subscriptions grew by 18% in 2003. The trend is expected to continue.

The report breaks the countries down in four tiers. There are 25 countries in the top tier for e-readiness. They include the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe, as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. The second tier includes much of Eastern Europe, as well as Chile, Brazil, and Mexico. Chile is the highest rated Latin American country (29), followed by Brazil (35) and Mexico (39). The third tier includes Colombia(41) and Venezuela (44). The fourth tier includes Ecuador (56).

The report recognizes the obvious North-South divide in the Americas, and notes that Latin American markets have moved very little since the 2003 report. There are, however, positive signs. "Governments are increasingly supportive of e-commerce activity, mobile penetration is expected to grow, and the Internet is no longer the preserve of the rich" (p. 10).

Mexico is especially encouraging. The country's telecom regulator, Cofatel, is seeking to expedite the installation of Internet services, and the Mexican government has begun an ambitious e-commerce plan called "e-Mexico" designed, essentially, to make online government services accessible to as many as possible. At the time of the report, this initiative has installed local access sites in 2,300 municipalities. They plan is to install 20,000 such sites by 2006.

Perhaps most encouraging for the educational planner of distance learning for Latin America is in Brazil, where a private trade group called the Telecom Standardization Fund (FUST) has plans to install free broadband in all public schools by the end of 2004. The Brazilian government was actually the first in the world to allow corporate tax filings online. In 2003, nearly 95% were submitted online.

This publication is the key reading for the entire section of Latin America's eReadiness in my paper. It offers loads of research and statistics.

Garcia-Guadilla first gives an overview of GATS and provides statistics on GATS agreements and negotiations as of mid 2002. At the time, it mostly involved Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica. He makes a number of points about GATS negotiations specific to Latin America. One in particular is that negotiations are being carried out by staff members of Ministries of Commerce or Foreign Affairs, people who often have no knowledge of educational issues. He argues that Ministries of Education should be involved when it concerns the education sector. He also remarks on the aura of mistrust that the educational community has to the whole process. The mistrust is informed not only having been treated as subordinates in the past, but by the whole matter of treating education as "merchandise." It is obvious, says Garcia-Gaudilla, that the developed countries see Latin America as objectives of economic gain... as consumers. And the education sector in most of Latin America would find it difficult to compete in an "market" that is already quite unbalanced.

Garcia-Guadilla discusses in some depth four possible scenarios for Cross-Border Higher Education in Latin America. The scenario he prefers is where efforts are made to harmonize the public with the private--efforts informed by the values that (a) education is a public good and should be approached in a way as to achieve sustainable economic and social development and (b) higher education should endeavor to shape responsible citizens at both local and global levels. Further, Latin America should not be just a consumer of cross-border higher ed, but a producer as well. For this to work, he argues, there would need to be an international accreditation system--one that would take into account the different cultures and traditions of different countries. Garcia-Guadilla's point is that although such a scenario might be possible under GATS, it appears far from certain. He fears the invasion of external institutions of dubious or unknown quality, and he foresees difficulties in Latin America attempting to develop its own national higher education system with such strong cross-border commercial competition.

This article was helpful for my project because it focused specifically on how GATS might affect Latin America. It also highlights the mistrust of countries who have been treated as subordinates and consumers instead of producers and exporters.

This publication from the Commonwealth of Learning was put together in order to support an informed a dialogue on education and globalization specifically related to the World Trade Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It is an extraordinarily useful document for anyone interested in distance learning and its relationship to globalization. The report consists of numbered paragraphs--clearly, precisely, and objectively laying out the issues on both (or, rather, several) sides.

Without question, globalization and the needs of a global knowledge economy are driving the movement of education across borders. Those favoring education/globalization under GATS are, principally, the WTO, multinational companies, and corporate universities. Those skeptical of GATS are typically trade unions and international associations of universities, primarily because they perceive GATS to be a threat to their funding and existence.

What is interesting about the globalization of education is that it pretty much assumes, by definition, distance education.

Advocates of globalization of education argue that (a) international students and faculty enrich the curriculum, (b) students gain access to knowledge and expertise, regardless of where they live; (b) global markets help maintain income; (c) private companies can help satisfy unmet demand; and (d) economies of scale can be achieved through distance learning. Essentially, advocates of GATS see knowledge as a commodity and education as a service to be traded globally. International agencies and organizations that support GATS and cross-border trade in education include the WTO, the World Bank, The Observatory of Borderless Higher Education, as well as the European Union.

Opponents of cross-border trade in education argue that distance learning (a) is inferior to F2F learning, (b) discriminates against the poor, and (c) imposes a common curriculum, thus subverting cultural diversity and helping to destroy national identities. They believe that cross-border trade in education (a) undermines co-operative internationalism, (b) accelerates commodification, (c) erodes employment conditions, (d) constrains academic freedom, (e) will raise student fees and reduce public funding, (f) will damage quality, and (g) will prevent governments from regulating in the public interest. Agencies that oppose GATS are UK trade unions, the Association of University Teachers, and the National Union of Students.

