tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/globalisation-30443/articlesGlobalisation – The Conversation2024-02-26T17:19:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2237582024-02-26T17:19:23Z2024-02-26T17:19:23ZRed Sea crisis: with fears of a UK tea shortage, worries are brewing over other crucial commodities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577598/original/file-20240223-22-io12k4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3408%2C2149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-big-cup-tea-brewing-using-1854472879">Stockah/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>British people are known around the world for their love of tea. This is borne out by the statistics: a staggering <a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/market-research-reports/tea-processing-industry/">50 billion cups of tea</a> are consumed on average in the UK every year.</p>
<p>Most of this tea is made using black tea leaves, most of which are not produced in the UK. Thus, shipping disruption caused by attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea, through which an estimated <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240119-red-sea-crisis-how-global-shipping-is-being-rerouted-out-of-danger">12% of global trade</a> passes each year, has <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/black-tea-shortage-2024-britain-supply-issues-w2rzxt9tv">sparked fears</a> of a national tea shortage.</p>
<p>The attacks, which are being carried out by the Yemeni Houthi rebel militant group in support of Hamas, have forced shipping companies to redirect around the southern tip of Africa – a journey that can take up to three weeks longer.</p>
<p>Two of the UK’s biggest suppliers of tea, Tetley and Yorkshire Tea, have announced that they are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68284391">monitoring</a> their supply chains closely for any potential disruptions. And customers have <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/tea-drinkers-warned-over-supply-issues-facing-supermarkets-b1138702.html">reported</a> reduced stocks of tea in supermarkets across the UK.</p>
<p>It is no surprise that tea is vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The <a href="https://www.steepedcontent.com/blogs/blog/tea-supply-chain">tea supply chain</a> is a complex global network, involving producers, processors, auctions and wholesalers, packers, distributors and retailers.</p>
<p>The UK imports primarily unprocessed tea from countries in <a href="https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/tea-trouble-red-sea-attacks-impede-tetley-supplies-amid-shipping-disruptions.html">south Asia and east Africa</a>. This tea is then packaged and blended <a href="https://www.cbi.eu/sites/default/files/market-information/cbi_2016_-_tea_-_pfs_uk_-_final_draft_-_adjusted.pdf">within the UK</a> for both domestic and export markets. Only around 10% of the packaged tea sold in the UK is supplied by companies from overseas.</p>
<p>But tea is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britains-tea-supply-facing-disruption-red-sea-crisis-2024-02-13/">one of many items</a> to be caught up in the supply chain crisis. The disruption is affecting supplies across various other sectors too, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-red-sea-crisis-could-mean-for-the-electric-vehicle-industry-and-the-planet-221074">electric cars</a> and liquified natural gas – and it could prove costly.</p>
<p>The UK is particularly reliant on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-carbon-dioxide-shortage-still-hasnt-been-resolved-here-are-some-long-term-answers-176910">natural gas</a> for the production of carbon dioxide, a gas that is essential for everything from NHS operations to keeping food fresh while it is transported. </p>
<h2>Not so unpredictable</h2>
<p>The disruption caused by the Red Sea attacks is considered by some to have been an entirely unpredictable occurrence of what is known as a <a href="https://www.logupdateafrica.com/shipping/another-black-swan-event-red-sea-blues-for-supply-chains-1350712">“black swan”</a> event. But this crisis is the latest in a long line of shocks to global supply networks that have occurred over the past decade. </p>
<p>Whether it was the 2011 tsunami off the coast of Japan, Brexit, COVID, US trade sanctions on China, or the war in Ukraine, the fact of the matter is that supply chains are now experiencing disruption more often than they used to. </p>
<p>There are two reasons for this. First, organisations have become increasingly reliant on distant countries for the manufacturing and supply of routine and critical components. </p>
<p>Sometimes this decision is made because of the natural advantage these countries hold. For example, China currently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html">accounts for 93%</a> of the global production of so-called rare earth elements, which are used in the components of many of the devices we use every day. But most of the time these decisions are driven by an organisation’s pursuit of lowering its cost of operation. </p>
<p>Second, a focus on just-in-time production, where businesses focus on producing precisely the amount they need and delivering it as close as possible to the time their customers need it, has reduced the buffer against supply chain shocks.</p>
<h2>Building resilient supply networks</h2>
<p>Organisations need to diversify their supply chains by developing alternate sources of supply. Many businesses already spread their source of materials over multiple suppliers across different regions to ensure quality, the continuity of supply, and to minimise costs.</p>
<p>For less complex components, such as packaging (cardboard, plastic bags and bubble wrap) or raw materials (metals and plastic), multiple sourcing is often practised through competitive tendering and reverse auctions; where the sellers bid for the prices at which they are willing to sell their goods and services. </p>
<p>However, for more complex products, the development of alternate sources of supply needs to be done strategically. One of the most important steps to improve supply chain resilience is to reduce reliance on global suppliers through processes called “onshoring”, “nearshoring” and “friendshoring”. </p>
<p>Onshoring is where components are sourced from suppliers located within domestic national borders. Nearshoring is a similar strategy where a company moves its supply to neighbouring countries. And <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/02/friendshoring-global-trade-buzzwords/">friendshoring</a> is where organisations transfer their production away from geopolitical rivals to friendlier countries. </p>
<p>The US, for example, has traditionally relied on Taiwan and South Korea for its <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/12/us-semiconductor-policy-looks-to-cut-out-china-secure-supply-chain.html">supply of semiconductors</a> (computer chips). But geopolitical tensions with China, coupled with a global shortage of semiconductors, have forced the US to look for suppliers in countries closer to home, while also exploring the potential of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/28/phoenix-microchip-plant-biden-union-tsmc">moving chip manufacturing</a> to the US.</p>
<p>Geographical and climate factors restrict the onshoring of tea cultivation to the UK. But these supply strategies could help businesses manage the risk of supply chain disruption to other, potentially more critical, commodities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large glass building under construction in a desert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577617/original/file-20240223-22-675qmd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taiwanese microchip manufacturer TSMC are building a plant in Phoenix, Arizona.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/phoenix-arizona-march-08-2023-ongoing-2272666939">Around the World Photos/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making supply chains more agile</h2>
<p>The frequency with which global supply chains are now becoming disrupted means that organisations must rethink their supply chain strategies, evolving from being efficient and lean to flexible and agile. </p>
<p>An agile supply chain strategy will require businesses to maintain adequate inventory levels to guard against a situation where stock runs out. These inventory levels must be informed by real-time – or as close to real-time as possible – data on customer demand.</p>
<p>The disruption to the UK’s tea supply highlights the vulnerability of supplies of everyday essentials to unexpected events. But businesses can make sure they are better prepared for the occurrence of an unexpected event by enhancing the resilience of their supply chain through diversification and agility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jas Kalra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tea supplies are under threat as a shipping crisis continues in the Red Sea.Jas Kalra, Associate Professor of Operations & Project Management, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2184762023-12-05T16:56:44Z2023-12-05T16:56:44ZWhy the UK economy is in such a state – and even the Labour party doesn’t seem to get how bad things are<p>The Labour leader Keir Starmer has warned that if his party wins the next UK general election, he will <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67608097">not be able</a> to “turn on the spending taps”. Speaking at a thinktank <a href="https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/ending-stagnation/">event focused</a> on the stagnation of the UK economy, he said the country was “in a hole” after 13 years of Conservative rule. </p>
<p>So if Labour were to win the next election, what would would its economic vision look like? And is it prepared to deal with the stagnation that has turned off those metaphorical taps?</p>
<p>For although the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has previously talked about what she calls <a href="https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/rachel-reeves-speech-at-labour-conference/">“securonomics”</a> – a promise to build an economy from the bottom up to provide security for working people – what that means in practise is not entirely clear.</p>
<p>And the planned policies – revitalising the <a href="https://labourlist.org/2023/10/labour-national-policy-forum-final-document-summary-policy-manifesto-party-conference/">NHS</a>, boosting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/08/labour-keir-starmer-new-homes-target-green-belt">house building</a>, providing <a href="https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/labour-sets-out-plan-to-rewire-britain-and-build-the-clean-energy-grid-the-country-needs/">clean energy</a> across the UK – would all require significant public expenditure.</p>
<p>Reeves has also insisted that she would be fiscally prudent – that money would only be borrowed to invest, and public debt would fall. But that prudence will also have to tackle the time bomb that has now been placed under public finances: <a href="https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2023/">£27 billion</a> of tax cuts announced by the chancellor in the 2023 <a href="https://theconversation.com/autumn-statement-experts-react-to-national-insurance-and-business-tax-cuts-194286">autumn statement</a>, and effectively secured by reducing real expenditure on public services. </p>
<p>So where will the resources come from to fulfil Labour’s ambition? Apparently from growth rising again after 13 terrible years. </p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3f4f0e67-2825-492a-897d-0691fbb24a27">many agree</a> that lack of growth is indeed at the core of the UK’s problems. But UK stagnation is not simply the result of successive Tory governments. </p>
<p>A similar malaise is afflicting some of the biggest economies in the world, and its roots can be found in the impact of two trends that have hindered growth for years. </p>
<p>First is <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/failure-of-hyper-globalization-creates-need-for-new-economic-narrative-by-dani-rodrik-2023-03">globalisation</a> – the aggressive spreading of production and trade across borders, controlled by huge multinationals. </p>
<p>And then there is “financialisation”, which <a href="https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_525.pdf">may be defined</a> as the way financial markets, institutions and elites gain greater influence over economic policy. This has involved the aggressive buying and selling of increasingly complex and multilayered financial assets across the world. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0955757022000010944">failure of globalisation</a> and <a href="https://www.tni.org/en/publication/financialisation-a-primer#:%7E:text=Research%20has%20shown%20that%20financialisation%20has%20increased%20inequality%2C,and%20led%20to%20a%20decline%20in%20democratic%20accountability.">financialisation</a> became clear in the financial crisis that stretched from 2007 to 2009. And since then, most wealthy countries have been unable to find a new path of sustained growth. </p>
<h2>If it is broke, fix it</h2>
<p>Our new book, <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/the-state-of-capitalism-a-letter-from-the-editor">The State of Capitalism</a> examines this seemingly impossible situation – where the old ways can no longer continue but a new way has not yet emerged. </p>
<p>We found that globalisation has undermined the forces of domestic investment in wealthy countries, while creating volatile supply chains across borders, the great risks of which became clear <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8776498/">during the pandemic</a>. Financialisation meanwhile, has promoted profit making through transactions, encouraging speculation and undermining investment in productivity. These conditions are far from conducive to sustained growth.</p>
<p>This can be seen <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LORSGPORUSQ659S">in the US</a>, in <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NAEXKP01JPQ657S">Japan</a> and in the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NAEXKP01EUQ657S">EU</a> (especially <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2023/10/10/world-economic-outlook-october-2023">Germany</a>, which is currently in recession). </p>
