The dark side of globalisation

with DR RICHARD BERNAL

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

THERE is an ongoing debate on the impact and implications of globalisation. One school of thought argues that globalisation on the whole has been beneficial to mankind and is irreversible. Some of the better known books in this category are Martin Wolf, Why globalisation Works (2007) and Jagdish Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalisation (2004).

Critics of globalisation have pointed out that many of its effects are harmful, especially to the poor, and that whatever positive results exist are in any case very unequally distributed between the rich and developed and the poor and underdeveloped.

Those expressing concerns about the professed benefits of globalisation/global capitalism include William Greider, One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism (1998).

A balanced approach to globalisation recognises that it provides opportunities and entails risks. The capacity to deal with both aspects differs widely and hence globalisation produces both winners and losers. The discussion of the consequences of globalisation is made complex by its all-encompassing and multi-dimensional nature and hence assessments have to assay a wide range of topics.

Professors Jorge Hiene and Ramesh Thakur in their book, The Dark Side of Globalisation, examine aspects of the process which are not included in conventional surveys or are treated as isolated phenomena.

The authors start from the premise that globalisation unleashes negative forces which create what they define as "uncivil society". The term encompasses "a wide range of disruptive and threatening elements" which have become "transnationalised" and are beyond the effective control of the nation state. For the Caribbean the key challenge is how do small states mediate the encounter with these disruptive forces.

Among the overarching issues is the exploration by William Coleman of globalisation, imperialism and violence starting from the acute observation that the intensification of globalisation in the last two decades of the 20th century has been accompanied by appalling violence of the intra-state kind rather than between states.

This precedes Part II which collects several essays dealing with terrorism, arms trafficking and organised transnational crime, locating these discussions to local circumstances in West Africa, Southern Africa, India, South East Asia and Kashmir.

M J Akbar probes the question of security challenges in a unipolar world with a focus on the Middle East which he characterises as the "most combustible" region.

The third and final section consists of essays reflecting on some of the responses to the challenges of the dark side of globalisation. Naturally these responses include regional integration but the too brief paper by Langenhove and Scaramagli applies regionalism only to the question of whether it constitutes an effective response to cross-border criminality. The examples chosen do not include the Caribbean Community (Caricom), although its operation relates to the drivers of regionalism which they identify, namely economic, institution building and security. Whether this is an oversight or justifiable omission may tell the region about the international regard for and recognition of Caricom.

Heine and Thakur close the volume of essays with a short conclusion which seeks less to synthesise the diversity of issues and perspectives but emphasises the complex dynamic dialectic which characterises the issues arising from the dark side of globalisation.

This book is certain to be thought-provoking, and while not intended to provide definitive answers will leave the reader enlightened on a variety of issues not discussed often enough. Digesting the menu of issues is made easier because the material is presented in short essays which can be read individually and in the sequence preferred by the reader.

Every chapter will invite the reader to intellectual speculation based on the platform of ideas and information provided.

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The dark side of globalisation