This 48 page document is full of information and statistics on distance learning in the context of globalization. For instance, we learn (a) that in 2003, Sylvan learning--now Laureate--delivered courses to over 37,000 students in Mexico and (b) that in 2000, the US exported over $10 billion in education (and imported $2.1 billion).

One particularly interesting subject is how the very nature of distance learning supports partnerships, consortia, and various institutional collaborations in the design, development, delivery, funding, accreditation, and support of education. Put one way--distance education lends itself to integrated disaggregated value chains; that is, the system itself centralizes decentralization. Different functions can be farmed out to different partners. Resources can be outsourced. Yet the whole system is linked together. This has enormous implications for borderless education. The design of courses can be in one country, the teaching in another, the support in another, and the accreditation in yet another. And, obviously, this provides opportunities as well as challenges for funding and cost sharing.

For advocates of borderless education, there is general agreement about the importance of an internationally recognized accreditation system that can help maintain quality and protect students from "unscrupulous borderless" operators. The report notes several recent movements in this area. For instance, in America, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has begun discussions on international accreditation and formulated some basic principles for guidance.

This article was one of the two or three most important readings for my project. It deals with Distance Education, Globalization, and the issue of cross-border education under GATS. In fact, my entire project took shape after reading this article. Hawkridge does provide a balanced overview of the issues, as well as arguments from both pro-GATS and anti-GATS. He also emphasizes what is perhaps the key issue of cross-border education: the problem of international accreditation--one that takes into account the different needs of different cultures. If GATS could provide that, it would go a long ways to making GATS for cross-border education a success.

In this publication, Knight gives a clear and balanced overview of cross-border trade in higher education services in the context of GATS. After giving an overview of the structure and purpose of GATS, and after listing the four modes with examples and explanations, Knight provides an extremely useful chart that lists 8 Key Elements of GATS, and offers for each an explanation, an application, and a list of the issues associated with the elements.

Knight acknowledges that the most controversial and critical issue related to GATS and cross-border education is Article 1.3, which says that the agreement applies to all measures affecting services except "those services supplied in the exercise of government authority." And thus we have the issue of the public and private mixing of educational systems...and how education is defined as public or private or many different mixes of both, and how that would affect regulation and liberalization matters. Knight points out that GATS is not a neutral agreement, that the whole point is to promote and enforce trade liberalization.

In terms of developing country interests, Knight argues that it is important for their voices to be heard so that the benefits and risks associated with increased trade are clear and do not undermine their to develop their own domestic higher education systems. For some developing countries, the opportunity to have foreign suppliers providing increased access to higher education is an attractive proposition. For other developing countries, it is not so attractive. Foreign suppliers could dominate, keep domestic educational institutions from growing, influence the culture, etc. Knight notes that quality and accreditation are key issues in the whole cross-border education debate. work is a

The fundamental issue concerning developing counties is their capacity to participate effectively in the global trading system as equal members of the WTO. Knight notes that there are strong feelings about how trade rules tend to make poor countries poorer (as they have in the past under neoliberalist policies), and how developed countries tend to be hypocritical in urging poor nations to remove trade barriers while keeping their own barriers up (as they have done in the past under neoliberalist policies).

Since GATS's whole reason for being is to reduce trade barriers, Knight lists a number of barriers specific to education. One especially interesting example is that Mexico, has telecom laws that restrict the use of national satellites and receiving dishes. This would. for example, have a huge impact on distance learning from foreign suppliers.

Knight concludes by giving a brief overview of several policy issues and questions, including the role of government, student access, funding, regulation of foreign providers, recognition and transferability of credits, quality assurance and accreditation, research and intellectual property rights, as well as culture and acculturation and what Knight calls "Trade Creep" (where she is concerned that trade language and values are starting to impose themselves on educational language and values; she wrote an entire article on just this subject..see Works Consulted Knight 2002a).

This article is a key reading for my project because provides a clear, precise, and balanced overview of GATS issues. Especially helpful (and something I did not find anywhere else stated so clearly) is the table that lists a whole series of trade barriers and specifically relates them to the four major modes of trades in services. Jan Knight writes clearly, precisely, and comprehensively. Her writing style is a pleasure to read. For clarity and precision, this is the best article I've read on the subject.

This publication provides some interesting insights about the politics of international trade in terms of cross-border higher education. Naert first gives an overview of the GATS, emphasizing that it is not a neutral agreement, but has the mission to promote and enforce liberalization of trade in services. The conundrum in terms of education is that GATS excludes government services, yet higher education almost everywhere (certainly in America, Canada, Australia) is some mix of public and private services. Naert points out that while higher education is a "public good," both public and private providers can fulfill the public good function.

