Globalization in its liberal economic version, which we have experienced in the last thirty-plus years, has also been the globalization of capitalism and free markets. Even the Chinese Communist Party adopted the capitalist model of the economy, and from this unorthodox marriage came the greatest economic miracle in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No country until then had achieved such rapid growth that allowed hundreds of millions of Chinese to escape absolute poverty in just a few decades, while the economic dwarf called China was transformed into a technological giant. The regime has certainly remained authoritarian, and the leadership of the Communist Party of China is careful to remind, sometimes violently, the permissible limits to anyone who dares to challenge its rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An era that is now changing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Free markets, American omnipotence and China’s integration into the global economic system were the three main features of an era that is now changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The state returns with a more interventionist role in the economy, because it is called upon to act as a protector in the great crises that follow one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it also functions as a provider of critical public goods, such as a healthy environment at a time when climate change is becoming an existential threat, social cohesion when inequalities are growing dangerously, public health also threatened by pandemics, as well as the safety of citizens as geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting causing new rifts in the international system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is China a threat?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The United States continues to be the strongest power in the world, but no longer the only superpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does the rising Chinese superpower pose a threat to its neighbors, Taiwan in particular, and the balance of power in the wider region?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what American politicians believe and loudly proclaim \u2013 among the very few issues that unite them today in an otherwise highly polarized domestic political environment and a deeply divided society. They are publicly surprised because they expected, they say, that market liberalization would also bring democracy to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now they talk about the global confrontation between democracies and authoritarian regimes, although political reality hardly fits into such molds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dimensions of economic warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The competition between the United States and China is taking on the dimensions of an economic war that can develop into a dangerous vicious circle, dangerous not only for the functioning of world markets but for peace in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the good old days, the priests of globalization monotonously repeated that the abolition of economic borders would bring not only material prosperity but also peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But now, political and strategic priorities are increasingly taking the upper hand over the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the Europeans in particular have every reason to worry because their own economies are much more open to international trade than the American one. Things are already very difficult after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis that followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n War has thus returned to Europe and prosperity is immediately threatened. The last thing Europe needs would be an economic war against China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n American-led West<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Russian invasion of Ukraine united the American-led West. And European strategic autonomy was cast aside, at least for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, however, the increasing autonomy of other regions of the world and especially of the rising powers that refuse to join one or the other camp was highlighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India along with other erstwhile Third World countries fall into this category. Even more striking is the behavior of Saudi Arabia, which often does not answer calls from Washington. But our neighbor Turkey also sees itself in the role of a regional power that, although a member of NATO, wants to play its own game. Erdogan’s risky stunts, but will he be the exception in a revisionist Turkey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these countries are seeking space and a role in an increasingly multipolar and anarchic system in which the world’s gatekeeper, the United States, has lost at least some of its willingness and ability to play that role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Americans have not often done a good job with the power they have, but many argue that anarchy is usually worse than an imperfect order. Of course, it all depends on whether you are the perpetrator or the victim, the winner or the loser in any particular case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are probably living at the end of an era that is accompanied by major restructuring, enormous uncertainty and multiple risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Climate change is becoming more and more intense. Dealing with it requires, among other things, international cooperation, which, however, is very difficult to achieve with today’s data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the economy, the central banks and the relevant ministries are forced to navigate dangerously between the Scylla of inflation and the Charybdis of recession. Zero interest rates are a thing of the past and the cost of borrowing is rising. As for the stock markets, they have not yet begun to recover from the big shock of last year, which resulted in the loss of a large part of the intangible wealth that had been invested in them. Another bubble burst?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, in many democracies, the political leaderships are also weak and below the circumstances. But don’t look for the solution between dictators and demagogues, because you will find something even worse. Hard times!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Globalization in its liberal economic version, which we have experienced in the last thirty-plus years, has also been the globalization of capitalism and free…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[859,5],"tags":[2679,161,1259,215,70],"class_list":["post-12582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-economic","tag-capitalism","tag-china","tag-liberalism","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12584,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12582\/revisions\/12584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}