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St. Olaf globalization conference to examine problems resulting from world 'homogenization'

mjc
February 2, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? "Democracy and the New Economies" is the theme of St. Olaf College?s first annual Conference on Globalization and Social Responsibility Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16 and 17.

The conference, sponsored by the St. Olaf Division of Social and Applied Sciences, is part of the college?s Globalization Week Feb. 12-17 and is open to the public. Conference events will be in Buntrock Commons. Registration for the event is $5, and registration with the Saturday luncheon is $15 (Feb. 10 deadline).

The conference is intended to help answer lingering questions about the effects of "globalization," or the "homogenization" of the world?s peoples: Does globalization promote or inhibit democracy and local autonomy? Does it unduly concentrate power and wealth among a few corporations, financial institutions and governments? Does it reduce societies? capacities to address social, economic and environmental problems? What should be the responsibilities of individuals and nations in the face of globalization? Are the changes that it brings for better, or for worse?

Keynote speaker for the event will be Jane D?Arista, director of programs for the Financial Markets Center. Other speakers will include John Freeman, Distinguished McKnight Professor and Department Chair of Political Science at the University of Minnesota; former U.S. Reps. Tim Penny and Arlen Erdahl; and former U.S. Ambassador Robert Flaten.

D?Arista will discuss "Reforming the Privatized International Monetary and Financial Architecture." From 1983 through 1986 D?Arista was chief finance economist for the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Before that she was an international analyst at the Congressional Budget Office for five years and a staff member of the House Banking Committee for 12 years.

She is the author of The Evolution of U.S. Finance, a two-volume set published in 1994 by M.E. Sharpe. Her organization, the Financial Markets Center, is a nonprofit institute that provides research and education resources about the Federal Reserve System and financial markets.

Freeman will talk about "Whither Democracy: Globalization and the Prospects for Popular Sovereignty." Freeman teaches University of Minnesota courses in comparative and international political economy and in methodology. He has been a visiting professor at the University Michigan and a consultant to international businesses, banks and law firms.

He is the author of Democracy and Markets: The Politics of Mixed Economies (Cornell University Press), and co-author of Three Way Street: Strategic Reciprocity in World Politics (University of Chicago Press). He also has edited three volumes of Political Analysis (University of Michigan Press) and co-authored more than 20 research articles in journals in North America and Europe. He has been president of the American Political Science Association?s Section for Political Methodology and co-chair of the Midwest Political Science Association?s annual meeting. Currently Freeman is researching the political-economic equilibria produced by democratic market systems. In 1992 he received the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Teaching Award and the All-University Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award ? the highest such award at the U of M.

A discussion about the impact of globalization on Minnesota will feature Penny, Erdahl and Flaten.

Penny is a senior fellow and co-director of the Humphrey Institute Policy Forum at the University of Minnesota. He represented southeast Minnesota?s First District in Congress from 1982 through 1994, serving on the agriculture and veterans affairs committees and the Select Committee on Hunger, where he headed the foreign agriculture and hunger subcommittee.

Erdahl, a St. Olaf College graduate, is associate director of the Peace Corps. He represented the First District in Congress from 1979 through 1983, and before that was Minnesota public service commissioner for three years, Minnesota secretary of state for four years, and a Minnesota legislator for seven years. He also was country director for the Peace Corps in Jamaica for two years.

Flaten, also a St. Olaf College graduate, is former U.S. ambassador to Rwanda and a director of the United Nations Association of Minnesota. He was ambassador from 1990 to 1993, and then worked for as year as a consultant for African affairs. A career foreign service professional, he also has been director of affairs for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and is chair of the Peace Prize Forum executive committee. He retired from the foreign service in 1994.

In addition to the speakers, six discussion sessions will address "Economic Costs and Benefits of Free International Markets," "Teaching in a Global Context: The Views from Abroad," "Role(s) of Sport in a Global Economy," "Globalization: Rhetoric or Reality?" "Cultures and Societies in a Globalized World," and "Our New Neighbors: Survivors of War and Torture."

Those who want more information should call 507-646-3043, or may view the conference website and a list of online resources at http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/sociology/globalizationconf/ .

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty of approximately 256, the college is nationally known for its art, music, science, pre-medicine, mathematics, pre-law, international studies and religion curricula. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in number of students who study abroad.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.