Globalization Goes to War: It might make sense to invest in a South Korean company. But how risky is it to bet on a company next door to a nuclear megalomaniac?

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 24-FEB-03

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Byline: Robert J. Samuelson

What may ultimately be said of a war with Iraq, assuming it occurs, is that it made the world safe for globalization--or that it proved the world unfit for globalization. Wars produce surprises, for good and ill. No one expected that World War I would doom the existing global economic system or, more optimistically, that World War II would herald history's greatest prosperity. The question now is whether a war in Iraq, even though much smaller, might also trigger momentous side effects.

Only a few years ago globalization seemed irrepressible. We were all advancing (it was said) on flood tides of international trade and investment. After World War II, countries were mainly...

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