Case Study The World Trade Organization: The Dark Side of Globalization?   Instructions: Enter your answers into the boxes below. If you'd like a print-out of your responses, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page, and you will be taken to a printer-friendly page. If you have been instructed to submit your exercise online, enter both your and your instructor's name and e-mail address, then click the Email button at the bottom of the page. Your answers will be e-mailed immediately.   The Business of the World Is … :: Master of Their Own Domain :: Patsies or Players?   Patsies or Players? One of the most intense criticisms of the World Trade Organization is that it operates to the detriment of the world’s poorest nations. The argument is made that the World Trade Organization has become a mouthpiece of powerful multinational corporations and that the rules instituted and followed by the WTO are intended to perpetuate the wealth of the most influential nations in the world. After a decade of an existence under the World Trade Organization, billions continue to languish in poverty and developing nations continue to dwell at the bottom of the economic ladder. Others respond that the poorest of nations should recognize the opportunities available in the World Trade Organization. All the members of the WTO have a voice, whether they are wealthy or teetering on the brink of ruin. The World Trade Organization offers these developing nations the opportunity to unify into a cohesive block and deal with the richest nations on the planet. In any negotiations with the United States, a nation such as Malaysia would inevitably be the weaker party. However, if Malaysia combined its efforts with China, India, Australia, Guatemala and other nations, then its influence is much more significant. The WTO offers this opportunity for the developing nations of the world. How do you respond to the argument that international trade improves the status of all nations involved, that it is impossible that only a select few nations would benefit from international commerce? Does the fact that poverty continues and less developed countries still languish economically demonstrate that the World Trade Organization has failed? At the WTO meeting in Cancun, delegates from the poorer nations walked out of the meeting to protest the positions taken by the wealthier nations. Was this a wise move on the part of the delegates from the poor nations? Did it demonstrate their unity and resolve or did they remove themselves as participants in an essential process? How do you respond to this proposition: globalization is simply the process by which wealthy nations gain control over poor nations and the World Trade Organization is the means by which this domination will occur. Should the World Trade Organization be abandoned as a well-intentioned experiment that failed?     Student Name:* Student Email:*   Professor Name:*   Professor Email:*         *required