<p>In the UK, productivity growth has <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ULQELP01GBQ657S">been appalling</a>, especially over the last 15 years, as the <a href="https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/uncategorized/executive-summary/">Resolution Foundation thinktank’s report</a> noted. Poor productivity is at the heart of stagnating growth. The vaunted new technologies are simply not raising productivity <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PRS84006091">rapidly enough</a>. </p>
<p>The Resolution Foundation also noted that low productivity is associated with persistent <a href="https://economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/uncategorized/executive-summary/">weakness of private investment</a>. </p>
<p>The point here is that weak investment is closely related to the financialisation of big businesses and the globalisation of productive capacity. Large enterprises with a global footprint hold huge amounts of liquid funds that are used in financial transactions, including the payment of dividends, instead of being productively invested. Productivity growth suffers.</p>
<p>And research suggests that when productivity growth is weak, profitability <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01603477.2019.1616561">also suffers</a> and relies on keeping wages low. </p>
<p>Confronting the challenge of UK stagnation, therefore, calls for real boldness. It requires moving away from globalisation and financialisation and a change to the structure of the economy to focus, above all, on manufacturing. And here Britain could build on some of the strengths and competitive advantages it holds in sectors like pharmaceuticals, clean energy and new technology. </p>
<p>Our book concludes that the answer to stagnation in wealthy countries, including Britain, is not more growth of the service sectors – especially finance – which <a href="https://one.oecd.org/document/ECO/WKP(2018)79/En/pdf">have a poor record</a> in raising productivity. Rather, Britain needs a wave of public investment in its productive sector and a sustained effort to reduce inequality. In simple terms, there must be a decisive shift away from capital and towards labour. </p>
<p>Decrying the economic failures of the Tories is easy. But confronting the economic disaster currently facing the UK requires a complete reset. “Securonomics” offers little evidence that the Labour Party is aware of the magnitude of the challenge it hopes to face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Costas Lapavitsas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fixing stagnation requires bold political thinking.Costas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2128152023-10-03T19:35:52Z2023-10-03T19:35:52ZBook review: African thinkers analyse some of the big issues of our time - race, belonging and identity<p>The subjects of race, identity and belonging are often fraught with contention and uneasiness. Who are you? Who belongs? Who is native, or indigenous to a place? These perennial questions arise around the world.</p>
<p>They are the subject of the book <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/9783031387968">The Paradox(es) of Diasporic Identity, Race and Belonging</a>, edited by <a href="https://scholar.google.co.jp/citations?user=EEyB8sMAAAAJ&hl=en">Benjamin Maiangwa</a>, a political scientist at Lakehead University in Canada. </p>
<p>The contributors are academics, mostly early career scholars and doctoral candidates in African and North American universities. They study genocide, peace and conflict, gender, decolonial practices, identity, race and war. </p>
<p>Unavoidably, questions that defy convenient answers pervade the reflections and analyses in the book. </p>
<p>In my own work as <a href="https://www.mtroyal.ca/ProgramsCourses/FacultiesSchoolsCentres/Arts/Departments/EnglishLanguagesCultures/FacultyStaff/Ademola-Adesola.htm">a scholar</a> of African literature with an interest in the subjects of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659.2017.1344526">conflict</a>, childhood and identity, I underscore the relevance of these questions. </p>
<p>The Paradox(es) of Diasporic Identity, Race and Belonging assembles voices that urge us to think more critically about how the politics of race and identity hampers healthy interrelations among people.</p>
<p>In a world increasingly divided by supremacist ideologies, the insights in this collection of essays are highly relevant. </p>
<h2>What the book’s about</h2>
<p>The contributors to the book use a variety of forms of writing. Some of the essays are autobiograpical; some are literary criticism; others scholarly analyses. They re-examine familiar but controversial concepts. </p>
<p>Among them are ideas about naming, indigeneity, land, citizenship, identitarian disparity, diasporic (un)being, immigration and migration, and the political economy of (un)belonging. These are topical ideas that predominate in discourses on nationalism, ethnicity and nation states. Their engagement in this collection helps us to further appreciate how unfixed and complex they are; they are never amenable to any easy analysis. </p>
<p>The volume is structured into three parts: Identity, Coloniality, and Home; Diaspora, Race, and Immigration; and Belonging: Cross-Cutting Issues. Each section has an introduction, a conversation among four of the contributors, an epilogue and an afterword.</p>
<p>This layout attests to the careful editing of the whole. There is an organic flow of engagement with ideas from one chapter to the next. Yet no chapter’s unique argument is overshadowed by another’s. </p>
<h2>Critical probing and analysis</h2>
<p>The chapters inspired by personal experiences do as much critical probing as those framed by hardcore analyses. </p>
<p>The contributions don’t sound jointly rehearsed, but represent a form of dialogue. Readers will find a kaleidoscope of interrelated but distinct compelling arguments on matters of race, identity and belonging, and the violent and paradoxical patterns they take in the <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520204355/on-the-postcolony">postcolony</a>. This is a notion that is concerned with a particular historical course involving societies that have latterly experienced colonialism, as theorised by the Cameroonian historian and political theorist <a href="https://wiser.wits.ac.za/people/achille-mbembe">Achille Mbembe</a>. </p>
<p>As is customary in volumes of this kind, the opening chapter comes from the editor. He welcomes readers with questions that invite them to ruminate on place and identity construction and the way it determines relations. </p>
<p>Such questions, which reverberate throughout the volume, are “What is home? What creates the feeling of belonging or (dis)connection to a place/space or other people? Is home a place, a feeling, other people, or an idea? Is it a destination or a spiritual entity or experience? Who am I in this political space?” </p>
<p>For the reader who has taken their identity for granted thus far, such questions can be jarring and unnerving. They can also provoke deep thoughts. </p>
<h2>The construction of race</h2>
<p>The chapter underlines the fact that identity is constructed and is fluid. It stresses racial signifiers – indigenous, native, white, black – as markers which mask, confuse, distress and misrepresent. </p>
<p>In some people they produce false triumphalism and superiority and in others they activate demeaning nervousness. As the chapter maintains, cultural essentialism, the product of these markers, distorts cultural facts. It also abjures a cultivation of interest in history and critical mindedness. And it is this matter of invented racial/cultural identity that the conversation in chapter 12 of the book foregrounds. </p>
<p>In that conversation, such constructs as “Black”, “African”, “White” and “immigrant” ricochet from one discussant to another. The conversation makes it clear that there is a kind of under-appreciation of the violence that minoritised people within national boundaries and diasporic spaces experience when designated in certain senses. </p>
<h2>Interconnected humanity</h2>
<p>With its other chapters, the volume broadens the frontiers of research in the intersecting areas of race, ethnicity, peace, home(lessness), gender and other forms of identity and diasporic formations. It calls for a spiritual reawakening of our identities. </p>
<p>This volume is a force in the promotion and celebration of the dignity of human differences. One can hear again and again the refrain in Maya Angelou’s timeless poem, Human Family:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://allpoetry.com/Human-Family">We are more alike, my friends,/than we are unalike</a>. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The humanistic ring in this book results from a conviction that the human or spiritual identity trumps all other ones, including institutionalised discriminatory ways of being and exclusionary policies and regulations, all of which enable the questioning of other people’s humanity. </p>
<p>The contributors’ insistence is on interconnected human relations and, to borrow from the Canadian novelist and essayist, Dionne Brand, on life – </p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Map-Door-No-Return-Belonging/dp/0385258925">It is life you must insist on</a>. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Scholars, students and general readers interested in migration studies, peace and conflict studies, political science, literary studies, African studies, international relations, gender studies, sociology and history will find this work an enlightening resource.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212815/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ademola Adesola does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The book makes invaluable contributions to subjects of race, identity and belonging and how they shape human interrelations.Ademola Adesola, Assistant Professor, Mount Royal UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102702023-09-18T20:01:00Z2023-09-18T20:01:00ZGlobal corporate power is ‘out of control’, but reports of democracy’s death are greatly exaggerated<p>The past 40 years have seen massive expansion of the dominance of large corporations in the global economy. A wave of neoliberal reforms spread internationally from the 1980s with the promise that deregulated markets would unleash the animal spirits of private enterprise, bringing a new era of growth and prosperity. </p>
<p>Corporations were touted as the heroes of the neoliberal dream, casting off the shackles of staid state bureaucracy as they leapt forward into a future where there was no alternative to unfettered global capitalism. </p>
<p>So what happened?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy – Claire Provost and Matt Kennard (Bloomsbury)</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>The dream of popular capitalism</h2>
<p>In the late 1970s, <a href="https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103336">Margaret Thatcher</a> championed “popular capitalism” as a means to deliver “renewed material prosperity, […] individual freedom, human dignity and to a more just, more honest society”. </p>
<p>Ronald Reagan promised that cutting the taxes of corporations and the wealthy would create a new era of economic prosperity for all. This was dubbed “<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/01/23/woke-capitalism-new-trickle-down-economics">trickle-down economics</a>”.</p>
<p>As leaders in the 1980s of the United Kingdom and United States, respectively, Thatcher and Reagan were harbingers of major changes to the global economic order. By 1989, what came to be known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/Washington-consensus">Washington Consensus</a> was firmly established as the dominant policy position of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This prompted a wave of structural reforms to economies across the developing world, lest they lose access to IMF dollars. </p>
<p>The “consensus”, for rich and poor nations alike, was that privatisation of state enterprises, liberalisation of markets, corporate deregulation, reduced taxation and the general withdrawal of government from economic affairs were the only ways to secure global economic growth.</p>
<h2>A dream that did not come true</h2>
<p>Journalists Claire Provost and Matt Kennard’s <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/silent-coup-9781350269989/">Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy</a> charts what has become of the corporate-led global prosperity that was promised in the 1980s. </p>
<p>Their assessment is grim and hopeless. Instead of shared progress arriving on the wings of an ever-empowered capitalism, what we got was a massive grab for power and money by the corporations that were supposed to save the world. </p>
<p>The book asserts that corporations have staged nothing less than a political <em>coup d’état</em>: a deliberate and successful attempt to usurp the power of nation states and establish themselves as rulers of the world. By its own account, Silent Coup provides a </p>
<blockquote>
<p>guide to the rise of supranational corporate empires that now dictate how resources are allocated, how territories are governed, how justice is defined and who’s safe. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Provost and Kennard chart four ways this corporate political revolution has been achieved. These involve the international legal system, the international aid and development system, the corporate acquisition of territory, and the growth of private corporate armies. It all amounts to an undermining of democracy by ever-growing corporate empires. </p>
<p>The first part of Silent Coup, “Corporate Justice”, examines the international treaties that have been established across the world by countries wishing to increase corporate foreign investment. These treaties give corporations legal authority to sue nation states in <a href="https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/09/17/development-vs-profit-exploring-the-controversial-realm-of-investor-state-dispute-settlement/">international tribunals if their investments are jeopardised</a>. </p>
<p>The book illustrates the power shift this entails with precisely documented examples from around the globe, from El Salvador to South Africa to Germany.
