The McKinsey Quarterly is hosting an online debate over globalization.  The question: "Will globalization be derailed by the world financial crisis?" Harold James, professor of history and international affairs at Princeton University, and author of The End of Globalization: Lessons from the Great Depression, says the end of globalization is inevitable:

The reactions against globalization are as much driven by a new psychology as by economic reality or a precise weighing of the costs and benefits of globalization. Crises give rise to conspiracy theories, often directed against foreigners or foreign countries. Many people in the United States argue that the blame can be placed on Chinese surpluses. Likewise, many people in other countries claim that they are being hit by an American crisis made in America. We will see not just little measures of trade protectionism, but massive and powerful xenophobic sentiment. It may also be that many former so-called “globalization critics” will see just how good integration was when it starts to fall apart.

Moisés Naím, editor in chief of Foreign Policy, disagrees.  He says that globalization is not only about international trade and investment:

As destabilizing as the ongoing financial crisis is, it is likely to spur new connections among nations. Globalization has multiplied the number of problems that cannot be solved by a single country: not just economic crises, but also climate change, nuclear proliferation, illegal migration, transnational crime, pandemics, and more. While the world’s multilateral institutions are more often described as dysfunctional than indispensable, these institutions are indispensable—and with the world in crisis mode, demands to shore up global governance will only increase. Would the world be as interested in the economic stability of India, Brazil, or Indonesia without the financial crisis? The G20’s newfound relevance is a direct consequence of both globalization and the financial crisis.

Read the full article, and get involved in the discussion here.