Globalization and the Responsible Political Decision Making

Ten years ago, in 1998, book shops in New York reported an interesting phenomenon: The list of bestsellers included an unexpected entry - the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, a booklet published originally in London in 1848, exactly a century and a half earlier. Why did this happen? The answer is really quite simple. Late 1990s were the time of unrest generated by the debate on globalization and, therefore, readers were increasingly looking for explanations, new and old. The dramatic nature of that narrative corresponds well to the contemporary excitement with globalization. The realization that the drama of globalization is not nearly as new as it was felt in the 1990s was an important element of the contemporary discourse. Obviously, the quoted Marxist text is not the only text of the nineteenth century which reminds us that globalization started much earlier and received one of its earlier surges with the industrial revolution. The difference between the globalization of today and its earlier periods is that the processes of today affect a much larger number of people around the world and that effects are felt immediately. Therefore, the nineteenth century definition, while still relevant, has to be amended. The debate on the nature of globalization continues. There are globalization optimists like Thomas Friedman who believe that the world is flat and that modern technology is creating a situation in which the playing field is being levelled. This, according to optimists, provides comparable opportunities to everyone in the world and a great future to all.