| Brown: the case for globalisation |
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| Written by Tom Clougherty | |
| Thursday, 18 January 2007 | |
There is an excellent article in The Times today about Gordon Brown's keynote speech in India. It reports that "Mr Brown made a forceful case for the deeply unfashionable cause of globalisation" and describes the notion that the world’s poor are victims of economic globalisation as "utterly ridiculous." The following passage is especially good:He was right to be unambiguous in his defence of its vast capacity to alleviate human poverty throughout the planet. Critics of freer trade like to portray themselves as the protectors of those who have to live on the smallest incomes. Yet if they could abandon their instinctive hostility to capitalism and were to look at the transformation that is taking place in Asia, they might realise that for all their assumed sophistication they harbour ignorant prejudices on a scale not dissimilar to those fools currently featured on Celebrity Big Brother. The lessons of China and India, as Mr Brown asserts, is that economic competition and access to global markets are the source of salvation for those previously trapped in poverty. Arguments about whether the gap between rich and poor in either of these countries is increasing or not are inconsequential compared with the huge advance in the absolute standards of living of the poor. The paper also rightly points out that the Chancellor might like to "ponder that India's breakthrough came after it abandoned a long period of excessive state direction. It is the liberated private sector that has allowed her to boom today, not a central government initiative." While he waxes lyrical about India's economic success, Britain is becoming over-taxed, over-regulated and increasingly uncompetitive. Something to think about perhaps... Mr Brown also called for urgent and far-reaching reform of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G7 (see today's Guardian): The post-1945 system of international institutions, built for a world of sheltered economies and just 50 states, is not yet broken but - for a world of 200 states and an open globalisation - urgently in need of modernisation and reform. This is hard to disagree with, and seems to represent the consensus here in Westminster. David Cameron, the Leader of the Opposition, has already called for a permanent Indian seat on the UN Security Council - a call which Mr Brown echoed, noting that India is now the third biggest provider of UN peacekeeping forces. Germany, Japan, Brazil and South Africa should also join the club. I am, however, a little sceptical about Mr Brown's suggestion that "there is now a case for bringing together some of the work of the IMF and the World Bank and even some of the work of the UN... the World Bank should focus for the first time on energy security and environmental care." The key to successful reform of international institutions is not creating bigger organisations with more activities - in fact, it is quite the opposite. Yes: we need institutions that reflect the true balance of power in the modern, globalised world. But we also need institutions that are more streamlined and more focused on their core functions. Do less, but do it better. That should be the mantra for reform. |
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