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The Institute of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) launched its Lampert Lecture Series Wednesday with an address by Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria, who offered a compelling examination of today’s economic crisis.

Besides his Newsweek role, Zakaria regularly contributes to The Washington Post and hosts a foreign affairs program on CNN Worldwide called Fareed Zakaria GPS.

Stanley Brubaker, PPE director and professor of political science, said Zakaria was the perfect speaker for the institute’s exploration of “Liberal Democracy and Its Limits.”

The mission of the is to provide a forum for students and faculty to engage in public affairs and facilitate the connection of diverse disciplines.

“I thought his lecture was splendid and offered many insights to which we will return in various projects the PPE will be sponsoring over the next couple of years,” said Brubaker.

Fareed Zakaria speaks to members of the �Ա���Ƶ and local communities on Wednesday in Brehmer Theater. (Photo by Seth Greene ’11)

In his lecture, Zakaria addressed the question on everyone’s mind–how did the economic crisis happen?

Zakaria took the audience back to 1979, a year he said signifies the end of the old world and beginning of the new. In that year, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, a move that ultimately led to its breakup.

After the Soviet Union’s collapse there was only one economic model, that of the United States, the remaining superpower.

Zakaria cited another important event in 1979 that changed the global economic landscape. Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of Britain, and she introduced deregulation, tax cuts, and a laissez faire approach to economics. The reforms allowed money to move freely in the market.

The third factor that Zakaria pointed to was the technology revolution. With the advent of television anyone could immediately find out what was happening and what it was like in the rest of the world, which led to a decrease in price disparities.

All these factors led to the creation of a single global market accelerated by technology.

He said that in the past two decades we have created a world where everyone is connected but no one is in control. Now we are entering an unusual geopolitical moment – the first truly global economic crisis.

Zakaria concluded that the only one way to save the global economy is for the world’s nations, including the United States, to come together and coordinate national policies.

Otherwise a historian in the future could look back on this crisis and remark that just as the world opened up, the United States shut down.

“The U.S. succeeded in its great mission – it globalized the world. It just forgot, along the way, to globalize itself,” said Zakaria.