Soapbox:

Globalisation's two-way street

By El-Sayed Eleiwa

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Remember when the Soviet Union collapsed and Fukuyama and Huntington told us that history had ended and capitalism was the final choice of mankind? Few buy it now. Globalisation has changed the world beyond recognition, but it didn't bring the salvation we've been hoping for. What it brought was US domination, frustrated aspirations, and a grinding economic crisis.

For a while, the opening of global markets to investment, technology and information seemed to be the answer. But the cost was terrible. Across the world, national industries were replaced by multinational enterprises, national culture was smudged with American influences, and discontent spread like wildfire. Meanwhile, the Americans thought they could tell us all what to do, and invade other nations at will. The result was catastrophic all round.

As the anti-globalisation movement picked up speed, it became clear that globalisation, if allowed to continue, must be a two-way street. In other words, it is fine to admire the entrepreneurial skills of the Americans and even their way of life. But there is a lot that other nations have that is worth preserving also. The current economic crisis is a wake up call, for excessive consumerism and indebtedness, the hallmarks of US culture, can be self-destructive too.

With Obama in power, a shift is taking place. Countries that have been ostracised -- Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and North Korea -- are given a second chance. A new hope for settling the Middle East conflict is dawning. And America is trying to rein in the worst excesses of capitalism. No longer is the world divided into good and evil with nothing between. No longer is diplomacy, or soft power, ditched in favour of invasions, or hard power. No longer are the Americans refusing to listen to their partners and see them as equal. It is a new world, and long overdue.

This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of political science at Helwan University.