Putin, ISIS, Ebola: How Globalization Harms Us More Than Helps

Upheaval over geopolitical rivalries, religious strife and disease raises questions as to whether greater interconnectedness is destabilizing the world. Melik Kaylan, writing for Forbes, suggests that Russia’s President Putin is at the helm of a worldwide reaction against globalization: “The multicultural poly-sexual utopia without borders that American-style globalism sells as a matter of principle represents a threat of dissolution to many majority populations abroad.” Ironically, many anti-globalization entities use modern technology like social media to organize against western influence. Of course, globalization is about so much more, and whether the globalizing trend is as mundane as trade or visionary as human rights, the process requires both idea makers and idea takers. Kaylan bemoans globalization’s flaws: “We in the West have let loose globalization with no sense of where it will or should go and in rejecting it more and more countries are rejecting us.” He complains about porous borders that give free passage to both trade and diseases like Ebola, but his oversimplified characterization does not come close to describing the regulations and self-discipline required on the part of governments, institutions and individuals to harness the power of globalization. – YaleGlobal