The Great Disconnect

The golden age of globalization is over. For at least four decades, efficiency has been favored over resilience, with great benefits but also many excesses and distortions. The redistributive effects of wealth and the consequences of greatly reduced national sovereignty have been underestimated. Has globalization really come to an end, or is it just changing its skin? What is certain is that strong deglobalization trends are underway, driven by economic and social as well as political and geopolitical motivations. Manufacturing reshoring, trade protectionism and financial markets regulations are on the rise. A new primacy of politics over economics is driving many countries to prioritize national security over economic efficiency. Clusters of countries are forming that compete for resources and growth but clash over values and worldviews. “Pieces of the world” that do not talk to each other and between which commercial, financial, technological, and cultural exchanges are gradually diminishing. The transformations that are taking place will lead to disruptive changes: for countries and those who govern them, for businesses, and for all of us.