Making the World a Better and Safer Place: The Time for Action is Now
| Author | James D. Wolfensohn |
| Published date | 01 May 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9256.00166 |
| Date | 01 May 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Making the World a Better and Safer
Place: The Time for Action is Now
James D. Wolfensohn
The World Bank
This article argues that the events of 11 September 2001, and their aftermath, have heightened
the need both to confront terrorism directly, increase global security and enhance the structures
of global governance. The article concentrates on measures to enhance global security and gover-
nance. In particular, measures must be taken to address some of the root causes of terrorism: those
of economic exclusion, poverty and under-development. The article argues that the World Bank,
along with other international financial institutions and the UN system, have a central role to play.
The article concludes by identifying four priority areas for international action.
The horrifying events of 11 September made the start of 2002, for many, a time of
reflection on how to make the world a better and safer place. In the closing months
of 2001 the international community took important steps to this end, by con-
fronting terrorism directly and by increasing security. There were common efforts
to avert a global recession, and a new international consensus on the need to
remove trade barriers that hurt poor countries and poor people.
These efforts reflect a growing recognition that now, more than ever, international
problems require international responses. The trend toward greater interdepend-
ence among nations, under way for centuries, gathered sudden momentum in
the past two decades. 11 September painfully underscored this new reality. These
terrorist attacks were not the first to cost innocent lives, nor will they be the last,
but they were of a scale that reverberated around the world in a way that no one
could ignore. We are not likely again to hear the argument that what happens
in Afghanistan is of no relevance to someone living in Alabama, Amsterdam or
Auckland.
Although our interdependence is not new, wide recognition of it is recent. The
global community has an opportunity to build upon this recognition to launch an
international response that matches the scale of the problems that the developing
world faces. The coming years will pose enormous challenges, as new stresses arise
from falling commodity prices, plummeting revenues from exports and tourism,
and reduced private investment. Compared with a year or even six months ago,
we face together a world with greater uncertainty, more refugees, higher tensions
– and therefore more poverty. The first priority should therefore be to mitigate the
short-term economic fall-out of 11 September, especially the impact on poor people
in poor countries. At the same time, we should begin to put in place the necessary
domestic and international policies, institutions and resources for sustainable
development and much more rapid poverty reduction.
© Political Studies Association, 2002.
Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
M A K I N G T H E W O R L D A B E T T E R A N D S A F E R P L A C E
119
Dealing with the short-term consequences
of 11 September
Even before the attacks, developing countries were feeling the strain of the global
economic slowdown. Trade and capital flows were already down, for example.
Global trade, which had grown 13 per cent in 2000, fell by 3 per cent in 2001;
capital-market flows to developing countries had already dropped by more than
25 per cent before the attacks; and commodity prices had fallen more than 7 per
cent. All of this worsened financial strains in such countries as Turkey and
Argentina. As a result, developing country GDP growth was already projected...
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