Today an International Herald Tribune article asks, "is economic history about to change course?" As power transfers from the west to the east, many economists are worried about a protectionist backlash by governments in attempt to regain control.

"Economic theory tells us that globalization is a win-win, but it isn't, at least not in the West," Roach said. "The theory was written for another era. We have to ask some hard questions about unfettered capitalism. We need a new script."

The risk is that Western governments, mindful of the growing backlash among voters, will be tempted to rewrite the script by engaging in old and new forms of protectionism.

Many are predicting 2008 to be a year for the economic history books.

Lucy Conger's story "The Big-Country Enigma" examines why micro-credit has flourished in smaller countries like Peru and Bolivia while remaining somewhat small in scale in countries such as Brazil.

Does both over and under government regulation stand in the way to microfinance?

The annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland takes places this week.

The theme of this year's meeting is "The Power of Collaborative Innovation". How "partnerships between business, government and communities can offer a useful solution" for water scarcity is also supposed to be on the agenda, and Bono will be there again continuing to push for debt relief for poor nations.

The Council on Foreign Relations takes a look at the possibility of a global recession.

As many indices mark the worst stock market losses since 9/11, India suspends trading and Japan marks the worst two-day losses in 17 years, analysts are talking global recession (and its implications for the US).

The Council on Foreign Relations' Lee Hudson Teslik says that this recession (or mild economic turn down) could have implications for a number of US policies, ranging from immigration to possibly increasingly protectionist economic policies as US job losses cause citizens to feel the squeeze-- and subsequently pressure politicians.

However, can emerging markets counterbalance the fear and uncertainty present in the US and across Asia?

Globally, economists see a silver lining in the developing world. Emerging markets in East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and even Africa have seen rapid recent growth (Economist),
and analysts hope growing consumption in these regions might offset declines in the United States. Either way, analyst Zakaria and others argue, a downturn need not bring a permanent loss of power for Washington, if policymakers reclaim the “open and expansive” attitude with which they once embraced the world.

December's United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia could have ended in a logjam of indecision until Kevin Conrad, spokesperson for Papua New Guinea, took the floor challenging the United States to take the lead or get out of the way. In a recent interview, Conrad explains why the success of this agreement is vital to smaller countries like Papua New Guinea:

“I think collectively we as humanity have become more mature in this climate battle, and we understand collectively that we’ve got to turn off all the emissions sources in order to win,” he said. “The climate doesn’t know whether it came from a factory or from Papua New Guinea’s deforestation. We’ve really got to get all hands on deck and tackle all of the issues.”

Mr. Conrad said the potential breakdown in the session’s final hours was particularly vexing to him because New Guinea and other forested tropical countries were finally getting attention for a proposal of payments by rich countries for preserving tropical forests. Deforestation currently contributes about a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

He said the rich-poor divide in the talks, which crystallized in the final clash in Bali, is a distraction from the reality that all countries have agreed, by the end of 2009, to do something new: define a threshold for greenhouse gases beyond which the world will not go.

Mr. Conrad's willingness to stand up for his cause will hopefully have positive results in furthering global cooperation on vital climate change issues, but in the very least, his willingness to speak out has brought greater heed to his country’s situation.