In El Salvador, for example, the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim <a href="https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/investment-dispute-settlement/cases/356/pac-rim-v-el-salvador">sued the government</a> – unsuccessfully, in the end – for blocking it from opening a particular gold mine. Pacific Rim claimed the government’s actions, while legal, caused it to have lost “future profits”. </p>
<p>Provost and Kennard portray the system as being “out of control”. Investor trade arbitrations have turned the tables of power. The popular sovereignty of democratic nations, they argue, has been ceded to the private economic interest of the world’s corporations. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548689/original/file-20230917-17-pm6pat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Silent Coup then delves into the domination of international aid by large corporations. By way of example, Provost and Kennard report on the G8 initiative called <a href="https://www.feedthefuture.gov/the-new-alliance-for-food-security-and-nutrition/">New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition</a>, designed to reduce poverty and grow agriculture in Africa. In practice, this was implemented through changes to tax and agriculture laws designed to boost the profits of private agribusiness.</p>
<p>Government aid, in today’s world, is no longer positioned as reparation or generosity; wealthy countries now want a return on their investment. Projects that create trade and wealth opportunities for corporations are prioritised. This means, in effect, that aid is increasingly used to benefit big business as much as it ostensibly claims to be funding economic development. </p>
<p>A section on “Corporate Utopias” takes aim at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/special-economic-zone">Special Economic Zones</a> established within countries to give corporations preferential tax rates and more relaxed regulations. Some of these zones are even exempt from labour laws and protections. </p>
<p>There are 3,500 such zones across the globe, from Myanmar and Shenzhen to Ireland and the UK, employing 66 million generally low-paid workers. Unfettered, union-free, government-backed worker exploitation, <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/features/special-economic-zones-corporate-utopia-capitalism.html">the authors argue</a>, runs rampant amid this epidemic of “sweatshop globalisation”.</p>
<p>The final section of Silent Coup, “Corporate Armies”, reports how corporations are engaging in military and police-like activities to protect their premises, transportation and logistics in places such as occupied Palestine, Columbia and Honduras. </p>
<p>One example discussed is fruit company Chiquita, which the US Department of Justice found <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/March/07_nsd_161.html">guilty of funding and arming known terrorists</a> to protect its presence in the banana-growing regions of Colombia. Elsewhere, corporations are making profits from running <a href="https://www.asyluminsight.com/private-contractors">immigration detention centres</a> and <a href="https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/private-prisons-in-the-united-states/">prisons</a>. </p>
<p>In today’s world, corporations control armed forces at a level hitherto the exclusive realm of nation-states. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/greed-is-amoral-how-wall-street-supermen-cashed-in-on-pandemic-misery-and-chaos-207311">'Greed is amoral': how Wall Street supermen cashed in on pandemic misery and chaos</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The horror of the new world order</h2>
<p>Silent Coup paints a horrifying picture of a new world order in which power has been ripped from the hands of sovereign governments and placed in the hands of private corporations. The investigative journalism that underpins the book is harrowing reading, even for people well versed in the exploitative machinations of corporations and the deleterious effect they can have on people, politics and planet. </p>
<p>Amid the intrigue and suspense that characterises the writing of this book, there is an unnerving and unspoken undercurrent. The book quivers with a feeling that there is no hope. The air of hopelessness starts with the subtitle: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy. It is over, the authors aver; democracy has been defeated. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548706/original/file-20230918-17-rfrffi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Matt Kennard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/author/matt-kennard/">Bloomsbury Publishing</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Democracy is under attack, to be sure. But reports of its death are greatly exaggerated, if not irresponsible. That is not to say democracy is not wounded – Silent Coup provides meticulously researched and detailed case studies of just how out of control the political clout of corporations has become. But does that mean we give up hope in the promise of democracy under the guise of a dramatic clickbait headline? </p>
<p>This reviewer says no.</p>
<p>The drama of Silent Coup is, in many parts, unwarranted and misleading. This is not helped by the use of a first-person narrative that, throughout the book, characterises the authors as the protagonists. They are the ones who can reveal the secrets of the corporate revolution that has happened behind all of our backs. They are the fearless and intrepid journalists who have ventured into the big bad corporate world, returning with tales of their amazing adventures.</p>
<p>The rhetorical flair distracts from the real issues. What Provost and Kennard report is important, and reflects some of the most pressing political challenges of our time. But while their discoveries may have been revelations to them, these matters were hardly secrets and their journalistic exploits are not what is important. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548707/original/file-20230918-19-xm5lek.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Claire Provost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/author/claire-provost/">Bloomsbury Publishing</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The problem is not that nobody knows about the growing global corporatocracy; it is that nobody seems to have the will or ability to stop it. </p>
<p>It is only in the book’s epilogue that a glimmer of hope shines through. Provost and Kennard gesture to a few examples of people resisting corporate power in the name of democracy, but little detail is provided. Perhaps this will be a sequel.</p>
<p>Democracy still means something. It means a promise of equality, liberty and solidarity among citizens. It means retaining the primacy of popular sovereignty – the rule of the people – instead of political power residing with a minority class of plutocrats. It means believing in the possibility of shared prosperity.</p>
<p>It is only with hope that we can retain the political will to continue the democratic promise, and to retain and strengthen the practices, institutions and ways of life that enable that promise. Political change does not come from resigning ourselves to a fate beyond our control, but from daring to dream of a better future. This is where the book fails.</p>
<p>It is not too late. Don’t give up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl Rhodes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Multinational corporations can dictate how resources are allocated, territories are governed, and justice is defined.Carl Rhodes, Professor of Organization Studies, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132812023-09-15T15:04:24Z2023-09-15T15:04:24ZBidenomics: why it’s more likely to win the 2024 election than many people think<p>Joe Biden has come out fighting against perceptions that he is handling the US economy badly. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-delivers-remarks-on-the-economy-and-potential-government-shutdown">During an address</a> in Maryland, the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cc294503-6c8f-479a-a998-1282994554e1">president contrasted</a> Bidenomics with Trumpian “MAGAnomics” that would involve tax-cutting and spending reductions. He decried trickle-down policies that had, “shipped jobs overseas, hollowed out communities and produced soaring deficits”. </p>
<p>Changing voters’ minds about the economy is one of Biden’s biggest challenges ahead of the 2024 election. Recent <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/04/biden-2024-election-poll-trump-economy-old-age-concerns-inflation.html">polling data</a> suggested 63% of Americans are negative on the US economy, while 45% said their financial situation had deteriorated in the last two years. </p>
<p>Voters are also downbeat about Biden. In a recent <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-sound-alarm-about-joe-bidens-abysmal-poll-numbers-1825846">CNN poll</a>, almost 75% of respondents were “seriously” concerned about his mental and physical competence. Even 60% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning respondents were “seriously” concerned he would lose in 2024. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eA21P0nWu6I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This appears a great opportunity for Donald Trump. He’s the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/us/politics/2024-poll-nyt-siena-trump-republicans.html">clear favourite</a> amongst Republican voters for their nomination, assuming <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-indictments-details-guide-charges-trial-dates-people-case/">recent indictments</a> don’t thwart his ambitions. </p>
<p>Trump won in 2016 by capitalising on Americans’ economic discontent. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/29/biden-is-turning-away-from-free-trade-and-thats-a-great-thing">Globalisation is estimated</a> to have seen 5.5 million well paid, unionised US manufacturing jobs lost between 2000 and 2017. The “small-government” approach since the days of Ronald Reagan <a href="https://econpapers.repec.org/article/bpjevoice/v_3a16_3ay_3a2019_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a21_3an_3a1.htm">also exacerbated inequality</a>, with only the top 20% of earners seeing their GDP share rise from 1980-2016. </p>
<p>Trump duly promised to retreat from globalisation and prioritise domestic growth and job creation. “Make America Great Again” resonated with many voters, especially in swing manufacturing states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Winning these “rust-belt” states was crucial to Trump’s success. </p>
<p>These will again be key battlegrounds in 2024, but the economic situation is somewhat different now. There may be more cause for Democrat optimism than the latest polls suggest. </p>
<h2>What is Bidenomics?</h2>
<p>When Biden won in 2020, <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2021/4/29/ro_khanna_joe_biden_100_days">he too</a> recognised that the neoliberal version of US capitalism was failing ordinary Americans. His answer, repeated in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-biden-delivers-remarks-on-the-economy-and-potential-government-shutdown">his Maryland speech</a>, is to grow the economy “from the middle out and the bottom up”. To this end, Bidenomics is centred on three key pillars: smarter public investment, growing the middle class and promoting competition. </p>
