Will Globalisation Allow Democratisation?

‘To date, globalisation remains a flawed game whose rules have been fixed by rich nations.’ That condemnation of the emerging ‘neo-liberal’ new world order was written by the New York Times editorial board. It appeared on 10 September 2003 in a statement condemning the United States, Europe and Japan for taking advantage of a position of unequal bargaining power at the World Trade Organisation and for constructing a world system in which poor nations of the South are forced to reduce their trade barriers, while rich nations of the North protect and heavily subsidise the production of agricultural goods at home. As the Times editorial notes, the current global trade system ‘has devastating effects on poorer nations, many of which could improve living standards if only given chance to export farm products at fair market prices’. The editorial does not hesitate to draw moral conclusions about how the global system has devolved and fallen short of its own moral ideals. The Times points a finger at the contradictions and hypocrisy of current American and European trade policies. There are calls for remedies, for truth in advertising (identifying the real effects of farm subsidies and how current trade policies cause poverty in the ‘third’ world) and for greater fairness, reciprocity and equality of voice in the process of negotiating the international rules of the ‘free trade’ game.