Clearly, the central problem for the GATS in higher education is the mixed character higher education (both private and public). And Naert covers most of the issues most everyone else covers. What is special about this article, however, is his admonishment to European higher educational institutions that they are losing ground in the internationalization of education (mostly to America, Canada, and Australia) and that this could lead to reduced future prospects for growth.

While Knight, for instance, worries that the GATS discussion is causing what she calls a "Trade Creep" (meaning that trade language and values are starting to impose themselves on educational language and values), Naert unapologetically puts the issues squarely on the table of international trade. If, he argues, "the supply of imported educational "products" (he actually calls them products...thus demonstrating Knight's fear) proves to be "better than the domestically produced supply, then why not take advantage of this in the same way we take advantage of the supply of cheap Japanese cars? Why should, he asks, "the theory of comparative disadvantage not be applied to higher education: let us buy elsewhere what can be produced relatively cheaper and better elsewhere and let us concentrate on the things that we are good at" (p. 23-24)?

This article was helpful for my project because it highlighted political some political issues of GATS and further supported what I had read elsewhere about the politics of international trade.

It is difficult to read this book and not become disturbed and grieved, not only about the extreme poverty in the world, but also that through apathy, politics, greed or ignorance, most of us in the rich world countries are simply letting it happen. But it is also a book that provides hope, for Sachs' essential message is that we can end extreme poverty in the world. And he tells us how it can be done. The primary strategy is for rich nations to spend .07 percent of GNP (the US currently spends less than 0.14 percent). This money, targeted appropriately (Sachs outlines specific steps), will help the people of developing nations rise above the mere subsistence level, reach "the first rung on the ladder of economic development," and then be able on their own to rise above poverty. It's not about handouts as much as it is about empowerment--helping development nations get to the point where they can help themselves.

Chapter One, "A Global Family Portrait," takes us an a personal international tour, designed to help us understand the broad metaphor of the development ladder.

First stop is Malawi, where Sachs visits a small village, Nhthandire, about an hour outside Lilongwe, the capital. There are almost no men. Most have died of AIDS. Crops are withering. There has been a drought. No one can afford fertilizer. Many of the children, cared for by grandmothers, are afflicted with malaria. (Perhaps as many as 3 million African children die each year of malaria--a completely preventable disease.) In this village, there are no crops, no safe drinking water, no clinics. No aid. Malawi's plight is described as "the perfect storm" a storm that "brings together climatic disaster, impoverishment, the AIDS pandemic, and the long-standing burdens of malaria, schistosomaisis, and other diseases (p. 10). This is a place below the first rung of the development ladder. They really have no way out without help

Sachs then visits Bangladesh, a place where, though they are not out of the grip of extreme poverty, the fight for survival is gradually being won and poverty is in retreat. Why? Garment factories. Although they are sweatshop jobs and definitely need improvement in safer working conditions, these sweatshops provide the first rung on the ladder out of extreme poverty. Sachs notes that rich-country protestors argue that these apparel firms should either pay far higher wages or must be closed. But closing these factories, Sachs argues, would simply send the workers (mostly women) back to rural poverty. "Virtually every country that has developed successfully has gone through these first stages of industrialization" (p. 12).

Next stop is India--specifically an information technology center in Chennai. If Malawi is below the first rung of the ladder, and Bangladesh is on the first rung, then India is several steps up on the development ladder. Sachs notes that India is vast and parts of India (primarily the north) are still caught in the rural poverty that grips Malawi and Bangladesh. Even so, India's IT revolution is fueling unprecedented economic growth that can eventually help this this vast country of one billion people.

Sachs continues to Beijing, China, a booming city of eleven million, and clearly emerging as one of the world's economic capitals. Annual income in China has surpassed $4,000 per capita, and the Chinese economy continues to grow at over 8 percent per annum.

The development ladder.

• Below the first rung: roughly one billion people (one sixth of humanity) live as the Malawi's do--in extreme poverty, too ill, too hungry, too destitute to even get a foot on the first rung of the development ladder
• On the first rung: roughly 1.5 billion people live as the Bangladesh do--poor, living barely above mere subsistence. Death is not at their doorstep, but chronic financial hardship is.
  • the extreme poor (1 billion) and the poor (1.5 billion) make up around 40% of humanity.
• A few rungs up: another 2.5 billion (such as Indian IT workers) are up a few rungs on the ladder. Certainly not "middle-class" as defined in rich world countries, but their nutrition, housing, and clothing is adequate.
• Highest up on the ladder: the remaining 1 billion people (roughly one sixth of the world), mostly in rich-world countries, and high-income individuals in such cities as Shanghai, Sao Paolo, Mexico City, and Beijing.

Sachs writes: "The greatest tragedy of our time is that one sixth of humanity is not even on the development ladder" (p. 19).

