The next century is the century of inexorable globalization. Thus the obstacles and opportunities in the twenty-first century are the obstacles and opportunities of globalization. The obstacles have been made exceedingly clear by the Asian crisis, which dramatized the downside of globalization the way that the Great Depression dramatized the downside of capitalism. But acknowledging that a system has a downside does not discredit it.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
The Great Depression necessitated the invention of policy instruments that have sustained capitalism as the unparalleled engine of growth and development. These policy instruments that have made capitalism work include monetary policy, fiscal policy, trade policy, and incomes policy. Similarly, the Asian crisis necessitates the invention of appropriate policy instruments that will make globalization the source of worldwide prosperity in the next century. At this stage the complete answer is not yet clear. The General Theory which provided the theoretical framework for macroeconomic policy, to the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt which demonstrated the practicability of Keynesian theory.