Opinion | Globalization as we know it is over

By Tom Fowdy

What is globalization? It's a funny term, and not least a controversial one. It's one which has provoked anxiety, conspiracy theories and political anger all in one go, yet in the world of academia has been interpreted as a given and inevitable process. But what does it mean? Globalization refers to a process whereby the world is becoming increasingly connected and integrated through a series of economic, technological and cultural processes. In a nutshell: it is a series of developments which makes the world even more "smaller" and "closer", an inevitable consequence of the modern era.

To understand how globalization works: Long ago the world was a much larger, more distant and less connected place. In the Middle Ages, there was no Internet, no television, no telephones, no global economy and no rapid transport between areas of the globe making it easy to travel far reaching distances in the space of a day. In this world, humanity was not connected and there was no collective consciousness of the "world as a whole". Europeans did not know the Americas existed, and vice versa and the vast majority of people lived in very small and isolated communities.

It goes without saying that globalization in the modern day strongly defines our lives. The growth of mass social media, global popular culture, films and entertainment, global brands and commerce, have all made the world figuratively smaller than it ever has been before, all under an increasingly integrated and interdependent global economy. Whilst a great deal of this remains unthinkable to be changed for it is an economic and technological development, nonetheless a lot of globalizations also hinges on political considerations: that is the premise of trust, openness and security of a state.

It should be no surprise that the year 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union, was heralded as a big moment for globalization. Why so? Because it effectively ended what was then a geopolitical divide between the world and ushered in an international system which was "America Centric". A famous image may be found throughout the Internet and history books of when the first McDonalds opened in Moscow, of which attracted huge ques. The photo illustrated America's cultural products as global icons, and of course a hallmark of globalization which was ushered in through radical political change and a more open world.

But now, despite some aspects of globalization speeding up, in some ways it is now starting to go backwards or become more jagged as the international environment becomes less stable and secure overall. Despite being the biggest driver of globalization, the United States's foreign policy shift against China was heralded by a growing belief that the country was a "net loser" from globalization in terms of the offshoring of American industries and jobs, which led to the rise of the Trump administration. China effectively became a scapegoat for the social and economic upheavals globalization created in the United States.

Whilst a similar phenomenon influenced Brexit in the United Kingdom. Britain's withdrawal from the EU, as well as America's turn towards protectionism and advocation of "decoupling" against China as it becomes concurrently less secure about its own place in the world, are two parts of a trend of globalization rolling back. Now however, Russia's war in Ukraine is set to turn this trickle into a flood as it radically upheaves the global security situation and brings in a comprehensive economic and political decoupling between Moscow and the western world due to some of the sanctions imposed: of which involve cutting Russian banks off from the SWIFT system, isolating it from global financial markets and banning the export of technological components and products to the country.

Never has in the space of just a few days such a comprehensive rollback of many of the achievements in the last 30 years been apparent, leading to once again a divided world. Yet this also tells us that globalization is not something benignly accepted, but has deep imposing political consequences for its influence on the balance of power in the world. It becomes a question of "who's globalization" as radical advances in communications and perceived changes to traditional ways of life (such as a backlash to immigration or multiculturalism in the west) change political identities, whilst the perceived benefits of some above others create political conflict: such as America's fear of China, or Russia's fear of former Soviet countries turning westwards.

Whilst globalization of course, is not going away, there is now a clear trajectory that in some ways it is going backwards. The world is becoming less open. One ought to look at how western countries are imposing mass censorship now on news organizations deemed to be "pro-Russia". With political insecurity and with conflict, comes a destruction of economic bridges and a barrier against perceived "hostile" cultural influences and deepening global divides. Our world is changing, becoming less confident, more insecure and more unpredictable. Many once thought great power politics was a thing of the past, but they couldn't have been more wrong…

The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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