Sachs notes when he speaks of the "end of poverty," he is speaking of two closely related objectives:

1. to end the plight of one sixth of humanity that lives in extreme poverty
2. to ensure that all the worlds poor, including those in moderate poverty, have a chance to climb the ladder of development

Chapter Two, "The spread of economic prosperity," gives a thumbnail history of modern economic growth in the past 200 years (before which there had been virtually no sustained growth in the world--just growth in populations). And Britain was first, primarily because Britain:

• had a relatively open society, with more scope for social mobility
• had strengthening institutions of property rights, political liberty, and a tradition of free speech and open debate (open to new ideas)
• was a leader in the scientific revolution, technological discovery, and the subsequent industrial revolution
• had several crucial geographical advantages (close to continental Europe, low-cost sea trade, extensive navigable rivers, plentiful rainfall, ample growing seasons, and a proximity to North America)
• remained sovereign and faced less risk of invasion than its neighbors
• had coal

In the remainder of the Chapter, Sachs discusses briefly the change, turmoil, conflict and ideology that followed in the subsequent two hundred years, along with one important overriding consequence--the phenomenal gaps between the richest and the poorest.

In Chapter Three, Sachs tackles the question: "Why some countries fail to thrive." Because economic development works in many parts of the world, it is all the more important, Sachs argues, to understand and solve the problems in areas where it is not working. Often, it is presumed to be the fault of the poor. Or corrupt officials. Here, Sachs makes the point he continues to reinforce throughout the book: that a society's economic system has too many "moving parts" for us to presume that only one thing can go wrong. Different problems can occur in different parts of the "economic machine."

The key problem for the poorest countries, Sachs argues, is that poverty itself can be a trap. When people are poor (but not destitute), they may be able to save. But when they are utterly destitute, they need their entire income just to survive.

Physical geography, according to Sachs, is frequently overlooked as a cause for economic failure. Many of the world's poorest countries have high transportation costs because they are landlocked and/or mountainous, or they lack navigable rivers, or good coastlines and harbors. Other geographical factors that impede economic growth are arid climates prone to drought, or the tropics that favor killer diseases. Sachs' point here is that none of these conditions are fatal, but should be recognized so that appropriate investments can be made to overcome them. Build roads in landlocked countries. Control tropical diseases by investments in health care. Invest in irrigation in arid climates. Adverse geography is a problem, but it is a solvable one.

Debt overhang. Debt from the past can simply crush prospects for growth in the future. In such cases, debt cancellation may be the only way to give the country a fresh start on economic development.

Governance failures. The government must create an environment that supports investments by private businesses, and investors must believe that they will be allowed to operate their businesses and keep their profits.

Cultural Barriers. Cultural or religious contexts may, for example, block the role of women, which leaves half of the population uneducated and without economic and political rights. In such cases, opportunities to contribute to overall development are cut in half.

Sachs also discusses "Geopolitics," "Lack of innovation," and the "Demographic Trap" (i.e. families with large numbers of children) as inhibitors to economic growth.

Sachs spends some time in this chapter comparing countries that have experienced economic growth in the past 25 years with those who have experience decline. The point he continues to make is that it is critical for a country to get its foot on the first rung of the ladder of development. Once that happens, countries are generally able to continue the upward climb. "The rich countries do not have to invest enough in the poorest countries to make them rich; they need to invest enough so that the countries can get their foot on the ladder" (p. 73).

In Chapter 4, "Clinical Economics," Sachs likens today's development economics to 18th century medicine, when doctors often killed their patients in attempts to cure them. Sachs proposes a new method, one he calls "clinical economics." He patterns his approach on five lessons learned from studying clinical medicine: that (1) the human body is a complex system, (2) complexity requires a differential diagnosis, (3) all medicine is family medicine, (4) monitoring and evaluation are essential, and (5) medicine is a profession. Analogously, he discusses in some detail Clinical Economics.

Lesson One: Economics, like individuals, are complex systems. Sachs notes that societies have systems for such services as transport, power, communications, law enforcement, national defense, taxation, etc. and that they are interrelated. The failure of one system can cascade to failures in other parts of the economy

Lesson Two: Economists, like medical clinicians, need to learn the art of differential diagnosis. Sachs argues that trotting out standardized advice on cutting budgets, liberalizing trade, and privatizing state-owned enterprises without regarding specific contexts is simplistic and short-sighted. All these things need to be considered in the context of climate, disease, transport, gender, and a number of other "pathologies" that subvert economic development.

Lesson Three: Clinical economics, like clinical medicine, should view treatment in "family" terms, not just individual terms. In the case of countries, the entire world community is family.

Lesson Four: Good development practice requires monitoring and evaluation, and especially a rigorous comparison of goals and outcomes. Typically, countries are judged on their inputs, such as cutting budget deficit by 1 percent of GDP--but not whether or not that produces faster growth, or reduces poverty.

