When it comes to globalization, the bloom is very much off the rose, commentator Jamie Merchant reports. After the peaceful and prosperous 1990s, the Great Recession marked an end to optimistic hopes that the world had moved beyond petty skirmishes and political bickering. Many authors have noted this reality, of course, and they often follow up the diagnosis with a prescription that involves little more than partisan talking points. But Merchant offers something different — a scathing takedown of the hypocrisy and double-talk coming from all sides of the political spectrum.
As globalization has lost momentum, nationalism has returned to the fore.
The period from 1914 through 1945, marked by two disastrous wars and a global depression, was a particularly dark one in modern history. Then came an epoch of peace and prosperity: From 1945 to about 2015, the world experienced an unusual era of global integration and economic cooperation. From the smoldering remains of World War II grew an ethos of cross-border collaboration among the capitalist democracies of North America, Western Europe, and Eastern Asia. When the Cold War ended, globalization took off.
But in recent years, the world has pivoted again. Gone are the good vibes of transnationalism; they’ve been replaced by a much gloomier mood. As the global economy slowed, individual countries took on a sharp-elbowed view of their neighbors. Yesterday’s allies became today’s rivals. With cutthroat competition replacing cooperation, protectionist policies gained momentum. In another shift, the developed world suddenly became a hotbed of conspiracy theories. Unhinged belief systems such as QAnon illustrated the trend — many people were suspicious of expert analysis and mainstream consensus...
Jamie Merchant is an economics and political commentator based in Chicago. His writing has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, The Baffler, The Nation, and In These Times.
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