<p>On investment, Biden’s approach fundamentally challenges the argument by the right that increasing public investment “crowds out” more efficient private investment. Bidenomics argues that targeted public investment will unlock private investment, delivering well paid jobs and growth. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-inflation-reduction-act-heres-whats-in-it">2022 Inflation Reduction Act</a> (IRA) has helped raise US capital expenditure nearer its <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/united-states/investment--nominal-gdp">long-term trend</a>, although there’s a way to go. But what is really distinctive is the green-economy focus. </p>
<p><strong>US public investment as a % of GDP</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing US public investment as a % of GDP" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548267/original/file-20230914-15-jab4s8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/united-states/investment--nominal-gdp">CEIC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/whats-inflation-reduction-act">Almost 80%</a> of the US$485 billion (£390 billion) in IRA spending is on energy security and climate change investment, through tax credits, subsidies and incentives. Much of the <a href="https://think.ing.com/opinions/one-year-later-inflation-reduction-act-is-closer-to-reshaping-the-us-clean-energy-industry/">investments announced</a> into manufacturing electric cars, batteries and solar panels, and mining vital ingredients like cobalt and lithium, are in the <a href="https://x.com/faisalislam/status/1651118395847331840?s=20">rust belt</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Biden’s <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-chips-and-science-act-heres-whats-in-it">2022 Chips Act</a> is a US$280 billion investment to bolster US independence in semiconductors. With both acts backing domestic investment, the strategy concedes Trump’s point that globalisation failed blue-collar America. This is underpinned by other protectionist measures such as Biden’s <a href="https://www.mcguirewoods.com/client-resources/Alerts/2022/3/biden-administration-amends-buy-american-rules">“buy American” policy</a>. </p>
<p>A whole series of measures aim to boost the middle classes. These include increasing workers’ ability to collectively bargain, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/30/biden-labor-department-over-time-00113457">and widening</a> the maximum earning threshold for workers entitled to overtime pay from US$35,000 to US$55,000 – taking in 3.6 million more workers. As for promoting competition, measures include banning employers from using <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/01/ftc-proposes-rule-ban-noncompete-clauses-which-hurt-workers-harm-competition">non-compete clauses</a> in employment contacts.</p>
<h2>The results so far</h2>
<p>It’s too early to judge these policies, but the US economy has been relatively impressive under Biden. Over 13 million new jobs have been created, though much of this can be perhaps attributed to workers resuming employment after COVID. Unemployment is below 4%, a <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE">50-year low</a>, though similar to what Trump achieved pre-COVID. </p>
<p><strong>Total US jobs</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph of the total number of non-farm jobs in the US" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548271/original/file-20230914-15-b7q2cq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This shows the total number of non-farm jobs in the US.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS">St Louis Federal Reserve</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2023/07/10/world-economic-outlook-update-july-2023">IMF predicts</a> the US economy will grow 1.8% in 2023, the strongest among the G7. The US also has the group’s <a href="https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/consumer-prices-oecd-updated-3-august-2023.htm#:%7E:text=Year%2Don%2Dyear%20inflation%20in%20the%20G7%20fell%20to%203.9,inflation%20saw%20a%20marked%20decrease.">lowest inflation rate</a>, although <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f86b0071-17f6-467e-80fe-615608ff94d6">it rose</a> in August. On the closely watched core-inflation metric, which excludes food and energy, the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/consumer-prices-oecd-updated-5-september-2023.htm">US is mid-table</a>, though <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f86b0071-17f6-467e-80fe-615608ff94d6">improving</a>. </p>
<p>The federal deficit, the annual difference between income and outgoings, is heading in the wrong direction. It deteriorated under Trump, ballooned during COVID then partially bounced back, but is forecast to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/08/why-americas-deficit-doubled">widen in 2023</a> to 5.9% of GDP or circa US$2 trillion. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing the US federal deficit over time" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=265&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548280/original/file-20230914-27-thfqmt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSGDA188S">St Louis Federal Reserve</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Ratings agency Fitch <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/fitch-downgrades-united-states-long-term-ratings-to-aa-from-aaa-outlook-stable-01-08-2023">recently downgraded</a> the US credit rating from AAA to AA+. Fitch says the US public finances will worsen over the next three years because GDP will deteriorate and spending rise, and that the endless political battles over the US debt ceiling have eroded confidence.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the other major ratings agencies <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/rating">have not made</a> similar downgrades, and the widening deficit is mostly not because of Bidenomics. <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/08/why-americas-deficit-doubled">Tax receipts</a> are substantially down because the markets have been less favourable to investors, while surging interest rates have increased US debt interest payments. </p>
<p>Overall, the economics signs are arguably moving in the right direction. An <a href="https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/the-critics-of-bidenomics-are-being-proven-wrong#:%7E:text=Now%2C%20reality%20has%20taken%20these,record%20employment%20amidst%20plummeting%20inflation.">article</a> co-written by business professor Jeffrey Sonnefeld from Yale University in the US, advisor to Democrat and Republican administrations, compares Bidenomics to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/New-Deal">New Deal</a>. It argues:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The US economy is now pulling off what all the experts said was impossible: strong growth and record employment amidst plummeting inflation … the fruits of economic prosperity are inclusive and broad-based, amidst a renaissance in American manufacturing, investment and productivity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Democrats know they must make this case to win in 2024. To compound Biden’s Maryland speech, there are <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cc294503-6c8f-479a-a998-1282994554e1">plans for</a> an advertising blitz in key states. Of course, the party may yet back another candidate, if they are thought more likely to win – currently Biden and Trump are <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/">neck and neck</a>. </p>
<p>One consolation to the Democrats is that voters’ gloom is partly related to interest rates, <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/interest-rate#:%7E:text=In%20the%20long%2Dterm%2C%20the,according%20to%20our%20econometric%20models.">which are probably</a> close to peaking. Anyway, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx">recent polling</a> suggesting voters view the economy as the paramount issue is arguably good news: it means that Republican efforts to shift the narrative towards the culture wars are less likely to win an election.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Conor O'Kane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent opinion polls show American are very gloomy on both the economy and Biden.Conor O'Kane, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2091412023-07-11T16:16:27Z2023-07-11T16:16:27ZEthiopia wants to join the BRICS group of nations: an expert unpacks the pros and cons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536810/original/file-20230711-23-y6x8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2018. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Wong / AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, the BRICS grouping – Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – had lost salience because three of its members were in severe economic difficulty. Brazil, Russia and South Africa are primarily natural resource exporters and were badly affected by the global <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/what-triggered-oil-price-plunge-2014-2016-and-why-it-failed-deliver-economic-impetus-eight-charts">commodity price bust</a> of 2014.</p>
<p>Russia’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/2022-Russian-invasion-of-Ukraine">invasion</a> of Ukraine has now given BRICS a new geopolitical salience as the members and their respective allies respond to events. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-role-as-host-of-the-brics-summit-is-fraught-with-dangers-a-guide-to-who-is-in-the-group-and-why-it-exists-206898">South Africa's role as host of the BRICS summit is fraught with dangers. A guide to who is in the group, and why it exists</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the emerging world order there is also now <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/world/brics-gets-influx-of-interest-as-saudi-arabia-iran-and-more-knock-on-its-door-will-members-open-up-11682501595762.html">increased demand</a> to join BRICS, in part as a countervailing power to “the west”. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-says-has-chinas-support-join-brics-group-2022-07-07/">Argentina</a>, <a href="https://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?articleid=393341622&Country=China&topic=Politics&subtopic=Forecast&subsubtopic=International+relations&oid=863331669&flid=93319592">Saudi Arabia</a> and lately, <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/ethiopia-applies-to-join-brics-bloc-of-emerging-economies-4288736">Ethiopia</a>, have expressed strong interest in becoming members.</p>
<p>I have researched the political economy of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=P%C3%A1draig+Carmody+%2B+RESEARCH&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart">globalisation in Africa</a> over the last 30 years. I have specifically examined the scramble for Africa by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629807000406">the US and China</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/ejdr.2012.8">South Africa’s involvement in BRICS</a>, the nature of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/33547/chapter-abstract/287921649?redirectedFrom=fulltext">BRICS engagement with Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057070.2017.1337359">market and resource access by BRICS in southern Africa</a>.