Lesson Five: The development community lacks the requisite ethical and professional standards. What Sachs means here is that there needs to be a professional commitment to the right answers, a commitment informed by history, ethnography, politics, and economics. The development community needs the professional standards to speak truth to power: rich-world countries, IMF, World Bank.

Sachs points out that the IMF-World Bank structural adjustment programs of the past 20 years were designed to address four primary problems assumed to be the cause of the developing countries' economic ills: (1) poor governance, (2) excessive government intervention in markets, (3) excessive government spending, and (4) too much state ownership. Sachs acknowledges that there was some truth to this diagnosis, but the structural adjustment policies belied a simplistic (if not simpleminded) view of poverty. Clearly, there had been economic mismanagement. And clearly, a number of developing economies did need to reorient themselves to more global market-based systems. But such policy and governance problems were only a part of the story--often not the central problem. An appropriate development economics, Sachs argues, should be able to address problems of closed trading systems and not ignore the problems of malaria, AIDS, mountain geographies, etc.

Also in this chapter, Sachs provides a "differential diagnosis checklist" which, he believes, should be part of the "physical exam" of any impoverished country.

I. The Poverty Trap. The clinical economist should make a map of the country's poverty (where, how many, who, etc.) and identify key risk factors that may exacerbate poverty in the future (environmental trends, public health, etc.)

II. Economic Policy Framework. This involves the traditional questions concerning cost of doing business in the country and various regions within the country. The questions include asking about (a) key infrastructure issues such as water, power, and transport, (b) trade policy framework, (c) cost of production for exports, (d) incentives for foreign and domestic investors, and (e) what is the state of the country's human capital investment via programs on nutrition, health, education, disease control, and family planning.

III. Fiscal Framework and Fiscal Trap. This involves questions concerning current levels of budget spending and public revenues--measured not only as percent of GDP, but also in dollars per person. The share of public spending (GDP) gives a sense of effort country is making to reduce poverty. The absolute spending (dollars per person) gives a sense of adequacy of spending to ensure basic needs. Questions here also include how much past debt is the country laboring under.

IV. Physical Geography. This important area, Sachs argues, is often surprisingly overlooked by economists. Questions here concern how much of the population is close to seaports and airports, navigable rivers, paved roads and rail services. What is the length of the growing season? How are the agronomic conditions affected by climate variability (especially fluctuations in El Nino). How does the climate affect the burden of disease? What plant and animal disease post a threat to human health and international trade?

V. Governance Patterns and Failures. Sachs points out that although it is true that democracy is not a prerequisite for economic development, it does matter. Regimes that are despotic, arbitrary, and lawless can easily destroy an economy. Questions here concern the rule of law, and are there adequate public managements systems in place for registering businesses, trading property, defending contracts, etc. Is corruption rampant? If so, at what levels of government? Are public services adequately provided to the entire region, or just to the elite or selected regions?

VI. Cultural Barriers. Is the society dealing with issues of class, ethnic, religious, or gender inequities? For example, are women deprived of the right to own and inherit property? Do cultural norms prohibit certain minority groups from owning property or acquiring education?

VII. Geopolitics. Is the country under international sanctions? Are there cross-border security threats? Are there trade barriers in the rich world that impede development prospects?

The next step, of course, is to design programs and strategies that will address the critical barriers to poverty reduction. But Sachs' point here is that the strategies will be most effective if they are based on a carefully determined "differential diagnosis" of the situation.

In Chapters 5- 9, Sachs gives us a tour of recent (since the 1970s) development issues in Bolivia, Poland, Russia, China, and India.

In Chapter 10, "The Voiceless Dying," Sachs returns to Africa where he first dispels the myth that the reason Africa is in such dire straits is because of corruption and misrule, then he gives a brief political history of the cruelty and depredations that the West has long imposed on Africa (including the structural adjustment policies of the 1980s and 90s which had little scientific merit and left Africa even worse off than it was before). Even so, politics alone, Sachs admits, cannot explain Africa's prolonged economic crisis. The remainder of Chapter ten deals with the issues of AIDS and malaria--how Africa is especially hard hit by these diseases as a consequence of geography and climate, and how these factors combine with the trap of poverty to tragically create the condition Africa is in. Yet Sachs reminds us that the situation is not hopeless. Africa's problems are difficult. But they can be solved.

Chapter 11, "The Millennium, 9/11, and The United Nations" deals with the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, but also considers the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States and suggests that the United States is turning its back on the very important (and achievable) goals while directing all its energies, efforts, and resources towards misguided (and ultimately unachievable) military "solution" to terrorism.

Chapter 12, "On-The-Ground Solutions for Ending Poverty" deals with some practical solutions for ending poverty. Sachs continues to emphasize that the challenge is not to overcome the mythical problems of laziness and the exaggerated problems of corruption. He points out that most societies "with good harbors, close contacts with the rich world, favorable climates, adequate energy sources, and freedom from epidemic disease have escaped from poverty" (226). So geographic isolation, disease, and vulnerability to climate problems are the among the things we should tackle to help nations get a foothold on the development ladder.

