LCIL Friday Lecture: 'Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why it Matters' - Professor Anthea Roberts, Regnet

Lecture summary: Globalization has lifted millions out of poverty. Globalization is a weapon the rich use to exploit the poor. Globalization builds bridges across national boundaries. Globalization fuels the populism and great-power competition that is tearing the world apart. When it comes to the politics of free trade and open borders, the camps are dug in, producing a kaleidoscope of claims and counterclaims, unlikely alliances, and unexpected foes. But what exactly are we fighting about? And how might we approach these issues more productively?

In this talk, Anthea introduces her book, co-authored with Nicolas Lamp, Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why it Matters, exploring the interests, logics, and ideologies driving these intractable debates. Examining six competing narratives about the virtues and vices of globalization, Anthea and Nicolas provide a framework for understanding current debates about economic globalization and showcase a more integrative way of thinking about complex problems. Their approach not only helps enable us to understand where we have come apart but also how we might come back together.

Flyer: Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why it Matters

Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters

Anthea Roberts is a Professor at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) who specializes in public international law, international trade and investment law, and the effect of geopolitical change on global governance. From 2008-2015, she taught at the London School of Economics, Columbia Law School and Harvard Law School. Anthea has chaired the ANU Working Group on Geoeconomics since 2018 and was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School teaching Geoeconomics in 2020. She is currently teaching courses on complexity, risk and resilience.

In 2019, the League of Scholars named Anthea the world’s leading international law scholar and Australia’s leading law scholar based on the quality of her publications and the quantity of citations they had received in the previous five years. Her last book, Is International Law International? (2017), won numerous prizes, including the American Society of International Law’s Book Prize, and was Oxford University Press’s top-selling law monograph worldwide in 2017-2018. Anthea is currently working on a variety of projects about governing in complex, contested and evolving fields.