It would be a major coup for Ethiopia if it were able to join the grouping as it would raise its global profile, allow it to interact and coordinate more closely with some of the major world powers and move the discourse beyond the recent civil war there, potentially enabling it to attract more investment.</p>
<h2>Opportunities</h2>
<p>Ethiopia has <a href="https://addisstandard.com/news-ethiopia-submits-application-to-join-brics-bloc-of-developing-nations/">cited</a> its key role in founding the African Union and other institutions, along with its national interest as grounds for seeking BRICS membership. In my opinion, there are five key reasons why Ethiopia would want to join the grouping. </p>
<p><strong>Deteriorating relations with western powers</strong>: Ethiopia has historically depended on substantial western support through <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-suspends-food-aid-ethiopia-because-diversions-2023-06-08/">aid</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13523260.2022.2091580">security</a> cooperation. But its relations with the west <a href="https://ethiopianbusinessreview.net/foreign-aid-holds-itself-back/">have soured</a> as a result of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ethiopia-tigray-war-parties-agree-pause-expert-insights-into-two-years-of-devastating-conflict-193636">civil war</a>, in which human rights violations were <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/09/un-experts-warn-potential-further-atrocities-amid-resumption-conflict">reported</a>. Joining BRICS would make the country more geostrategically important, perhaps encouraging western powers to downplay human rights concerns, <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/58653/drc-how-the-cia-got-under-patrice-lumumbas-skin/">as they have in the past</a> in the interests of “realpolitik”.</p>
<p><strong>Alternative growth frontier</strong>: Ethiopia remains one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, at <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en/countries/east-africa/ethiopia/ethiopia-economic-outlook">over 5% a year</a>. It has developed strong <a href="https://www.africa-newsroom.com/press/ethiopian-prime-minister-abiy-ahmed-ali-meets-with-qin-gang?lang=en">economic ties</a> with China in recent decades. Similarly, <a href="https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/en_33771">Indian companies</a> have been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10455752.2012.759247/">acquiring land</a> in Ethiopia. China and India are now Africa’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1234977/main-trade-partners-of-africa/">two largest</a> single trading partners (not counting the European Union as a single entity). Joining BRICS would signal openness and lead to greater cooperation through platforms like the business council and forum. It could also add impetus to the “<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-real-is-the-ethiopia_b_7985180">resurgent Ethiopia</a>” narrative, an image the authorities are keen to promote to attract investments. </p>
<p><strong>Negotiations over finance</strong>: The Ethiopian government is <a href="https://newsaf.cgtn.com/news/2023-04-08/IMF-talks-with-Ethiopia-to-continue-after-progress-made-1iONtaKnpLi/index.html">negotiating</a> a financial package with the International Monetary Fund. Joining BRICS might give it greater leverage. Western powers, which largely control the IMF, might be more wary of alienating Ethiopia in BRICS and driving it further “into the arms” of China. The creation of a new BRICS currency, to challenge US dollar hegemony, is on the agenda and its existing Contingency Reserve Arrangement already partly competes with the IMF. </p>
<p><strong>Non-interference policy</strong>: BRICS powers rhetorically largely subscribe to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep05168.10.pdf">non-interference</a> in the sovereign affairs of other states, with the qualification that President Lula de Silva of Brazil <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285596738_Brazilian_Foreign_Policy_under_Lula_from_non-intervention_to_non-indifference">talked about</a> “non-indifference” to human rights when he was previously in power and Russia has violated the principle through invasions and election interference, amongst others. Ethiopia may be interested in the political cover that joining BRICS would provide. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has received political cover from China, and some would argue from South Africa. The Ethiopian government may be keen to avoid human rights governance conditions attached to new loans, aid or debt relief from the west. </p>
<p><strong>A prime minister seeking new friends:</strong> BRICS membership would help restore the tarnished image of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is a Nobel peace prize recipient. Ahmed was heavily <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopian-leader-marking-year-war-says-he-will-bury-his-foes-with-our-blood-2021-11-03/">criticised</a> as a war-monger during the civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Joining the BRICS club would show that his government is still politically acceptable to some major world powers. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Photo of Russian president Vladimir Putin with Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed on the sidelines of the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on 23 October 2019" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535799/original/file-20230705-15-sqixl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abiy Ahmed with Vladimir Putin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sergei Chirikov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The risks</h2>
<p>There would of course be risks in Ethiopia joining the BRICS. Western powers might perceive it as drifting into the alternative geopolitical bloc or alignment, which could reduce aid and investment from them. But this could also have advantages for Ethiopia’s relations with the west by making the country more geo-strategically important. </p>
<p>Based on past experience, Ethiopia would be an unlikely addition to the grouping. The last and only country to be admitted after the group’s founding was South Africa in 2010. Other countries have applied and have not been admitted. BRICS now operates in what is sometimes described as a <a href="https://www.russia-briefing.com/news/russia-s-new-foreign-policy-concept-the-impact-on-brics-plus.html/">BRICS-plus</a> format with countries such as Egypt already members of its development bank and all African leaders invited to the up-coming BRICS’ summit in South Africa. </p>
<p>Ethiopia’s economy, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=ET">estimated</a> at around US$126.78 billion in 2022, is less than half the size of <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=ZA">South Africa’s US$405.87 billion</a>. South Africa is by far the smallest economy in the BRICS. But in some ways Ethiopia might be seen as a more representative African country in BRICS than South Africa. Ethiopia hosts the African Union headquarters and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Its capital, Addis Ababa, is sometimes described as the continent’s diplomatic capital. The outcome of Ethiopia’s application will likely be known after the next summit in August.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Padraig Carmody previously received funding from National Geographic and the University of Johannesburg to conduct research on related topics. </span></em></p>There is increased demand to join BRICS in the emerging world order, partly as a countervailing power to “the west”.Padraig Carmody, Professor in Geography, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073172023-06-22T08:45:54Z2023-06-22T08:45:54ZCities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society’s advances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530867/original/file-20230608-3016-2sh956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dharavi slum in India. Billions of people live in terrible conditions in the world's cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Punit Paranje/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in tumultuous times. In the space of just a few years, we have witnessed a surge in <a href="https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/lseppr.4">populist politics across the world</a>, a <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">global pandemic</a>, a spike in <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer">environmental disasters</a> and a fraying of geopolitical relations demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.ft.com/war-in-ukraine">tragic war in Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden">escalating tensions over Taiwan</a>.</p>
<p>That has all occurred against a backdrop of dramatic technological changes that are fundamentally altering the way we work and relate to one another. </p>
<p>Our future is in the balance. Cities will be central to our fate, for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, they are now home to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20some%2056%25%20of%20the,billion%20inhabitants%20%E2%80%93%20live%20in%20cities">over half of the global population</a>, a share that will rise to <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">two-thirds by 2050</a>. That is something never before seen in human history, and means that the forces shaping life in cities now also shape our world as a whole. </p>
<p>Second, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress. Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.</p>
<p>This article draws on a book I co-authored with Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together</a>, which has just been published by Bloomsbury. As the book’s subtitle highlights, we need to ensure that we create more inclusive and sustainable cities if all our societies are to thrive. </p>
<h2>Cities as seats of populist revolt</h2>
<p>The great paradox of modern globalisation is that declining friction in the movement of people, goods and information has made where you live more important than ever. Appreciation of the complexity of globalisation has come a long way since the early 2000s, when American political commentator Thomas Friedman’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0374292884">The World is Flat </a> and British academic Frances Cairncross’s <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-death-of-distance-how-the-communications-revolution-is-changing-our-lives-distance-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be">The Death of Distance</a> captured the public’s imagination. </p>
<p>We now know that, far from making the world flat, globalisation has made it spiky. </p>
<p>The growing concentration of wealth and power in major urban metropolises is toxifying our politics. The wave of populist politics engulfing many countries is often built on anger against cosmopolitan urban elites. This has been given expression through <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">Brexit in Britain</a>, and in support for anti-establishment politicians in the US, France, Italy, Sweden and other countries. </p>
<p>A common thread of all these populist movements is the notion that mainstream politicians, business leaders and media figures cocooned in big cities have let the rest of their countries down and lost interest in “left behind” places and people. </p>
<p>These populist revolts against dynamic cities are rooted in real grievances based on stagnating wages and soaring inequality. </p>
<p>A transformational effort to spread economic opportunity is long overdue. But undermining dynamic cities is not the way to do that. Cities like London, New York and Paris – and in the developing world Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Shanghai, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos – are engines of economic growth and job creation without which their respective national economies would be crippled.</p>
<p>What’s more, many of these cities continue to harbour profound inequalities of their own, driven by wildly unaffordable housing and broken education systems, among other things. They are also in a state of flux, thanks to the rise of remote working.</p>
<p>In places like San Francisco, offices and shops are suffering, municipal taxes are declining and businesses that depend on intense footfall – from barbers to buskers – are under threat. So too are public transport systems, many of which depend on mass commuting and are haemorrhaging cash.</p>
<p>All countries, therefore, are in dire need of a new urban agenda, grounded in an appreciation of the power of large cities – when designed properly – to not just drive economic activity and creativity, but also bring together people from many different walks of life, building social cohesion and combating loneliness. </p>
<p>But our focus must extend beyond the rich world. It is in developing countries where most of the growth in cities and the world’s population is taking place. Overcoming poverty, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change, pandemics and other threats requires that we find solutions in cities around the world. </p>
<h2>Dangers posed for cities in the developing world</h2>
<p>Developing countries now account for most of the world’s city-dwellers, thanks to decades of dramatic urban growth.</p>
<p>In some cases, such as China, rapid urbanisation has been the result of a process of economic modernisation that has lifted large swathes of the population out of poverty. </p>
<p>In others, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, urbanisation and economic development have been disconnected, with rural deprivation and the flight from danger playing a greater role in the migration to cities than urban opportunity. </p>
<p>Either way, cities are now where the world’s poor are choosing to live. And many of their cities are giant and overcrowded, with residents too often living in appalling conditions. </p>
<p>Appreciating what is happening in the cities of the developing world is essential if poverty is to be overcome. It also is vital if we are to understand why contagious diseases are making a comeback. Modern pandemics, from HIV to COVID-19, have their origins in these cities. </p>
<p>Crowded conditions are coinciding with a number of other trends in poor countries, including rapid deforestation, intensive livestock farming and the consumption of bushmeat, to increase the risk of diseases transferring from animals to humans and gaining a foothold in the population. </p>
<p>From there, connectivity between the world’s cities, particularly via airports, makes them a catalyst for the global dissemination of deadly diseases. That means that dreadful living conditions in many developing world cities are not only a pressing humanitarian and development issue, but also a matter of global public health. </p>
<p>Tremendous progress has been made in the past two centuries in <a href="https://wellcome.org/news/reforming-infectious-disease-research-development-ecosystem">combating infectious diseases</a>, but the tide is turning against us. Cities will be the principal battleground for the fight ahead. </p>
<p>Cities are also where humanity’s battle against climate change will be won or lost. Ocean rise, depletion of vital water resources and urban heatwaves risk making many cities uninhabitable. Coastal cities, which account for nearly all global urban growth, are particularly vulnerable. </p>
<p>While rich cities such as Miami, Dubai and Amsterdam are threatened, developing world cities such as Mumbai, Jakarta and Lagos are even more vulnerable due to the cost of developing sea walls, drainage systems and other protective measures. </p>
<p>At the same time, cities, <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-where-do-cities-stand">which account for 70% of global emissions</a>, will be at the heart of efforts to mitigate climate change. From encouraging public transport use and the adoption of electric vehicles to developing better systems for heating and waste management, there is much they need to do.</p>
<p>In 1987, Margaret Thatcher is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-quotes">reported to have declared</a>: “There is no such thing as society”, only “individual men and women and families”. In fact, <em>Homo sapiens</em> is a social creature, and our collective prosperity depends on the strength of the bonds between us. If we are to survive the turmoil that lies ahead, we must rediscover our ability to act together. Since their emergence five millennia ago, cities have been central to that. We cannot afford to let them fail.</p>
<p><em>Ian Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together, Bloomsbury, June 2023</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Goldin receives funding from Citibank, and the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation.
