Today's globalization is characterized by the worldwide disempowerment of labor. This is not the result of low real wages in backward countries but of devaluation-driven exports from relatively prosperous catch-up countries. An alternative form of globalization, the convoy model, is possible if the causes of devaluation-driven exports are eliminated. This does not call for a worldwide alignment of labor costs, but worldwide full employment policies, requiring a strong state in labor-surplus economies of the underdeveloped areas and social and economic reforms in favor of the poor.

Hartmut Elsenhans is professor of International Relations at Leipzig University, Germany.