One of the examples he offers is a group of villages known as the Sauri sublocation in Kenya--clearly a group in the poverty trap. But among the reasons they are in extreme poverty is crop failure--something that could easily be remedied by the use of fertilizer. But in their extreme poverty, no one can afford it. And since no one can afford it, the crops continue to fail. Just access to fertilizer for a year or two would help these villages get a foot hold on the development ladder. For this group of villages, we need to make investments in:

• agricultural inputs (e.g. fertilizer)
• basic health (clinic)
• education
• power, transport, and communications services

Sachs argues for a system of governance that empowers the poor while holding them accountable.

Each low-income country needs such a poverty reduction strategy.

In Chapter 13, "Making the Investments Needed to End Poverty," Sachs continues to pursue the point that the poorest of the poor must get to the first rung of the ladder of development. The "development ladder" hoovers above them; they lack the minimum amount of capital necessary to get to the first rung. In order to get the necessary boost, they need:

SIX MAJOR KINDS OF CAPITAL Human capital (health, nutrition, skills) Business capital (machinery, facilities, transport) Infrastructure (roads, power, water, sanitation, ports, and telecommunications systems) Natural capital (arable land, healthy soils) Public institutional capital (commercial law, judicial systems) Knowledge capital (scientific and technological know-how)

This is the heart of the book: the argument that "targeted investments backed by donor aid lie at the heart of breaking the poverty trap" (250). Once the donor investments have been made and the level of capital per person has risen, Sachs demonstrates how the economy eventually becomes productive enough to meet basic needs and the climb on the development ladder can begin. But without donor investments, no matter how hard everyone tries, poor countries (Sachs uses the figures of $300 per person per year) simply cannot meet basic needs and at the same time finance the accumulation of capital.

Sachs asks the question: if a country were to receive a billion dollars in foreign aid, should it go to building roads, or schools, or power plants, or clinics, or to pay teachers, or doctors, or agricultural extension officers. The answer, obviously, is yes to all--but the mix will be different for each country. Sachs continues to emphasize that a rigorous differential diagnosis is at the heart of effective investment strategies. He also makes very clear that the differential diagnosis should carefully consider the appropriate division between the public sector and the private sector.

According to Sachs (p. 251-252):

A. the public sector should focus primarily on:

1. human capital (health, education, nutrition)
2. infrastructure (roads, power, water, sanitation)
3. natural capital (conservation)
4. public institutional capital (public administration, judiciary, police)
5. parts of knowledge capital (scientific research for health, energy, agriculture, climate)

B. the private sector should focus primarily on:

1. investments in business (agriculture, industry, services in such areas as knowledge capital)
2. household contributions in health, education, and nutrition that complement the pubic investments in human capital

Generally, it is best when the public sector focuses on general kinds of investments in schools, clinics, roads, and basic research, and when the private sector focuses on more specialized business investments. Sachs' goes into detail why these divisions are important. In a nutshell: (a) private sector tends to monopoly, (b) it is more economically efficient when knowledge is available to all, instead of privately controlled, and (c) the whole of society is better off when everyone has access to health, education, transport.

Sachs notes that one of the weaknesses in development thinking is "the relentless drive for a magic bullet, the one decisive investment that will turn the tide. Alas, it does not exist" (p. 255). Sachs again emphasizes the point that each one of the six types of capital is necessary for a well-functioning economy

In Chapter 14, "A Global Compact to End Poverty" Sachs discusses in some detail a Millennium Development Goals-Based Poverty Reduction Strategy. This strategy has five parts (p. 273):

1. Differential Diagnosis

Discussed above. Essentially identifies the policies and investments the country needs to achieve the MDG

2. Investment Plan

Essentially a plan that shows the size, timing, and costs of the required investments.

3. Financial Plan

Must include a realistic picture of what the poor can actually pay for and what they can't pay for. The structural adjustment policies of the 80s and 90s often set up investment policies in, for instance, electricity and water that the poor had to pay for. Sachs notes that the history of user fees imposed on poor usually is a history of the poor being excluded from basic services.

4. Donor Plan

According to Sachs, a Donor plan should focus on four aspects of aid flow (p. 276):

• Magnitude. Aid must be large enough to enable the country to finance its investment plan
• Timing. Aid must be long term enough to enable country to follow through on a ten year program of scaling up
• Predictability.Aid flow should not stop and start in such a way that jeopardizes the investment program
• Harmonization. Aid flow must support MDG-based poverty reduction plan and not pet projects of aid agencies

5. Public Management Plan.

Sachs points out that financing is a necessary but not sufficient component for success. The government must be able to implement the plan. According to Sachs, a sound management plan should have six basic components (p. 278).

