Learn to live with changing globalization

Speech by Former Finance and External Affairs Minister of India Yashwant Sinha, MP at 13th Dudley Senanayake Memorial Oration ‘Globalization and us’ organized by the Dudley Senanayake Foundation held at BCIS auditorium Colombo on July 22

Our planet which we all share is but one unit, one entity. It is joined together by oceans and continents, the winds and the waves. But we have divided it into various parts on the basis of territory, ethnicity, language and creed.

Territorially we have the nation states, the various geographical regions and then the whole world. We, therefore, have concepts like nationalism, regionalism and globalism. A nation state is often further divided into sub-nationalities throwing up problems of majority and minority.

A nation state is expected to deliver governance within its territory and tackle its own problems. Some problems, however, may transcend national boundaries and, therefore, have to be tackled at the regional level. Regional organizations like the SAARC, in our part of the world, are born out of that necessity. Their success or failure is a different issue but they do reflect the felt needs of the region. Similarly, some problems can be tackled effectively and purposefully only at the global level. This has given rise to globalism and the process which gives effect to it, namely globalization.

In ancient times, Eurasia and parts of Africa were the totality of the world known to civilization. History is therefore, replete with examples of inter-action between the peoples who inhabited this landmass. The Hindu and the Buddhist expansion in parts of Asia was an important historical event but it cannot be described as globalization because the rest of the globe was not known to them. The Macedonians under Alexander overran a large part of this world. Islam had an even wider spread from Asia to Europe. But, even these cannot be described as examples of globalization.

Global level

The same holds true for Christianity. The discovery of the new continents of North and South America, Australia and the two poles and the discovery of the hinterland of Africa, for the first time gave us an idea of what our planet consisted of.

If globalization is defined as a process of comprehensive interaction among nation states, among regions with the rest of the world, then such globalization is a recent phenomenon and is the product of the technology which has led to the death of distance. But, before I enter into a discussion of this form of globalization, let me state clearly that all interactions so far between peoples and nations have been based on the strong imposing their will on the weak. The world is still far away from the ideals of democracy at the global level which we cherish at the national level.

In fact, the greatest champions of democracy, equality and fair play in their own countries have often been the greatest opponents of these values as far as other countries and the international institutions are concerned. Technology has not merely led to the annihilation of distance; it has also made globalization comprehensive and all pervading. Some people believe that it is also irreversible. Globalization has different dimensions.

When we speak of globalization and discuss its merits and demerits, we must remember that it is not a homogenous or uniform phenomenon. It has many facets which may impinge on each other, yet are different in their content and reach. In this talk, I propose to touch upon the economic, the political and the cultural aspects of globalization which to me are the more important dimensions of globalization and impact on the life of the common man throughout the world.

Economic globalization manifests itself in various forms through trade, technology, investment, capital flows and movement of skilled personnel.

Natural resources

Integral to economic globalization are issues of the environment, natural resources, migration, ethics and equity.

If welfare of the humankind is the centre piece of all our efforts, poverty eradication our unquestioned priority and a better quality of life for our people our goal, then ethics, equity and morality cannot be divorced from our models of economic development.

The Millennium Development Goals, presently stalled, need our urgent attention. By themselves they may not constitute a comprehensive development plan, but they are a measurable set of benchmarks which could provide indications of whether the world is moving towards a more inclusive and equitable globalization. The progress so far has not been encouraging.

We must see that they are revived even if realization of targets is postponed to a later date. An exclusive session of the UN General Assembly should be held to discuss this issue.

Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production which are responsible for degrading the environment through reckless use of finite resources cannot be countenanced any more. We need to wake up to the dangers of global warming, the disastrous results of it which are staring us in the face. If the polar ice melts and so do the mountain glaciers, can we still pretend that we are safe on this planet.

It is a well-known fact that the highly globalised nations discharge more carbon dioxide per capita than the less globalised countries. Among the world’s worst polluters per capita are the US, Australia, Canada and Singapore. China and India are still low in per capita emissions but need to be careful in future.

Developing countries

In trade and aid, we are skating on thin ice. ODA levels are falling and protectionism is on the rise. So are disparities. Billions of people are forced to live on less than a dollar a day while the richest one percent of the world’s population receives as much income each year as the poorest 57 percent. Industrial country tariffs on imports from developing countries are four times those on imports from other industrial countries. The OECD countries provide $ 1 billion a day in domestic agricultural subsidies which is more than six times they spend on ODA for developing countries.

The saddest part is that almost on all these issues global consensus exists, the institutional framework is in place, responsibilities are assigned, yet, lacklustre implementation or sheer defiance of the global compact by some countries makes a mockery of all our efforts. The crisis which has overtaken the Doha round of trade talks and the post Kyoto Protocol arrangement on climate change is a reflection of the obdurate attitude of some of the nations of the world on these issues. But the terms on which economic globalization is taking place are slowly but surely undergoing a metamorphosis with the rise of the new economies.

To be continued