A few years ago I was interviewed by the New York Times about an article I had written called “The PetroChina Syndrome.”  You can find a copy here.  My basic argument was that the globalization process was largely an economic activity that had left behind legal and political institutions.  As a result, globalization would trigger a backlash that could pose a crisis for global capitalism.  The process I discussed then was based in large part on American reaction to the IPO of PetroChina, the giant state controlled oil company.

Now several years later, the “PetroChina Syndrome” has reached the shores of China itself as this New York Times story about protests against the environmental impact of a proposed petrochemical project by PetroChina suggests.