Is Globalisation at Risk?

One of our local 'dollar stores' sells some amazingly good pickled, roasted peppers from Turkey. Not only are they quite good, they are also quite inexpensive - costing far less than 'fresh' peppers at the grocery store (presumably grown somewhere on this continent). Although growing sweet peppers is possible in our Northerly latitude, it could hardly be construed as inexpensive when time and effort are taken into account.

Globalisation, has made its way to our heart via our stomach. Nothing in this world is ever unequivocally good, of course, but we think that having some access to the World's goods and culture generally enriches our lives and is a positive. We understand that this process has been everywhere disruptive, as well, but on balance it feels like progress.

Can globalisation fail? Is it an artifact of cheap energy? And if energy always gets more expensive from here on in, will globalisation decline? Our opinion is probably not. The advent of the Internet and peer-to-peer networks will provide opportunities for division of labour and broadening markets even as transportation costs become dearer. Some more localised production and distribution will gradually have a greater cost advantage if it is otherwise competitive, but as transportation is rarely a significant portion of costs, this is not likely to impede globalisation all that much.

Will the Depression kill globalisation? It certainly may set it back through trade financing problems, and through protectionist and autarkic public policies. However, as long as global exchange presents true efficiencies and opportunities for profit, those setbacks are likely to be temporary or geographically limited. If anything, the Depression will likely reinforce globalisation as marginal, less-efficient enterprises wind down.

There was an protest saw from a prior era: "Think globally, act locally." It is actually not bad advice under the current circumstances, though very far from the original intent. What are you doing to be globally competitive? What resources that you find in your immediate environment can you marshall to produce something for a globally-minded market? If you cannot come up with something, you may find the World passes you by.

Much of the Industrial era to date has consisted of efforts to make the Industrial way of life as much like the Agricultural as possible: the company or government as patronly employer for life; the financial investment dividend as reliable as land rent; and the bizarre experiment of Marxist Communism. These efforts have all failed, or are still in process of failing. What is emerging from the rubble is a much more dynamic and creative way of making one's way in the world.

Globalisation is really only at risk if humanity rises up to turn back the clock. Reactionary elements are now, as always, ever at work to stymie developments that threaten their turf. However it is certainly not in the best interest of the majority to embrace a reactionary world-view.

There are some ideas out there posing as progressive, voiced by intelligent people, which are actually reactionary: globalism is unequivocally bad; small towns are unequivocally good; all economy should be within mostly self-sufficient communities, etc. We know it often difficult to imagine a better and truly new tomorrow when trends in place have delivered so much disruption, but that imagining must be done if society is to avoid stagnation and decay.