Is Globalization Sowing the Seeds of Its Own Undoing?

Globalization’s fast pace is destabilizing, and the economic market is becoming more influential than the nation-state, writers have argued. Inequality is entrenched with economic and cultural divisions in education, income and employment. “Those ‘who can take advantage of the global economy’ are clearly benefiting from globalization and tend to cluster in the same clubs, colleges and communities,” writes Jay Ogilvy for Stratfor, referring to an argument made by Charles Murray. Others “get left behind in decaying cities whose industries have, in fact, suffered from foreign competition. Ogilvy warns that “By its uneven distribution of gains, economic globalization is fostering undemocratic tendencies.” He summarizes recommendations from Harvard's Dani Rodrik: embrace pluralism, block goods that lower labor standards, engage in global governance that enhances democracy rather than globalization and avoid suggestions that authoritarian countries provide a “level playing field. A focus on economic globalization drives wedges between haves and have-nots, killing the globalization goose that lays golden eggs. The imperative for democracies is to develop policies that slow globalization and allow players to regroup. – YaleGlobal