Moving Beyond Empire

I am not one to decry what most people call globalization – the increase of trade, international investment, and even outsourcing – as a malignant development. The record is pretty clear that the countries that have participated most in international trade and opened themselves up to foreign investment have tended to prosper most – though not without temporarily troubling displacements – and that more people around the world have been lifted out of grinding poverty than in world history, largely because of increased trade.

The present crisis offers opportunities as well as dangers – opportunities to develop a more peaceful and prosperous world with fewer people living hand-to-mouth. But the temptation is likely to be for various countries, possibly including the United States, to crawl into a nationalist shell, perhaps increasing trade barriers and seeking the chimera of national self-sufficiency. To avoid such a fate, it is important to understand how the world has changed, even since the advent of the ill-fated Bush II administration, and to construct intelligent post-imperial policies.

Read More