These Are the 7 Challenges of Globalization

Some argue that globalization is grinding to a screeching halt. In a world of increased conflict and turmoil, where major powers jockey for influence, financial sanctions have become a go-to weapon and even the Internet threatens to splinter, then surely the cross-border flow of money, ideas, information, goods and services will begin to slow—or even reverse.

Others argue that globalization is really just Americanization by other means. After all, the United States still dominates the international financial system. Information hurtling through cyberspace promotes the democratization of information, because it creates demand for still more information and forces autocrats to care more about public opinion. As developing countries develop, aren’t they becoming more like America?

Not anymore. If globalization has promoted the American dream over the past quarter century, it’s only because the United States has been a dominant power. There is nothing inherently American or Western about globalization itself. And times are changing.

Globalization isn’t going away—in fact, it will continue apace. But the U.S.-led world order is deteriorating. An inconsistent, war-weary United States is no longer willing and able to provide global leadership—and no other country is stepping up to take its place: the rest of the West is distracted with problems at home, and allies are looking to hedge their bets.

Meanwhile, developing countries have become powerful enough to start dismantling the U.S.-led international system; China, Russia, Turkey, and a host of other emerging markets have more ability to ‘veto’ global initiatives that they disagree with. But they are not yet synchronized or influential enough—and their values and interests are too divergent—to offer adequate alternatives of their own. The result is a regionalized world where Americanization and globalization are no longer one and the same.

This unprecedented combination will generate a lot of new risks and opportunities. I recently helped the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Geoeconomics with a report that outlines the seven major challenges to globalization in an interconnected, de-Americanized world.

My piece in the report focuses on one particular challenge: weaker underdogs. With a widening leadership vacuum at the very top, we are seeing regional heavyweights with more room to operate. Think: Russia’s intrusions in its backyard, Germany’s firm control over Eurozone policy, or China’s rapid rise in the Asia-Pacific. These major countries are consolidating power, often at the expense of the smaller countries around them. This ‘hollowing of the peripherals’ will accelerate in a world that is becoming rudderless at the global level.

This is just one of the seven trends we’ve highlighted. Read the full “Seven Challenges to Globalization” report here: http://www.weforum.org/reports/geo-economics-seven-challenges-globalization