</span></em></p>Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, The Future of Work and the Future of Development, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2039222023-05-09T05:05:29Z2023-05-09T05:05:29Z‘Regenerative agriculture’ is all the rage – but it’s not going to fix our food system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525041/original/file-20230509-23-89ksn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4947%2C2791&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Decades of <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/75659">industrial agriculture</a> have caused environmental and social damage across the globe. Soils have deteriorated and plant and animal species are disappearing. Landscapes are degraded and small-scale farmers are struggling. It’s little wonder we’re looking for more sustainable and just ways of growing food and fibre.</p>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is one alternative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0030727021998063">creating</a> a lot of buzz, especially in rich, industrially developed countries. </p>
<p>The term “regenerative agriculture” was coined in the 1970s. It’s generally understood to mean farming that improves, rather than degrades, landscape and ecological processes such as water, nutrient and carbon cycles. </p>
<p>Today, regenerative agriculture is promoted strongly by multinational food companies, advocacy groups and some parts of the farming community. And the Netflix documentary <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81321999">Kiss the Ground</a> features celebrity activists <a href="https://kisstheground.com">promoting</a> the regenerative agriculture movement.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-023-10444-4">our new research</a> shows, regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="machines harvest soybean crop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525013/original/file-20230509-23-1xqv9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Industrial farming has left vast swathes of land degraded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Farming must change</h2>
<p>About <a href="https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf">20-40%</a> of the global land area is degraded. Agriculture caused 80% of global deforestation in recent decades and comprises 70% of freshwater use. It is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss on land and contributes <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/08/4.-SPM_Approved_Microsite_FINAL.pdf">significantly</a> to greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>Global corporations such as Nestlé, PepsiCo, Cargill and Bayer <a href="https://www.etcgroup.org/sites/www.etcgroup.org/files/files/blockingthechain_english_web.pdf">dominate</a> the food system. Some 70% of the global agrochemicals market is owned by just four companies and 90% of global grain trade is dominated by four businesses. This gives these corporations immense power.</p>
<p>Many small-scale farmers struggle to compete in global markets – especially those in poorer, less developed countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In an effort to keep up, these farmers also often go into debt to buy chemicals and expensive machinery to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00297-7">boost production</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s regenerative agriculture?</h2>
<p>Regenerative agriculture is proposed as a more sustainable alternative to industrial agriculture. It can include practices such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>integrating livestock into cropping systems to replenish soil and reduce the cost of animal feed and fertiliser</li>
<li>leaving soil undisturbed and covered with plants to retain carbon, moisture and nutrients and reduce erosion</li>
<li>regularly moving livestock between paddocks to give pasture a chance to recover </li>
<li>using less synthetic chemicals in farming.</li>
</ul>
<p>But can regenerative agriculture transform the global food system? Our research examined this question.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="cows grazing in field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525018/original/file-20230509-29-uslr52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Regenerative agriculture can involve rotating livestock between pastures to increase soil health.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Our research findings</h2>
<p>We explored the origins and current status of regenerative agriculture. We then compared this to other sustainable farming approaches: organic agriculture, conservation agriculture, sustainable intensification, and agroecology.</p>
<p>We found regenerative agriculture shares many similarities with the first three movements listed above. Most importantly, it originated in the rich, industrially developed <a href="https://ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/SmokeAndMirrors.pdf">Global North</a>, primarily North America, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/land-of-opportunity-more-sustainable-australian-farming-would-protect-our-lucrative-exports-and-the-planet-166177">Land of opportunity: more sustainable Australian farming would protect our lucrative exports (and the planet)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This means the movement often fails to credit Indigenous practices it draws from. It also tends to overlook the needs of farmers in the Global South and broader power inequality in the food system. </p>
<p>Like some other movements, regenerative agriculture is increasingly being embraced by corporations. <a href="https://www.nestle.com/csv/regeneration/regenerative-agriculture">Nestlé</a>, for instance, aims to source 50% of its key ingredients through regenerative agriculture by 2030. </p>
<p>There are concerns companies may be using regenerative agriculture to “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/can-regenerative-agriculture-reverse-climate-change-big-food-banking-it-n1072941">greenwash</a>” their image. For example, experts <a href="http://www.ipes-food.org/pages/smokeandmirrors">warn</a> corporations could be using the term to repackage existing commitments, rather than substantially improving their systems.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1359766620411842564"}"></div></p>
<h2>Agroecology: a different path</h2>
<p>We also found that regenerative agriculture is threatening to marginalise another promising sustainable farming movement: agroecology.</p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/agro/2009004">Agroecology</a> combines agronomy (agricultural science) and ecology, and also seeks to address injustice and inequity in food systems.</p>
<p>The movement is associated with the world’s largest smallholder farmer organisation, <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/">La Via Campesina</a>, and has been endorsed by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2020.1808705">United Nations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people march in protest holding sign in Spanish" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525022/original/file-20230509-25-fiq7oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agroecology is a global movement endorsed by the UN.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agroecology advocates for Indigenous knowledge and land rights, and support for small-scale farmers. It seeks to <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5272">challenge</a> neoliberalism, corporate dominance, and globalisation of food systems.</p>
<p>Some researchers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305693875_How_to_feed_the_world_sustainably_an_overview_of_the_discourse_on_agroecology_and_sustainable_intensification">question</a> if agroecology alone can produce enough food for a growing global population. But <a href="https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/2022-04/UNCCD_GLO2_low-res_2.pdf">80% of the world’s food</a>, in value terms, is produced by small family farms. And globally, we already grow enough food to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10440046.2012.695331">feed ten billion people</a>. The problem is how that food is distributed and wasted, and how much is made into <a href="https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e008269">ultra-processed foods</a> and other products such as bio-fuels.</p>
<p>Agroecology brings many benefits to farmers and communities. An agroecology project in <a href="https://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/CS2_web.pdf">Chololo village</a> in Tanzania, for example, saw the number of households eating three meals per day rise from 29% to 62%. Average household income increased by 18%. The average period of food shortage shortened by 62% and agricultural yields increased by up to 70%.</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1051/agro/2009004">origins of the agroecology movement</a> in the Global South, and its resistance to corporatisation, mean it is often marginalised. At events such as the UN Food Systems Summit, for example, corporate stakeholders guide policy decisions while vulnerable farmers can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/23/small-producers-boycott-un-food-summit-corporate-interests">feel sidelined</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two men prepare soil" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525040/original/file-20230509-28-5qvg2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agroecology focuses on both ecological and social principles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Transforming our food systems</h2>
<p>Despite regenerative agriculture’s popularity and its focus on sustainable food production, it fails to tackle systemic social and political issues. As a result, the movement may perpetuate business-as-usual in the food system, rather than transform it.</p>
<p>But our food system includes many landscapes and cultures. That means regenerative agriculture could still support more sustainable farming in some settings – though it’s not a catch-all solution.</p>
<p>And voices in regenerative agriculture have <a href="https://www.greenamerica.org/native-growers-decolonize-regenerative-agriculture?fbclid=IwAR1zwXhFddjPALOCrCed0yPyGmgPsoG_CUMhsVRDMg64DqQ4l8ba27BirPU">called for</a> a shift in the movement’s agenda, putting more emphasis on equity, justice and diversity. So there is hope yet that the movement may help turn the tide against industrial agriculture. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cotton-on-one-of-australias-most-lucrative-farming-industries-is-in-the-firing-line-as-climate-change-worsens-191864">Cotton on: one of Australia's most lucrative farming industries is in the firing line as climate change worsens</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anja Bless receives funding from the Australian Government research training program. </span></em></p>We know industrial farming needs to change. But regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.Anja Bless, PhD Candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1924762022-11-01T17:13:53Z2022-11-01T17:13:53ZStrictly not Halloween: why Day of the Dead is misunderstood – and why that matters<p>Known in Spanish as <em>Día de Muertos</em>, Day of the Dead is commonly celebrated every year on November 1 and 2. Although the ritual “belongs” to Mexico, it is in fact a global phenomenon celebrated across Latin America, the US, Europe, Asia and Africa by migrant Mexican communities.</p>
<p>With its <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/resource-library-mesoamerica/#:%7E:text=The%20historic%20region%20of%20Mesoamerica,%2C%20Toltec%2C%20and%20Aztec%20peoples.">Mesoamerican</a>, Roman Catholic and pagan roots, this deeply religious celebration sees families gather annually to honour and commemorate their loved ones. They build altars and parade the streets dressed as skeletons or <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2019/10/la-catrina-dark-history-day-deads-immortal-icon">Catrinas</a> – the “grand lady of the afterlife” – and bake sugar skulls and “bread of the dead”.</p>
<p>But the Day of the Dead is commonly misunderstood in some countries, including the UK, where the perception is that this highly important ritual is simply a Mexican <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/day-of-the-dead">version of Halloween</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three women dressed in colourful Day of the Dead costumes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492607/original/file-20221031-25-vgg4ca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Elisa Ponce, founder of Mexicans in Bournemouth, left, taking part in a Day of the Dead event in the town.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jane Lavery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My work looks at the way Day of the Dead is viewed and consumed in the UK and Ireland, and how Mexican communities celebrate their customs there. The UK has a Mexican community of around 10,000 people and although not all participate, many will celebrate Day of the Dead from Fife and Dublin, to London and Southampton, as an important way of connecting with each other, and Mexico. The event is a valuable way for Mexicans to foster pride in their cultural heritage, celebrate difference and inclusivity – and showcase how the festivity is <em>not</em> a Mexican Halloween. </p>
