...interpretation of the series of changes that have affected the world during the last quarter century. In essence that version of events seems to suggest that these changes are the result of the application of the fruits of science. According to this interpretation these developments in technology when applied as they have been result in changes that redound to the benefit of all mankind. The countries of the former Third World and regions like the Caribbean are better off since they are now part of an integrated world economy and generally are more likely to benefit from greater foreign investment and increased trade and market size [Elaborate: argument of the Liberals and political right. Defend capitalism and the efficacy of the market in creating wealth and reducing poverty].
[Other side of the argument] Gray in a very recent work argues that the attempt to establish a global economy in its present form is doomed to failure. He suggests that the neo-liberal idea of a market unencumbered by social forces is an aberration. All economies he tells us are governed by the imperative of satisfying human want. Where this principle is abandoned as under laissez faire capitalism, then the human misery that results usually expresses itself in social and political instability. In order to prevent this the state usually intervenes to manage the economy. This has meant the interference of govt. in the form of subsidies, tariffs and controls of one sort or another in order to ensure that certain basic needs of the populace are met. Gray argues that the idea of a global free market is a utopia. It represents an attempt to impose free markets on the socially embedded economies of the countries of the world. The various components of globalization, he tells us, contradict each other. As an example of this he points to the contradiction between democracy and the idea of the...
