Ch. 2: How to Judge Globalism Sen (Excerpted from Sen, “How to Judge Globalism,” The American Prospect, 2002)

*GL is NOT new, NOT Western, and NOT a curse

GL is a matter of perspective The Western narrative of GL begins with the Renaissance, moves to the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution BUT, if we go back to 1000 AD we find that GL moved from East to West

Global Interdependence and Movements It’s the idea that GL=Westernization that incites parochial tendencies i.e., resistance to all Western imports, even "positive" ones, e.g., shared values around freedom, knowledge, science, etc.

We need to move beyond the East-West dichotomy

Non-Western societies should NOT reject GL in principal We can’t reverse economic predicament of poor by withholding advantages of technology, international trade, social and economic merits of living in an open society The issue of distribution of economic gains/losses is a separate critical issue

Global Justice and the Bargaining Problem Issue is not whether a particular arrangement is better for *everyone* than no cooperation at all One cannot rebut distributional concerns by saying *everyone* is better off Fair distribution of benefits is important

So-called “anti-GL” protests have become the most globalized events in the contemporary world Protesters focus on the distribution of globalization’s benefits

Altering Global Arrangements The issue is not whether to promote market economy Market economy is compatible with different ownership patterns, resource availabilities, social opportunities, and rules & regulations It's hard to achieve economic prosperity w/o benefits of exchange and specialization BUT, markets don’t self-regulate!

Success depends on enabling conditions Enabling conditions depend on economic, social, political institutions at national & global level And there’s an urgent need for reforming institutional arrangements

Institutions and Inequality Market outcomes are massively influenced by public policies in education, epidemiology, land reform, microcredit, legal protections, etc.