Your Humble Blogger is always thrilled to find Smart People who agree with him (of course, Your Humble Blogger is also thrilled to find Smart People who disagree with him, but are willing to tell him why). One of my readers was kind enough to point my attention to George Soros, well-known Smart Person, who writes about America's Global Role in this month's American Prospect. I was thinking of simply appending this to the ongoing (hooray!) discussion of globalization here, but really it deserves its own entry, if only so I can quote at some length:
"[W]e have global markets but we do not have global political institutions." One of the the areas of agreement between Your Humble Blogger and Smart Person Soros is our skepticism about sovereignty and the nation-state. On the other hand, if the nation-state is not always the best place for sovereignty to reside, pushing some power down and some up (which is what I would like) requires a structure for the up power to go to. In other words, global political institutions. "Therefore we need to strengthen our international political institutions to match the globalization of our markets."
"The two visions—American supremacy and America as the leader of a global open society—are not that far apart. In fact, they are so close to each other that I am afraid that when the pursuit of American supremacy fails—as it is bound to fail—the vision of a global open society will also be abandoned. That is why it is so important to distinguish between them."
This is a fantastic point, and I would expand it further and say that much of the opposition to globalization is opposition to American power, and that given that American power is a rather inescapable fact, it would be better to find a way to use the power wisely, lightly even, rather than simply railing against it. Not that simply crying "No!" is valueless; if no-one else is doing it, at least it's a start, and a necessary one at that. But ultimately, there has to be another route to follow, another prize to eye, another vision to share. That's what I look for, and I do think that Soros is looking in the same place I am.
Of course, I haven't read his book either; one of my problems as a seeker is that I spend too much time playing Settlers on-line to actually read half the stuff I am interested in.
Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.
Cool thoughts. I have no coherent responses at the moment, but great food for thought.
One vaguely related item: how do the anti-globalization folks feel about such global political institutions as the International Criminal Court, an institution that’s seen as being in opposition to American supremacy and interests? (Oy—I suspect my phrasing here sounds antagonistic, but it’s not meant that way at all. Honest curiosity; I have mixed feelings about globalization, and want to know more.)
Well, I’m a globalist, so, of course, I’m in favor of the ICC, even with all its flaws.
Surprise.
Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.