Ch. 2: How to Judge
Globalism
Sen (Excerpted from Sen,
“How to Judge Globalism,”
The American Prospect, 2002)
1
*GL is NOT new, NOT
Western, and NOT a curse
2
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
3
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.
4
We need to move beyond
the
East-West dichotomy
5
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
6
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
7
So-called “anti-GL” protests have
become the most globalized events
in the contemporary world

Protesters focus on the distribution
of globalization’s benefits
8
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!
9
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
10
Institutions and Inequality
• Market outcomes are massively
influenced by public policies in
education, epidemiology, land
reform, microcredit, legal
protections, etc.
11