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Globalization in
reverse?
“How to Deal with the Globalization Backlash?” was
the question for leading thinkers and academics at
the UBS Center Forum for Economic Dialogue.
Resurgent nationalism, rejection of free trade, opposi-
tion to immigration, growing global inequality, and a
retreat from multilateralism: These are the defining
issues of our time that fuel the globalization backlash,
which reached seismic proportions in 2016. Does it
herald the end of the economic and political consensus
that has underpinned the international order since the
end of the Cold War?
This year’s keynote speaker, Leszek Balcerowicz, expe-
rienced the rebirth of globalization in the early 1990s
at the sharp end. As Poland’s deputy prime minister
and finance minister following the collapse of commu-
nism, he pushed through a painful program of finan-
cial and economic reforms that helped transform
Poland’s command economy into one of Eastern
Europe’s most dynamic bright spots.
Despite this, Poland like many countries, is experienc-
ing a sharp reaction against globalization’s founda-
tions: open borders, global trade and finance, cultural
exchange, and economic integration. Following a
robust defense of globalization, Balcerowicz lamented
the tendency to focus on the losers rather than the far
greater numbers of winners from globalization. The
critics of globalization can be divided into two main
camps: the utopian, anti-capitalists on the Left and the
nationalist, anti-immigration, economic isolationists
“It’s much too early to talk of
deglobalization as we expe-
rienced between 1918–39,”
on the Right. Both resort to crude simplification
backed by emotionally charged rhetoric. Instead of
pandering to these crude and simplistic remedies,
governments, institutions, and political parties should
look at constructive ways to help their citizens adapt
to globalization and technological change, while
challenging the emotive propaganda of the anti-global-
ization movement.
Through a glass, darkly
In the first panel session on
f
ree trade, Professor of
Economic History Kevin O’Rourke looked back at
some of the past economic crises and backlashes as a
guide for understanding today’s malaise.
he argued. O’Rourke sees globalization as a series of
waves followed by phases of retrenchment. We are
probably going through such a phase now. But he
claims, this has less to do with reversing globalization
than gearing up for the next wave, says O’Rourke. In
the afternoon session “How to do business amidst the
globalization backlash,” Karl Gernandt, executive
chairman of global logistics giant Kühne + Nagel
(K+N), questioned whether there was actual evidence
of a reduction in global trade. Trade volumes remain
buoyant. Most of the declines detected by K+N since
the crisis reflect shifts in trade patterns rather than an
overall drop in trade, he argued.
The Full Monty
Laura Alfaro, Professor of Business Administration at
Harvard Business School, reminded the audience how
State Secretary Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch (SECO) and
Prof. Kevin O’Rourke (University of Oxford).
Leszek Balcerowicz (Warsaw School of Economics) presented
his assessment of the globalization process since the 1990s.
Dialogue and Events
Forum