1. Decentralization. Details have to be decided on the ground level--in villages and cities themselves and not in capitals or in Washington. Decentralized management of public investment is "a sine qua non of scaling up" (p.278).
2. Training. Capacity building must be a part of the overall strategy.
3. Information Technologies. Accessible information to all parties is critical
4. Measurable Benchmarks
5. Audits
6. Monitoring and Evaluation

Sachs covers additional issues in this chapter including the need for debt relief, the importance of environmental stewardship, and the importance of using the United Nations system for coordinating the various strategies, working with the numerous stakeholders, and implementing the MDGs.

In Chapter 15, "Can The Rich Afford To Help The Poor," Sachs answers yes...actually, the rich can't afford not to. Sachs points out that too much economic thinking in recent years has been directed at how to make poor countries into models of good governments or models of efficient market economies. That's the wrong approach. The task suddenly becomes much less daunting, Sachs argues, when we get practical and start trying to identify which specific, proven low-cost interventions can make a difference in living standards and economic growth.

The simplest question: How much money would rich countries have to transfer to poor countries, so that the extreme poor of the world can meet basic needs?

The answer: 124 Billion US$ (0.6 percent of 22 donor countries GNP)

According to the World Bank:

• meeting basic needs requires $1.08 a day per person
• 1.1 billion people lived below the $1.08 per day with an average of .77 a day
  • the poor had a shortfall relative to basic needs of .31 a day or $113 a year
  • Worldwide, total income shortfall of poor in 2001 was $113 per year x 1.1 billion for a total of $124 billion
• income of 22 donor countries in 2001 was 20.2 trillion.
  • thus, a transfer of 0.6 percent of donor income would in theory raise all 1.1 billion of world's extreme poor to basic-needs level

It is still tricky to determine the total amount of development assistance needed because (a) much donor assistance is not for development at all, but for emergency relief, care and resettlement of refugees, (b) much donor assistance goes to middle income countries that have already largely ended extreme poverty, (c) much foreign aid is in the form of technical assistance and cancellation of debts, and (d) there is need for direct assistance at the global level above and beyond the financial needs of specific poor counties.

Chapter 16, "Myths and Magic Bullets" examines and debunks conventional myths about development including the myth that corruption is the culprit, that democracy is necessary, and that Africans are lazy and/or immoral.

In this chapter, Sachs tackles the illusion that globalization will take care of the problems of extreme poverty, and he debunks the myth that a "rising tide lifts all boats." Here he plays off the metaphor and cliche by making the very interesting point that indeed globalization has lifted most economies that literally have boats in the water. In other words, coastlines have done fairly well with globalization. But the "rising tide" does not reach the mountaintops of the Andes or the interior jungles of Africa. As powerful as market forces are, they do have limitations--including those posed by adverse geography.

Sachs also addresses the social Darwinist myth that economic progress is the story of competition and survival of the fittest. He notes that economists from Adam Smith onward have recognized that competition and struggle are just one side of economic life and that the other side includes trust, cooperation and collective action for the public good. Sachs notes: "All successful economies are mixed economies, relying on both the public sector and the private sector for economic development" (p. 327).

In Chapter 17, "Why We Should Do It" Sachs notes America's numerous failings in the area of development assistance. For instance, in 2004, America spent 30 times more on the military (450 Billion) than foreign assistance (15 Billion), and even that 15 billion was in large part to pay for US experts in technical assistance and for emergency relief--instead of long term investments in infrastructure or education or health. Sachs also notes that in 2002, in Monterrey, America adopted the so-called "Monterrey Consensus" which urges developed countries to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 percent of GNP to developing countries. But we are not even coming close to living up to that.

Chapter 18,"Our Generation's Challenge" includes a brief discussion of the anti-globalization movement. While Sachs applauds the movement for exposing the hypocrisies and shortcomings of global governance, he does take issue with the assumption that problems are caused by the exploitation of global investors. Actually, those countries that have the largest amount of foreign direct investment per person (FDI) also tend to have the highest GNP per capita and are usually involved in rapid economic growth. And Africa's problems, for instance, are caused not by globalization, but by the lack of it; in other words, one of Africa's biggest problems is its economic isolation, that it is a continent that has been bypassed by the forces of globalization.

Sachs concludes the book by stating again that it is time to end poverty and he lists 9 steps to make that happen:

1. Commit to Ending Poverty
2. Adopt a Plan of Action
3. Raise the Voice of the Poor
4. Redeem the Role of the US in the World
5. Rescue the IMF and the World Bank
6. Strengthen the United Nations
7. Harness Global Science
8. Promote Sustainable Development
9. Make a Personal Commitment

This extraordinary book was absolutely crucial for my project. It provided for me context--a framework; it articulated a set of values and guidelines that I was in search of. It helped sort out the issues of globalization, neoliberalism, and put the values of sustainable economic development at the very center. Although the entire book was important to me personally, I will probably use only the "Differential Diagnosis" in Chapter Four (Clinical Economics) in my paper. Still, it is significant to me that because of this book, I have a better understanding of economic development issues, as well as a workable set of values that will continue to inform how I think about (and act upon) the very important issues of poverty and economic development in years to come.

