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2. Cosmopolitans vs. Locals

A Harvard Business School prof has decided that a new class system is being born alongside the Global Economy. And she makes a convincing case of it too, except when she gets warm and fuzzy about the new world class world, with its cosmopolitan elite and local workforce united in harmony around the common causes of excellence, quality and competition. Rosabeth Moss Kanter's "qualitocracy" foresees a new class divide in emerging information economies to replace the old industrial economy standbys of capital vs labour or managers vs workers. The cosmopolitans control all resources on the strength of the Three Cs: Concepts (the hottest info), Competence (the highest standards and skills), and Connections (the best international contacts). The locals, by comparison, are still rooted in communities, the most extreme of which are inhabited by "isolates", those poor folks stuck with sub-world-class skills and small circles of friends. One wonders what will happen to the environment when its stewards can always escape on the next plane to paradise. Though the future may not be as rosy as Kanter divines, with jet-set company managers and grounded local communities interwoven in an wonderful mosaic of world class production, the trend to a new info-age class system is well worth noting. [the class system of the global economy]

Not Hot - A Global Economy Without Community

Ideals of peace and global unity have given way in the nineties to the forces of economic globalization. Too often, economic globalization is not linked to the ecological and social bonds of local communities. A recent international happening in New York shed more light on these gaps. 50th anniversary celebrations for the UN provided a fitting backdrop for representatives from 50 model communities to gather and share the lessons of their success. Despite their diversity, the participants shared a remarkable degree of agreement over the necessary ingredients for positive community development even at a time of globalization. Attendees ranged from Mondragon of Spain, the richest cooperative in the world, to the "poorest of the poor" pavement dwellers of Bombay. A common call emerged - for strong community bonds; local control over resources; co-operative, consensus-based decision-making; environmental integrity; and unfaltering respect for human dignity.