ABSTRACT
Looked at from a Western elite perspective, there are substantial problems in the international system but these are manageable, even when the 9/11 attacks and their increasingly difficult aftermath are included. The global economy is making progress, with quite impressive levels of growth being achieved across most continents. The Asian downturn of the late 1990s was certainly a concern but that was more of a temporary setback than anything else, and while sub-Saharan Africa remains mired in poverty it is not significant for the world economy as a whole.
