SHOULD WE CLOSE THE DOORS?

SHOULD WE CLOSE THE DOORS?

Arguments , from the days of COVID 19 pandemic are being made to denounce globalization and this trend has gained momentum more due to the Russian unprovoked war against Ukraine. Rise of populist political parties is being attributed to unfettered increase in the globalization. It's said that globalization , though yielded huge amount of wealth to the nations yet it is also said to be main instrument for creating huge inequality among nations and also among people of the same nation and thereby creating intense discontent among unprivileged and underprivileged people and nations. This discontent has been recognized as the main source of rise of populism and specially of right wing populism.  It's also been argued that globalization was the brainchild of neoliberal economic policies as implemented by Reagan-Thatcher regimes. And so to bring back balance globalization should go as has been argued.

      However these arguments are not well construed and conclusions are also not always free from prejudices. First, globalization is neither a new phenomenon nor a brain child of neoliberalism, rather it is as old as human civilization herself. Neoliberalism has only expanded the ease of globalization by removing caps. Further globalization is  so integrated with technology that it can't escape the impacts of technology. Present era of digital tech and AI can't be forced to remain confined in some chosen blocks and so economy can't also be blocked from being global. If efforts are made to confine it , only proven failed methods of high tarrif, trade restrictions etc have to be implemented. In the modern days where affluence is in plenty such skeptical  policies will lead to vanishing of much of wealth and less wealth will cause less investment in all areas of socio economic activities. Further we should not forget the period which saw rise of neo liberalism and globalization which was marked by fall of Soviet empire and advent of digital tech in a big way. These historical moments ushered an era of relative peace which facilitated the ease of doing global business. This period was also marked by the opening up of Communist China. Communist China aspired for richness and self sufficiency and so the Communist leadership opened the country with her vast human and natural resources to the world. Opening up of China provided an unmatched opportunity to the world for making big and useful investment. Globalization gained momentum and after that many other big countries with low and middle income started aspiring big like India, Brazil etc. Africa as a whole also came forward. It was the period of relative peace , big dreams, rising tech and all these smoothed the way for fast globalization. The New Deal was losing her shine and the US was searching for  something new and this new was the fall of sceptism in global trade with global movement of populations. 

   However the richness generated by the unhindered global trade and movement was being appropriated by  very small groups of people in most of the countries. National governments , and their elites  while earning a lot failed to ensure internal redistribution of the wealth, hence countries started becoming richer and wealthier with increase in poorer population. Nations' financial system was deliberately designed to be discriminatory. We saw opening of new opportunities in all walks of life with contracting  accessibility to new facilities . And so inequality and consequent disenchantment started growing which was reflected in society and polity of many countries. The period of globalization has helped China grew stronger which is now challenging the US in almost all fields. Rise of China was the product of the West. The West shifted her manufacturing to China in order to earn more. This of course generated wealth for the west but at the same time it benefitted China as well both financially  and technologically. The state regulated capitalism in China used the opportunity to win the west by using this newly acquired wealth and tech . The west was forced to bite her own lips. Finally the the Russian aggression on Ukraine has revealed to the west that ideologically different , rather opposite countries can't be reliable partners. Russia even after demise of Communism  and even after adopting market economy has remained ideologically alien to the west as far as the Russian govt under Putin is concerned. 

     Chinese and Russian experiences were proved nightmares for the west and even other democratic countries of the world started feeling threats. And this  led to the demand for end of globalization.  However the west failed to acknowledge  that its was their own ways of managing the economy which was responsible. Globalization has no role. Globalization has been there from the earliest days in forms of migration, cross border interaction and cooperation and  international trade, and in this age of AI and digital tech , interference and big corporate economics globalization can't be reversed or stopped. And the questions of economic disparities are the result of policies which have no place for common people. Without revising domestic economic policies, and without returning to redistribution mass discontent can't be mitigated. So its not globalization which should be dropped rather policies of concentration of wealth must be reversed at the earliest.