World Trade Organization (WTO) senior advisor John Hancock spoke in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall to a crowd of approximately 40 students on March 11.

Hancock is the former WTO representative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. He has also worked for Canada’s trade minister and prime minister and is the coordinator of the Consultative Committee on WTO reform. Currently Hancock is the senior advisor to Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the director-general and chief executive of the WTO.

In his speech, Hancock discussed the public’s distrust of the global trade system. “Why is it that at a time when this global system has never been so successful, protest is so strong?” Hancock said.

Hancock said that protesters employ all forms of media to say that globalization is erasing borders as the world moves toward one larger system. “They don’t like the fact that there’s one world,” Hancock said. “People don’t like change, but change is inherent in capitalism. Globalization is capitalism on steroids.”

Much of Hancock’s speech focused on the benefits of globalization thus far, such as the comparable ease with which the United States recovered from recession and Europe and Japan’s economic recoveries.

He argued that many countries want to be involved in a global system. “NGOs are right about the rise of a global system, but wrong about it being imposed,” Hancock said. “Globalization is all about freedom of choice.” He mentioned that in 1947, the WTO had 23 member countries, but currently has 146. “I don’t know of a single country that wants out,” Hancock said.

After the speech, Hancock answered student questions about several of his points, such as the place of democracy in the spread of global capitalism.

“The WTO is thought of as the policeman of the global economy, but we are actually the mechanism that gets the global economy off your back,” Hancock said in final defense of the organization.

Student responses to the talk varied. Most audience members came because of their interest in the WTO and issues surrounding it. “I think for people that didn’t know about the WTO, this wasn’t a good talk at all,” Danielle Nelson ’05 said.

“He was a really good speaker,” Matti Erpestad ’05 said, “But he didn’t address social issues at all.”

“His idea that there needs to be more globalization was interesting. That got me thinking,” Ryan Humphrey ’05 said. “But I’m still opposed to the WTO.”