Is the Globalization tide turning? Essay

Marber attempts to analyze the origin and goals of the G8 countries and postulates that G8 needs to reinvent and reorient itself to address changing dynamics at the global level. The Cold War played a crucial role in the formation of Group of Eight (G8) as a forum to address and promote multilateralism among the nations that endorsed market-centric approach to economics. Politically and economically G8 sought to offer a viable alternative to centrally planned socialist economics. G8 nations placed emphasis on stability from a cross-regional perspective and hence promoted economic interdependence among the member nations. To a large extent G8 has been successful and its success encouraged the hitherto closed economies to open and emulate the economic model of G8 nations. The fact that Soviet Union broke up into 15 different countries and they all shifted their economic approach to market-centric one is an ample evidence of G8 and its policies. Despite the success it has enjoyed since formed G8 is in urgent need of reorienting itself. Some of the â€Å"developing nations† have indeed developed to a large extent and G8 needs to acknowledge this fundamental fact of economic evolution. With globalization as its central tenet G8 needs a fresh approach for ensuring multilateralism in the future. This becomes doubly difficult as the world is witnessing lack of global consensus on trade, security and law. Due to the various financial crises and terrorism at the global level there is now the looming threat of reversion i. e. protectionist trade policies and capital controls. In order not to lose its relevance in the increasingly globalized world, G8 needs to address the paradox of countries cooperating with each other economically but moving apart politically. The former centrally planned economies in Latin America, Asia and Africa have abandoned their old economic policies and have embraced free market ideology. Marber stresses the fact that the some of the emerging economies actually fund the deficits of G8 governments and postulates the concept of E8 i. e. Emerging 8 nations that will include China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico. Marber further differentiates G8 from E8 based on parameters like median age and purchasing power parity and concludes that E8 will soon outperform the G8 nations. To accommodate this G8 needs to shed its old image of dominant hegemony and needs to take a fresh look at the emerging economies. The emerging economies do not represent the entire global citizenry by any means, but they do exhibit tendencies to join global commonwealth as responsible nations. Though the corporations in the G8 nations have acknowledged the relevance of E8, it has been observed the G8 nations are bit slow to integrate themselves into the changing economic world order. Marber provides numerous examples of the way corporations in G8 countries engage and compete in the emerging markets. The paper then differentiates all the emerging economies in detail individually and states the advantages these economies currently enjoy. China for example has renegotiated a new bilateral meeting with US to address trade issues and currently seems to financing major portion of US debt. India on the other hand seems to enjoy the benefits of world’s largest English speaking democracy and is deemed as a super power in the making in high-tech fields. Turkey is situated in a strategically important location and trace an historical relationship with Europe and its secular model seems to be proving a huge benefit. Mexico as largest trading partner of the United States is integrating itself faster into the US and Canadian economies within the framework of NAFTA. In contrast another Latin American giant Brazil has developed its capabilities in fields ranging from agriculture to aviation. South Africa possesses a capability to enmesh disparate political groups and ideologies in the African continent. According to Marber these are the salient facts that needs to be taken into consideration if G8 is to refashion itself and still play a meaningful role in the future. In this regard Marber mentions eight policy areas for G8, where G8 nations need to place a greater emphasis. He further explains these policy areas like trade, security etc in detail and is of the opinion that these need to be taken up seriously by the G8 nations and regain their pioneering efforts in globalization. The health of globalized system of interconnected and interdependent economies requires a vast diversification beyond the existing G8 nations. Marber claims that E8 nations should not just be free riders but should become active participants and hence should share responsibility in maintaining globalized world order. G8 nations on their part should cease to be patronizing and instead should seek to build partnerships with the emerging nations actively. According to Marber there is an acute need of expanded and enabled group deriving largely from the existing G8 nations and believes inclusion of E8 nations will be the right step in that direction. He concludes by saying this is the logical step forward that would preemptively exclude looming threat protectionist globalization. The central tenet of the paper lies in its emphasis on E8 nations as a counter threat to emerging anti-multilateralism. Answers to the Questions: 1. How many other were involved in writing this article? Answer: Three. Peter Marber was main author but he has been assisted by two of his colleagues (Christian Deseglise and Avi Sharon). 2. What are the 5 factors that contributed to a visible crack in the G8? Answer: The five factors that contributed to a visible crack are: 1) collapse of WTOs Doha talks on trade 2) lack of global consensus on environment laid out in Kyoto protocol 3) undermining of International Criminal Court 4) protectionist government policies related to selective cross-border acquisitions and 5) lack of consensus on the invasion of Iraq. 3. What are the 8 policy areas that will bring the G8/E8 together? Answer: The policy areas that will bring G8/E8 together are: a) Trade b) Security c) Energy d) Immigration e) Environment f) Health & Drugs g) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) h) Poverty Works Cited Marber, Peter. From the G8 to the â€Å"E8† Is the Globalization Tide Turning? World Policy Journal 23. 3 (2006): 42-51.