Learn to live with changing globalization:

The new face of globalization

Speech by Former Indian Finance and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, MP at the 13th Dudley Senanayake Memorial Oration - ‘Globalization and us’ organized by the Dudley Senanayake Foundation at BCIS auditorium Colombo on July 22.

Part I appeared yesterday.  

In the political field, globalization means democracy, rule of law, good governance and elimination of corruption, proper treatment of minorities and of the different religious and linguistic groups, both at the national and international levels. The international community can convince member countries to adopt the above values only when it incorporates them in its own institutions and organizations at the international level. The global architecture put in place after the Second World War by the victorious powers is woefully inadequate when judged against the above benchmark.

Non-democratic regimes

There is no reason why the Security Council of the UN should consist of only five permanent members, four of whom represent the victors of the Second World War. There is no reason why a country of over a billion people like India should be out of this Council. Similarly, there is no reason why the whole continent of South America and Africa should go unrepresented compared to Europe which has three out of the five members. The power to veto is an entirely undemocratic and, therefore, dispensable arrangement.

The same applies to the Breton Woods institutions also. The reform of the UN system and of the IMF and the World Bank has been long overdue and can be postponed no longer.

Democracy is a delicate plant that needs the right kind of soil, the right climate and a great deal of care to grow and flourish. Democracy, if imposed from the outside is a negation of democracy. It must grow indigenously. It is for experts to determine why democracy was a failure to begin with, in most newly independent countries. It is for experts to study why democracy has succeeded in India and Sri Lanka while it has often failed in other parts of South Asia.

I am often dismayed by three lines of thinking in the West regarding democracy. First, that while democracy is good for the Western countries, it may not be good for the others; second, the desire to impose democracy on a country from outside; and third, different yardsticks adopted by the West in dealing with non-democratic regimes.

I remember a meeting some years ago with a group of leading British parliamentarians who insisted that democracy was not Pakistan’s cup of tea because it had bred unprecedented corruption. They were aghast when I asked them whether they would be prepared to sacrifice democracy in the UK for the sake of probity in public life.

Similarly, the US policy to impose democracy through regime change in other countries is a contradiction in terms and doomed to failure. The record of the West in dealing with non-democratic and authoritarian regimes is even worse. You cannot embrace the Army Generals in one country and at the same time condemn them in another. The West will have to shed this hypocrisy before it is taken seriously by the others on the issue of democracy, the rule of law, good governance and elimination of corruption.

Its sincerity is also on test as far as the democratization of the existing global architecture is concerned. Leading democracies among the developing countries must take the initiative in this matter.

Migration of people has added to the existing problem of managing diversity in many societies. Democracies naturally have a better record of management in this area than non-democratic regimes. In India, we take legitimate pride in the fact that we have managed our mult-faceted diversity based on race, religion, caste, language, economic status and regions much better than most other countries.

Cultural globalization

Cultural globalization represents the softer form of globalization which is much in evidence today like the globalization of food, fashions, films and entertainment, literature, knowledge and information. English has clearly emerged as the language of globalization, though in terms of numbers a large number of people also speak French, Spanish, Chinese and Hindustani.

Chinese and Indian cuisine can today be found in the remotest parts of the world. Young women who read news even in Indian languages on Indian TV channels are often clad in Western clothes. Indian fashion designers are finding markets abroad. If strawberry and cream is served as dessert in India, litchis and mangoes with ice-cream are not uncommon in the West. Indian films are doing brisk business in most parts of the world.

During a visit to Turkey, when I was calling on the President of the country, I was surprised when he named a number of Indian film actors whose films he had watched avidly. I was delighted when during my visit to Afghanistan, I met an official who I had been warned was particularly ferocious, who told me that he had 6000 cassettes of Hindi film music.

Indian writers in English language including my daughter Sharmila are read with interest across the English speaking world. McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken have set up shop in our countries, but the local eatery still survives. But the danger here arises out of the desire of some to impose uniformity at the cost of diversity, their feeling of superiority and their dismissal of the rest as trash, their lack of understanding of history and their formula that one cap fits all. We have to watch out against this attitude.

This is what I mean when I talk of the changing face of globalization.

From being Western, globalization is becoming truly global. In every field new trends, new attitudes, new norms are replacing the old. The 21st Century is predicted to be the Century of Asia. The unprecedented rise of India and China lends weight to this prediction. Will globalization take a distinctly Asian hue in the 21st century? I shall not be surprised if it does.

The changing face of globalization is illustrated by the story which was narrated to me by Horst Kohler, who was until recently President Germany’s Kohler was sitting next to an Indian businessman at a dinner. The Indian businessman, keen to please the President, told him that he preferred to buy only German companies as German products were always the best buy. Jamshedji Tata set up the first modern Indian steel factory a hundred years ago. A hundred years later, his grandson has bought Corus which used to be British Steel earlier.