This publication covers the basic issues of GATS (how it operates, modes of supply, issues of the education sector that deal with public vs private and the confusion of the exclusionary rule) in pretty much the same fashion as others. Suave does, however, emphasize perhaps more than others the issue of the right to regulate. Suave makes a point of saying that liberalization and deregulation are not interchangeable terms. Trade can be liberalize and regulated, and that's pretty much what the GATS is all about. It is understandable, says Suave, that governments are cautious about agreeing to subject themselves to common rules, but he emphasizes that the in preamble recognizes "the right of Members to regulate, and to introduce new regulations, on the supply of services within their territories in order to meet national policy objectives.

Also quite helpful in this particular publication is a list of fallacies (the fallacies of universal coverage, of full market opening, of immediacy, of confusing trade and investment liberalization with deregulation, of equating negotiating requests with negotiating offers of policy irreversibility, and the fallacy of secrecy). This short section of the article debunks a number of concerns the anti-GATS folks appear to have.

This article was helpful for my project primarily because of the fallacies it listed. I use each one of them in my paper. I also appreciated the emphasis that liberalization and deregulation are not synonyms, and Sauve's focus on GATS as a set of agreements that attempts to liberalize trade while respecting the rights of sovereign nations to regulate in their own interest.

This 219 page book is an excellent overview of education in the context of globalization. Stromquist is both a critic and a proponent of globalization. The first two chapters provide an overview of globalization, paying most attention to its economic and technological "pillars," while also showing globalization's ties to neoliberalism. Essentially, Stromquist argues that a complete theory of globalization must show the interconnection between economics, technology, politics, and culture. And he is fierce in his criticism of the simplistic ideological (i.e. neoliberal) approaches to development shown by the World Bank and IMF as they imposed structural adjustment programs on developing countries in recent years.

Throughout the book, one of Stromquist's central themes is that education is heavily implicated in the globalization process, that education is, in essence, the means by which citizens become members of the "knowledge society." He also recognizes that more than ever there is a linkage between educational systems and business--most specifically for-profit higher ed. While there are dangers in this, this is not automatically a bad thing, since this makes education possible for a larger number of people than ever before. As many other critics do, he worries about a two-tier system: quality education for the rich and poorer quality education for everyone else.

In the end, Stromquist argues for a kind of "deglobalization" where globalization is restructured so that (a) there is more democratic local control--he calls this globalization "from below"--and (b) there is more power given to the United Nations as a key governing body that provides oversight and protects the interests of developing nations. Stromquist's point of view is that we should prioritize funding for sustainable development, human rights, health, labor standards, and ecological protection and that the United Nations is the only institution that has the potential to globally implement such priorities.

This was the first book I read concerning globalization and higher education (back in September). It helped set the stage by showing how significantly globalization has affected education throughout the world. This was also the first place I learned about World Bank and IMF neoliberalist policies. Stromquist helped me realize that globalization is not a monolithic force, and that one can value parts of the dynamic, while working to change other parts. I used Stromquist in determining what I think the four main pillars of globalization are (economic, political, cultural, technical).

A significant portion of this publication is to report on the results of a workshop where experts in Latin American education were gathered and surveyed. But the publication is much more than a report on experts' opinions. Swartzman actually uses the survey as a context for examining key issues of education and globalization in Latin America.

In sum, the experts believe that: (a) globalization will have a negative impact on Latin America and the Caribbean, (b) economic stagnation, political instability, inequality, and social exclusion will increase, and (c) governments will have the dwindling capacity to develop long term social policies. They believe that education (a) is moving towards greater decentralization, autonomy, and community and this is a good thing, and (b) requires creativity, leadership, and initiative, and that this cannot be performed well in a command line bureaucracy.

Essentially, it comes down to teachers who, in most Latin American and Caribbean countries, are ill-paid and ill-prepared and the situation is getting worse, in part because of the finance reforms of globalization and the consequent pressures of budgetary restrictions. The experts have a consensus that supporting teachers and improving teacher education are crucial.

Interestingly, in spite of much pessimism about the global economy and Latin America's participation in it, there appears to be much hope expressed for distant learning technologies. They recognize that the information and communication technologies cannot be taken for granted, since they require long-term investments in infrastructure, but there is the clear expectation that distance learning technologies can not only provide good quality content and partially compensate for the limitations in teacher qualifications, but also engage the teachers, help raise the prestige and earnings of the teaching profession and help bring in young university students as an intermediary step in their professional careers.

This article was helpful for my project primarily because of the good background material it provides concerning attitudes and goals for education in Latin America.