<p>In Bournemouth for example, the Mexican community has organised public street events welcoming the wider community by building community altars, offering delicious orange blossom “bread of the dead” and by dancing special folkloric Day of the Dead dances.</p>
<p>Elisa Ponce, founder of the Mexicans in Bournemouth community, and co-founder of the folkloric dance group Colores Mexicanos, which is comprised of Mexican and Latin American women, mothers and daughters, sees their local Day of the Dead celebrations as vital for community cultural pride:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We were so proud to hear the excitement of the passers-by, the conversations about death, suffering and sadness becoming happiness and colours. Just like in Mexico.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such events create a sense of belonging by passing down cultural heritage from one generation to the next, and raising awareness in the broader public.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lTHZR1bRdao?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<h2>The ‘Halloweenisation’ of a Mexican custom</h2>
<p>As my previous <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24741604.2021.1890432?scroll=top&needAccess=true">research</a> shows, interest in all things Mexican has been growing steadily in the UK due to tourism, the media and Day of the Dead events organised by Mexican communities in Britain. </p>
<p>Even though many British people are aware that Day of the Dead is not a Mexican Halloween, the so-called “Halloweenisation” of the practice is still widespread. The two may share similar Catholic origins, but the former has lost its religious roots and is now merely a commercialised phenomenon. </p>
<p>Besides retailers and the media, Day of the Dead’s Halloweenisation has been fuelled by Hollywood movies such as Bond film <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/21/spectre-review-james-bond-is-back-stylish-camp-and-sexily-pro-snowden">Spectre</a> (2015) with its Day of the Dead parade, and, to a point, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/18/coco-review-pixar-land-of-the-dead-animation">Coco</a> (2018) the Pixar animation about a young Mexican boy who ends up in the land of the dead.</p>
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<p>The festival has undergone a worldwide cultural transformation due to globalisation and the internet-based world we live in, which can have a <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-83909-976-220211003/full/html">bulldozing effect</a> on individual cultures. This has led to Day of the Dead becoming divested of its local roots and religious meanings, and turned into an object of mass consumerism.</p>
<p>During Halloween, Day of the Dead costumes and accessories have become an increasingly familiar sight in UK shops. With their striking colourful patterns and iconography, it is not difficult to understand the attraction. With British retailers selling Halloween costumes and decorations interchangeably with Day of the Dead items, it’s no wonder that the public may perceive the Mexican practice as simply an extension of Halloween. </p>
<h2>Strictly confusing</h2>
<p>Still, this Halloweenisation of the Day of the Dead has resulted in fierce debates about whether this is cultural appropriation, capturing polarised opinions spanning allegations of offensive misappropriation to celebrations of cultural fusion.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this response better exemplified than when the Mexican celebration was appropriated by the ever-popular BBC dancing programme, Strictly Come Dancing. In 2018 its Halloween episode featured a colourful <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=559969851083442">Day of the Dead-themed opening dance</a> performance with mariachi singers, sombreros, papier mâche skeletons and dancers donning sexy Catrina dresses and alluring skeleton make-up.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1056251275145342977"}"></div></p>
<p>A row followed, with the media picking up on the mixed responses to the controversial performance. The Huffington Post for example <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/strictly-come-dancings-day-of-the-dead-inspired-opening-dance-accused-of-cultural-appropriation_uk_5bd592f7e4b0a8f17ef8993f">reported</a> the performance being blasted for cultural appropriation and featured several tweets from unhappy viewers who found it “racist” and “offensive”. </p>
<p>But others praised the show’s celebration of cultural heritage and its fusion of Halloween, Day of the Dead and the movie Coco, with some drawing delighted comparisons with the popular film that has given prominence to Day of the Dead.
Such comparisons suggest that some believe the ritual is based on a film rather than a Mexican religious practice, fuelling further misconceptions of Day of the Dead as “another Halloween”.</p>
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<p>With the Mexican community in the UK playing an important role in contributing to the local economy, culture and society, more visibility is needed of the Day of the Dead celebration to break with unhelpful racial stereotypes and issues around mislabelling.</p>
<p>This lack of visibility could be addressed by encouraging retailers to rethink how they sell and brand their items. Local councils could promote and fund Day of the Dead events to the wider community by including them in their post-COVID social and cultural regeneration strategies. And schools could do more to teach children about what the practice is actually about – and why it’s not an extension of Halloween but something culturally distinct underpinned by its own religious history, meaning and rituals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Lavery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Far from an extension of our secular Halloween, this Mexican celebration is a deeply religious custom with its own rituals, folklore and history.Jane Lavery, Lecturer In Hispanic Studies, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1900892022-09-07T15:08:12Z2022-09-07T15:08:12ZWTO head Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: how trade can help beat inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483021/original/file-20220906-12-b98li7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organisation. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In a recent study South Africa was <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/09/new-world-bank-report-assesses-sources-of-inequality-in-five-countries-in-southern-africa">identified</a> as ranking first of 164 countries in the World Bank’s global poverty database. Underlying this inequality is its very high rates of unemployment. Professor Dori Posel spoke to <a href="https://www.wto.org">World Trade Organisation</a> (WTO) Director General <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/dg_e/dg_e.htm">Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala</a> about why trade is important in tackling joblessness and inequality. And her experiences of fighting corruption in Nigeria.</em></p>
<p><strong>Professor Posel:</strong> You’ve said that the WTO is all about people. How do we ensure that global trade reduces inequality both between and within countries?</p>
<p><strong>Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala:</strong> Trade tends to have a bad name, especially among young people. For them it’s synonymous with globalisation, which they don’t see as a good thing. </p>
<p>But trade has been an instrument for lifting over a billion people out of poverty. It’s worth remembering that in 1980, over 40% of the world’s population lived on less than $1.90 a day, and that just before the pandemic this had gone down to 10%. </p>
<p>And a lot of that was due to the effects of bringing into the global trading system countries that were outside of it. Admittedly, China is a shining example of a country that benefited the most from this trade.</p>
<p>So trade has had its benefits.</p>
<p>That being said, it is undoubtedly true that poor countries were left behind. Now, the WTO charter is about creating employment, enhancing living standards, supporting sustainable development. It’s all about people.</p>
<p>I’m constantly looking at how rules for trade can bring micro, small and medium enterprises that are usually left out into the national, regional and global value chains. This includes women, many of whom own these kinds of enterprises. This is one way you can help create more employment, enhance incomes and so on.</p>
<p>The discussion now about the diversification of supply chains presents an opportunity to use trade as an instrument for inclusion. And I call it re-globalisation. We are talking to companies in developed countries to adopt a strategy of global diversification of value chains. That way they can look at Africa. Take South Africa. It is capable of attracting some of these supply chains. Other African countries that are capable are Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda and Nigeria.</p>
<p><strong>Prof Posel:</strong> Could you elaborate on how WTO mechanisms can be used to benefit African countries? </p>
<p><strong>Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala:</strong> Africa contributes less than 3% of world merchandise trade. And that is tiny. So how do we turn it around? </p>
<p>We have to trade more among ourselves. Trade among ourselves is only about 15% to 16% (of our trade). But we are all selling the same things. So we need to step back a little. We need to see how we add value. I don’t think we can grab a bigger share of world trade without adding value to the products we have.</p>
<p>So that is why I’m passionate about supply chains.</p>
<p>I see a big opportunity in pharmaceuticals because everybody’s eyes have now opened to the fact that Africa cannot continue with 99% of its vaccines produced elsewhere and 95% of other medicines. Africa has the unique opportunity not just about vaccines, but bringing in the pharmaceutical supply chains on the continent.</p>
<p>We’ve been working with the CEOs to see how we can encourage them to diversify their supply chains in Africa.</p>
<p>We should also have the same approach on the continent to attract companies that can help us add value to our products, to help create employment for young people. Actually, if we don’t do this we will have social instability. And it’s already happening in many of our countries. So this is no joke.</p>
<p>There’s a branch of the WTO called the International Trade Centre. Its job is to really focus on SMEs – small and medium enterprises – and on women, and try to help them penetrate external markets. But they need help. For example, there are lots of sanitary and phytosanitary requirements they must meet to export. In Nigeria, the centre has been working with shea butter producers who had been trying to break into world markets, but were banned from the US and Europe because they didn’t meet the standards. And over five or more years, they worked with them to upgrade the quality of their shea butter. Now they are exporting to the US. This is a group of women cooperatives that are exporting to Europe. They’ve more than doubled their incomes. </p>
<p><strong>Prof Posel:</strong> I would like us to move on to another set of constraints on job growth in South Africa. And this concerns issues around trust and corruption. What is your advice to us in South Africa on this particular issue?</p>
<p><strong>Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala:</strong> All I can do is share some of my experiences in Nigeria. And some of the ways we approached it. Before I do that, let me say that, you know, a lot of public corruption is also linked to public procurement.</p>
<p>One of the things to look at immediately is how to institutionalise transparent processes. We looked at how to set up a system with lots of transparency because we found a lot of corruption was coming from public procurement. So we introduced rules of the game that had to be followed at certain thresholds. </p>
<p>Was it 100% successful in curbing that? </p>
<p>No, but it did introduce a safeguard into the system so that people didn’t have a free for all. </p>
<p>But let me tell you one thing that has been quite helpful, at least in my time in fighting corruption, is technology.</p>
<p>I’ll just give one example. When I took office as minister of finance in Nigeria, we would get the payroll, let’s say the ministry of agriculture would come to me and say we have X number of people on the payroll, they would send this in, and then we would pay against that.</p>
