Re: The Future of Work?

[G. Stewart]

Ray, The editorial you posted from the Boston Globe contained this sentiment: "We [Europeans] need America to prepare ourselves for the time when a more balanced, and therefore more effective, Euro-American partnership will be able to influence the whole international system in a direction consistent with our shared values." I suspect that, in a globalizing world, such comments are increasingly seen as simply parochial if not also culturally aggressive. This would be true I suspect not only in other parts of the world than the West but also within the Western world itself where many are beginning to develop a more global outlook. Contrast the statement above, for example, with this statement: "What we have to learn is to communicate transculturally in a non-destructive manner. This is a very difficult task which we have yet not mastered. We have to search for transcultural universals, i.e., for transcultural values and ideas which may serve as the basis for non-conflictual, mutually enriching transcultural exchanges and relationships. This is not a pious wish for some starry-eyed do-gooder, but a necessary condition for the future of humanity. If humanity wants to have a valid future, or a future at all, it will have to develop means of synergistic relationships, a method of global coexistence." From "Implications of the Ecology of Knowledge for Multicultural Synergy" by Jerzy A. Wojciechowski, Man-Environment Systems, vol 13 pp 183-192, September 1983.   Regards,   Gail     Gail Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: Ray Evans Harrell To: futurework Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 12:16 PM Subject: The Future of Work? NYE: THIS IS NO TIME FOR UNILATERIALISM    http://www.boston.com/globe/editorials/bigidea/nye.shtml Excerpt: It would be more accurate to describe the distribution of power among countries today as a pattern resembling a complex three-dimensional chess game. On the top chessboard, military power is largely unipolar. The United States is the only country with both intercontinental nuclear weapons and large state-of-the-art air, naval, and ground forces capable of global deployment. But on the middle chessboard, economic power is multipolar, with the United States, Europe, and Japan representing two-thirds of world product, and with China's dramatic growth likely to make it a major player early in this century. On this economic board, the United States is not a ``hegemon.'' For example, the Bush administration must bargain as an equal with Europe to obtain a new trade round, and General Electric was unable to merge with Honeywell when the European Commission objected. But the situation is even more complicated and difficult for the traditional concepts to capture. The bottom chessboard is the realm of transnational relations that cross borders outside of government control. This realm includes actors as diverse as bankers electronically transferring sums larger than most national budgets, terrorists transferring weapons, and hackers disrupting Internet operations. On this bottom board, power is widely dispersed, and it makes no sense to speak of unipolarity, multipolarity, or hegemony. Joseph S. Nye Jr. is dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and author of ''The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone.'' MONTBRIAL: WORLD NEEDS U.S. TO CHAMPION ITS VALUES Excerpt:  O f course, Europeans and the rest of the world need America. America's image remains associated with universal values: liberty, human rights, democracy. Since World War II, the Europeans have embarked on a historically unique, highly successful process, building a new kind of political unit -- a large union based on similar values, those of the Enlightenment. We, the Europeans, know that this process could not have started and cannot be completed without the support and vision of the United States. We need America to prepare ourselves for the time when a more balanced, and therefore more effective, Euro-American partnership will be able to influence the whole international system in a direction consistent with our shared values. To succeed, we need to achieve the enlargement and restructuring of the European Union, as well as of NATO. Within NATO, we must together oversee the implementation of a genuine "European pillar" that can take more responsibility on matters of direct interest for European security. Thierry de Montbrial is the founder and president of the Paris based French Institute of International Relations. http://www.boston.com/globe/editorials/bigidea/montbrial.shtml