Tatas are also in the automobile business. Now, the same grandson has acquired the Jaguar-Land Rover group in the UK. Indian companies are buying companies all over the world. The Indian prowess in the field of information technology is well-known. Outsourcing is an election issue in every US Presidential Election.

It is a losing battle. You cannot turn the tide of globalization, you cannot say that globalization is good as long as it suits you and bad it when it does not.

Sri Lanka has long been a proponent of globalization, political, economic and cultural. Sri Lanka’s democracy has withstood the test of time, with the political will of the people reiterated time and again in a forceful manner that has had governments changing peacefully. The past 30 years have been difficult as you were mired in a protracted armed conflict that eroded many positive initiatives. With the end of the conflict and with a strong mandate, the country can now look forward to reprising its development path and becoming more active in the global arena.

Sri Lanka’s challenges

Sri Lanka are an island nation. Like other island nations, globalization is extremely important for you. It is difficult to sustain and grow your economy without the availability of world markets. The terms of global trade must work in your favour. Economic globalization is an imperative for economies which have limited resources and do not enjoy the luxury of a widely diversified production base. It is incumbent on the rest of the world to offer a conducive environment for trade so that island nations too can prosper.

South Asia is at the cusp of transformation and globalization is an integral component of our development plans. India, a big market at the North of Sri Lanka, is emerging as a vibrant engine of growth for the region. We would like our neighbouring countries to be part of this exciting growth story.

India and Sri Lanka have been pioneers in establishing the free trade agreement, the first for both countries. It has produced excellent results, and has deepened our economic engagement. It is time for us to proceed to the next stage of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. India does not look for reciprocity in the CEPA with Sri Lanka, as it is keen that Sri Lanka benefit disproportionately from the deal.

In cultural terms, Sri Lanka has much to offer the world. Its rich literature, diverse dance forms and strong Buddhist traditions along with English language place it in a unique bucket of its own. India has been partnering Sri Lanka in English language training for which the second phase was inaugurated by President Rajapaksa last week. We need to develop English our Way, is your very apt slogan for the project.

The world has changed further and more dramatically in the past three years. The Mexican financial crisis, the Russian economic crisis, the East Asian melt down, the Brazilian and Argentinean foreign currency problems were dismissed as the result of the inefficiency of these countries. The World came to their help but more with the aim of bailing out their own financiers than the teeming millions of these countries.

But, three years ago the citadel of capitalism, the US, collapsed under the weight of its own follies. The tsunami of this crisis has affected every country in a big or small way and has raised some fundamental questions which remain unanswered. One thing is clear. The intellectual arrogance of the West has evaporated. They are not infallible any more.

The question today is not whether the decline of Europe and America and the rise of India, China, Brazil and Russia will alter the global landscape. Of course, it will. The issue is whether these developments will lead to a new kind of globalization which will put an end to the exploitation of the weak by the strong.

Globalism will have to be tempered with sanity and spiritualism. Mahatma Gandhi said that the world has enough for our needs but not enough for our greed. In Eastern cultures, we regard the Earth as Mother. We worship the sun and the moon, the changing seasons, stones and trees, rivers and mountains. We have a place in our hearts for other creatures. We do so not because we are uncivilized or pagan. We do so because we realize the value of this approach in maintaining the balance between man and nature.

Ill-effects

The ill-effects of globalization have often led to greater nationalism and regionalism. Some people are even predicting a return to the decentralized but sustainable style of economic activity as a panacea for the future.

The new globalization therefore must be inclusive. Any process of globalization which leads to further discrimination, accentuates the divides or increases mental and psychological distances will not be acceptable. Globalization must be calibrated, compassionate and coordinated to make it inclusive and equitable. The gap between the centre and the periphery must be reduced. We cannot live comfortably with a situation where there is apoplexy at the centre and anemia at the extremities.

The poor and the disadvantaged in most developing countries are still disconnected and do not enjoy the benefits of globalization and liberalization. If the billions of people across the world, who live in poverty continue to be excluded from these benefits, neither globalization nor liberalization can ever become acceptable.

The future of globalization is uncertain and tense. The relationship between India and China will have great impact on the future of globalization as globalization becomes less Western and more Asian. Other factors which will influence the process of globalization are the growing gap between the haves and have-nots, the backsliding of fragile democracies, the containment of financial crises, the growing power of the non-state actors, political Islam, the management of the environmental and ethical issues including new technologies and competition for resources.

Some of the major ethical dilemmas will be the right to privacy, cloning, human rights, conflict resolution, the right to migration and the spread of democracy.

Perhaps, we need a new global Gandhi to find the right answers to these questions rescue mankind and save this planet.