Assessing Globalization’s Critics: Talkers Are No Good Doers

away with a rival and encourages them to do it quickly, so the victim will not have the chance to plead for mercy and perhaps “move [their] hearts to pity…. ” The first murderer reassures the Duke, “Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate [prattle]; talkers are no good doers….” This paper is about the critics of the “doers ” of globalization. It describes who they are, where they came from, what they want, how economists and others might understand them better, and where globalization might head from here. Globalization has been “happening ” so rapidly, widely, and deeply that to many it seems inexorable. But to the critics its character seems unbalanced, narrow, destabilizing, undemocratic and, therefore, illegitimate. Their protests have become louder and even more globalized. The critics say the doers should stop and talk. The doers say the critics have nothing concrete to offer. Fifteen years ago, various activists and others concerned about the direction of the international economy might have sympathized with the Duke’s intended victim, feeling that they could not get a word in edgewise before the forces of globalization rolled over them. Many proponents of globalization did not want to talk and they did not want to listen. They rejected activists ’ concerns as unrelated t o trade or as misinformed and tried to keep the globalization bandwagon rolling unimpeded. Since then, however, the so-called anti-globalization movement has gained momentum. Activists have succeeded in getting debt relief, worker rights, the AIDS crisis, and environmental sustainability onto the international agenda. Now the question has been turned around: are the critics only talkers or are they als