Naomi Klein and Jagdish Bhagwati disagree on most significant points when considering the issue of globalization. Klein has been welcomed as a spokesperson for those who oppose globalization, and her books are regularly cited and quoted in articles critical of globalization, and at protests of globalization themselves. Bhagwati, on the other hand, champions globalization and maintains that it is to some degree inevitable, and in any case, that much of the criticism that has been leveled at globalization simply is not accurate.
One area in which the two sharply disagree is in the effect that globalization has on indigenous peoples and their well-being. Bhagwati argues that critics maintain that globalization results in indigenous peoples being displaced and suffering economic hardship as a result. In fact, he argues, the opposite is true. In those cases where there is increased pressure by global firms to find alternative uses for land that has traditionally been occupied by indigenous peoples, there is upward pressure on the price that the indigenous peoples are given in exchange for the use of their land. In addition, Bhagwati argues that there is no evidence that globalization puts any additional pressure on the demand for alternative use of land than do purely domestic economic demand for natural resources or alternative use (Bhagwati, 2004).
Further, Bhagwati maintains that globalization opens up economic opportunities that would otherwise not be available to indigenous peoples. In this way, globalization provides the ability of native peoples to earn more than they would have in their traditional economic activities, many of which are little more than subsistence endeavors. Globalization thus improves the economic-and by extension-the political position of these peoples in ways that a strictly protectionist strategy would not (Bhagwati, 2004).
Klein, on the other hand, takes issue wi...