Events like the mandate given for Brexit by the Britons, the emergence of the xenophobic anti-migration movements in Europe, the persistent and meteoric rise of the ISIS, the sky-high levels of global pollution, the massive rural-urban divide, the expansion of the Sino-Russian influence in and around the globe, and the arrival of the Trump phenomenon belie what globalisation has so far promised
The near euphoric days of globalisation has either gone or has never come into reality. Probably, what Canadian media theorist Marshal Mcluhan predicted as the coming of the “Global Village” in his pioneering works “The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man, 1962” and “Understanding Media, 1964”, have taken all of us to a new era. An era in which we have driven ourselves into an extremely interconnected web of events. Globalisation has moved the world into an ever greater, complex and advanced network of information and communication technology (ICT). The world is fast becoming flat, as Thomas Friedman wrote, and gradually entered into a period of “End of history” (Francis Fukuyama), hinting mostly at the triumph of liberal democracy over socialism. What more you wantIJ And then comes the “Rise of the Rest” thesis of Fareed Zakaria. To him, the rise of other nations like India, China and Brazil will bring new changes to the existing global order. Zakaria stated, “The fact that newly rising nations are more strongly asserting their ideas and interests is inevitable in a post-American world. This raises a conundrum: how to get a world of many actors to work together.” Thus, the rise of the rest has obviously led to a new scenario and from here, the coming of a multi-polar world order indicated the beginning of another power calculus from the later part of the 20th century. Against the backdrop of such dynamics taking place in international politics, the arrival of various forces of globalisation has forced many of us to rethink whether it is oversold or outdated by nowIJ It is obviously a very complex question, loaded with more complicated answers. But let us see how globalisation has unfolded what the world never witnessed in the past.
First, how globalisation brought an open trade and in what way it helped the worldIJ But a true reckoning is trickier than it might appear as it involves multiple factors. Former US President Bill Clinton, in the very first year in office, proudly claimed that the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will create nearly 2,00,000 jobs in his country. But with the entry of China in the World Trade Organization (WTO) subsequently and many other players in the global trade, it changed the ground realities around the world. In the last 16 years, the local Americans have lost more jobs to the emerging economies like India, China, Brazil, etc. Even the recently concluded US presidential poll saw a bitter war among the prime candidates from the two major parties on the loss of jobs. Now President-elect Donald J Trump wants to bring a steep tariff on the imports from China and Mexico to America. Other candidates like Bernie Sander’s also strongly lashed out at various trade deals, saying these are “a disaster for American workers”. This brings testimony to the rest of the world when Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from one of the most historic trade deal that America had signed last year — the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — with 11 other Asia-Pacific nations. On record, the democratic presidential candidate and the former Secretary of the State, Hillary Clinton, who was truly instrumental in the finalisation of the TPP at various stages during her tenure, too promised to withdraw from the deal. What all this implies is the fact that global trade deals are not doing good to economic giants like America. Then we could imagine how least developed countries and developing nations are struggling and getting sandwiched under the pressures emanating from the big business enterprises. Frankly speaking, the world is losing more than gaining from globalisation.
Second, a massive wave of migration has brought many of the developed nations to a stage of restlessness. Many of the advanced nations in Europe simply wanted to stop the flow of people from most of the Asian and African nations. To date, these migrants are mostly economic migrants rather than fleeing their restive homelands for fear of political persecution, war, conflict, etc. However, the migrants who came to European countries since the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011 and as a result of the Arab Spring are leaving their homes both for safety and for a decent livelihood. But can a persistent civil war in various countries of the West Asia and Africa justify the coming of the millions of migrants to the advanced nationsIJ Why these developed nations will take the “burden of others” even if they have enough resourcesIJ Globalisation does not mean sharing of burdens irrespective of race, religion, region, nationality, etc. Openness towards a borderless world is heralding a never ending crisis. As a result, ethnic, xenophobic and ultra-nationalist forces are raising their ugly heads around the world, mostly in Europe.
Third, there has been a growing disquiet too about the unfettered movement of capital. Most of the big corporate houses are shifting to places where they can pay lesser taxes. That is why America is coming heavily on tax inversions. On the other hand, the EU grumbles that the US conglomerates engage in too many tricks to evade taxes across Europe. Besides, the absolutely free flow of debt capital helps spreading the malaise to other countries relatively faster than ever before. Such fickleness in capital flow indeed scared some of the EU members from joining the union’s single currency Euro in the past.
Fourth, flattening the world through numerous modes of technology has made our lives easier, faster and cheaper. But does it mean we are fully equipped to handle the pitfalls brought by the advanced technologies. Nevertheless, the horror spread by the Islamic State (ISIS) today is largely possible because of the availability of communication technology. Though we are receiving endless benefits, yet the impact of the negativities spread by the ISIS and many other anti-social entities like it are taking a toll on humanity today.
Globalisation was supposed to facilitate the flow of huge foreign direct investments to developing nations. Yes, it happened to a considerable extent, but then globalisation has made corporate plundering much easier than before. Given the fact that many of these developing nations were resource rich, the multi-national corporations drove down to various corners of the world and simply took away their fortunes. Today locals are crying foul over opening their borders. They are raising banners of protest for losing their indigenous rights and resources.
These are a few instances which amply make it clear that globalisation has really moved us farther, but produced greater problems. Socio-cultural shifts and making of the promise of global citizens, actually did very little for ameliorating the hardships of the marginalised sections of the world. But the big question remains: Is globalisation good to humanity as a whole or to the majority of the inhabitants of this planetIJ The way events have unfolded largely belies what globalisation has so far promised. The mandate given for Brexit by the Britons, the emergence of the xenophobic anti-migration movements in Europe, the persistent and meteoric rise of the ISIS, the sky-high levels of global pollution, the massive rural-urban divide, the expansion of the Sino-Russian influence in and around the globe, the arrival of the Trump phenomenon, the demise of the ageing revolutionary Castro and his country’s possible march onto the global mainstream may add more restlessness to the conflict-ridden world. It is very unlikely that all these will contribute more towards a healthy relationship among the nations.
Hope some good actors will be able to herald little relief to humanity. And, possibly minimise the gargantuan effects of globalisation and its aftershocks.
(The writer teaches Sociology at OP Jindal Global University, Sonepat)