GLOBALIZATION AND DEMOCRACY
Third Session, May 7, 2004

Mr. Ramu Damodaran , Director of the Civil Society Section at the United Nations, joined the discussion from the UN headquarters in New York . In his introduction, he presented the benefits and challenges of globalization as well as the essential role of the civil society. From a United Nations perspective, he said, one of the greatest advantages of globalization is the opportunity to build cooperation and harmony between the People within a politically divided world. He also added that globalization, a 21st century phenomenon, must be accompanied by a second phenomenon which was largely absent in the 20th century: democracy. The floor was then open for questions, mostly centered around the common belief that globalization breeds poverty and that globalization and democracy, no matter how advanced, could leave parts of the world largely un-global and un-democratic. This highly interactive session was very well received by students and teachers alike and provided students with a wonderful opportunity to better understand the pros and cons of globalization as well as the belief that, in the long run, globalization is the necessary step toward reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.

A similar series was completed in January 2005 to later become an ongoing program of the Ashburn Institute with an increasing number of participating schools and ever improving technology. Students, high school seniors whether in groups, as a class, or even individually form their home PC, had the possibility to take the course for three undergraduate credits.