<p>A lot of things were manual. And corruption had become entrenched because people could introduce ghost workers who became ghost pensioners.</p>
<p>I stood back and with the the economic team and with the support of the president, of course, we thought about introducing government financial management systems based on technology, so that we could take out as much of the manual and human intervention as possible. And we had an integrated payroll and personnel management system that had technology built in so that everyone could be identified. </p>
<p>We had a government financial system that was based on technology that linked the budget, the Treasury, to the other departments, so we didn’t have all this manual stuff. </p>
<p>So again, did that solve the entire problem? The answer is no. But it did solve a lot. We were able to save about US$1 billion by wiping out a lot of these ghost workers and ghost pensioners from the payroll. It’s still not perfect, but we did a lot. </p>
<p>So when you have stealing of state assets, we now have all sorts of technology that can be introduced to see what’s actually happening. We all know we have systems of cameras and drones and things that can be used to monitor what is going on. Technology helps in prosecutions. Prosecutions must take place so people know they can’t get away with it. </p>
<p>There’s no magic bullet, you need an array of policies, technologies, you need to be crystal clear. And people need to know that fighting corruption starts with them. Technology is not the perfect solution, but it can help in certain circumstances. </p>
<p>It starts with you, you have to take responsibility, not just waiting for government or some nebulous organisation to fight it. But that demands courage.</p>
<p><em>*This is an edited excerpt of the Wits School of Economics and Finance’s centenary webinar titled 100 Years of Economics at Wits: Reflecting on the Past, Looking to the Future. The event can be <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/sef/webinar-series/">watched here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorrit Posel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Creating employment and fighting corruption are two of the subjects discussed in the wide ranging discussion.Dorrit Posel, Professor in the School of Economics and Finance, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1883802022-08-09T11:23:25Z2022-08-09T11:23:25ZChina-US tensions: how global trade began splitting into two blocs<p>Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/world/asia/pelosi-taiwan-china.html">visit to Taiwan</a> has elicited a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-defends-ditching-us-talks-says-washington-must-bear-serious-consequences-2022-08-08/">strong response</a> from China: three days of simulated attack on Taiwan with further drills announced, plus a withdrawal from critical ongoing conversations with the US on climate change and the military.</p>
<p>This strong reaction was predictable. President Xi <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/28/xi-jinping-tells-joe-biden-not-to-play-with-fire-over-taiwan-in-two-hour-call">had earlier warned</a> President Biden not “to play with fire”. Of course, if Pelosi’s visit hadn’t gone ahead, the Biden administration would have faced a strong reaction from both parties in Congress for not standing up to China’s threat to Taiwan or human rights issues regarding <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/china-and-tibet">Tibet and Xinjiang</a>, not to mention Hong Kong.</p>
<p>So where does it leave trade between the world’s two leading powers? </p>
<h2>How business trumped ideology</h2>
<p>Consider the not-too-distant past. The US supported the Republic of China against Japan in the Pacific war of 1941-45. When the Chinese leadership fled to Taiwan in 1949 following the victory of Mao Zedong’s communists in the Chinese civil war, Washington continued to recognise the exiled regime as China’s legitimate government, blocking the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from joining the United Nations. </p>
<p>This shifted in 1972 following President Nixon’s historic visit to China (in a move to isolate the Soviets). The US now recognised the PRC as China’s sole government and accepted its One China policy. It downgraded its Taiwan relations to merely informal, while affirming a peaceful settlement to the mainland communists’ claim that this was a breakaway province that had to be assimilated. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mao Zedong shakes hands with a smiling Richard Nixon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478091/original/file-20220808-22-31lgxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Richard Nixon meeting Chairman Mao Zedong in Peking (Beijing) in 1972.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/51232033330">manhhai</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>This opened US-China trade, ending a US <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/11/archives/president-ends-21year-embargo-on-peking-trade-authorizes-export-of.html">trade embargo</a> in place since the 1940s. Economic ties proliferated in the 1980s under Mao’s eventual successor, Deng Xiaoping, helping the Chinese economy to multiply while the US enjoyed lower consumer prices and a stronger stock market. </p>
<p>Western manufacturing firms either outsourced to Chinese firms or set up operations themselves. They benefited from cheaper production and – for those outsourcing – not having to own factories or deal with labour issues. In turn, the Chinese gained tremendous manufacturing capability. </p>
<p>As China’s middle class grew wealthier, the country became a major target consumer market for US firms such as Apple and GM. The <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/05/news/economy/china-foreign-companies-restrictions/index.html">Chinese authorities insisted</a> this was done through local partner firms, transferring technology in the process and further enhancing the nation’s manufacturing know-how. </p>
<h2>The growing Chinese threat</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/globalisation-supply">China and the US captured</a> more than half the growth in GDP across the world from 1980 to 2020. <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD">US GDP</a> grew nearly five times from US$4.4 trillion (£3.6 trillion) to US$20.9 trillion (£17.3 trillion) in today’s money, while <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/country/CN">China’s grew</a> from US$310 billion to US$14.7 trillion. </p>
<p>China is now the second largest economy, although the IMF, World Bank and CIA consider it the largest once purchasing power is taken into account (see chart below). The US is still well ahead on per capita income (<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/263601/gross-domestic-product-gdp-per-capita-in-the-united-states/#:%7E:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20gross%20domestic,US%20GDP%20for%20further%20information.">US$69,231</a> vs <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/263775/gross-domestic-product-gdp-per-capita-in-china/#:%7E:text=In%202021%2C%20per%20capita%20GDP,12%2C359%20U.S.%20dollars%20in%20China.">US$12,359</a> in 2021), though China’s is now that of a “developed” country, having lifted <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience">800 million people out of poverty</a> in the process. </p>
<p>The US has become increasingly concerned about China’s faster economic growth and the fact that the US <a href="https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-china-trade-deficit-causes-effects-and-solutions-3306277">buys much more</a> from its rival than the other way around. This drove the big decline in US domestic manufacturing that famously helped Donald Trump to win the US presidency. </p>
<p><strong>Chinese and US GDP based on purchasing power parity 1990-2021</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing Chinese and US GDP on a PPP basis." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478055/original/file-20220808-22-ue5d8i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">World Bank</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Equally, the rivalry has extended to other areas as China has sought a leading role on the world stage. Both nations are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons">nuclear powers</a>, although the Chinese military has only 350 nuclear warheads to America’s 5,500. </p>
<p>China has a <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/yes-china-has-the-worlds-largest-navy-that-matters-less-than-you-might-think/">larger navy</a>, with some 360 battle force ships compared to the US 297, although China’s are mostly smaller – only three aircraft carriers compared to America’s 11, for example. The two countries are also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/science/china-moon-mission-rocks.html?searchResultPosition=4">competing in space</a> to bring astronauts to the Moon and establish the first lunar base.</p>
<p>All this has threatened American dominance, while President Xi has also been much more forthright both domestically and internationally than any Chinese leader since Mao. The US has gradually become more hostile, starting with <a href="https://time.com/4218952/obama-asean-us-summit-asia/">President Obama’s pivot</a> towards other Asian nations in 2016 and then <a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/trade-investment-policy-watch/trump-trade-war-china-date-guide">President Trump’s</a> public complaints and eventual sanctioning of China’s “unfair” trade practices. </p>
<p>Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/us/politics/trump-china-tariffs-trade.html">imposed extra tariffs</a> on goods imported from China in 2018 and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/26/technology/trump-china-smic-blacklist.html">restricted China’s access</a> to various semiconductor manufacturing technologies in 2020, while the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48253002">Chinese responded</a> with <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46915">countermeasures</a> along the way. </p>
<p>When President Biden took office in 2021, he <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/summit-with-se-asia-japan-champions-open-seas-australia-defends-aukus-pact-2021-10-27/">began highlighting</a> long-simmering complaints about human rights issues in Xinjiang and the threat to Taiwan (while still endorsing the One China Policy). He also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-issues-human-rights-related-sanctions-adds-sensetime-blacklist-2021-12-10/">imposed sanctions</a> on certain <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7bc70335-138e-4f56-afe1-ae4383eefb2b">Chinese companies</a> of a kind not been seen since the Mao-era trade embargo.</p>
<p><strong>US trade in goods to China 2011-21</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing US trade in goods to China" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478080/original/file-20220808-14-t1cie1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Note the US trade in services to China is about one-tenth that of goods. In 2020 the US exported US$40 billion in services to China and imported US$16 billion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/277679/total-value-of-us-trade-in-goods-with-china-since-2006/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20total%20value,billion%20U.S.%20dollar%20import%20value.">Statista</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Biden also banned goods from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-clamp-down-products-chinas-xinjiang-2021-12-23/">China’s Xinjiang</a> region on the grounds of forced labour in 2022, affecting the purchasing of goods by many western companies. China reportedly moved workers to other parts of the country to enable western companies to keep purchasing.</p>
<h2>Bipolarity is back</h2>
<p>COVID-19 further increased the distance between the two countries. After China’s zero COVID policy helped to disrupt supply chains and cause product shortages, the Biden administration began calling for reduced dependency on its rival. </p>
<p>US firms have duly been restructuring their supply chains. In June, Apple <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Supply-Chain/Apple-to-shift-iPad-capacity-to-Vietnam-amid-China-supply-chain-woes">moved some iPad production</a> from China to Vietnam, albeit also because of growing demand in south-east Asia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-mexico-china-factories/2020/08/12/c29f4a9a-d0f1-11ea-8c55-61e7fa5e82ab_story.html">Near-shoring to Mexico</a> is gaining momentum. Apple manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron are considering producing iPhones for North America in Mexico rather than China to take advantage of lower labour costs and the <a href="https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/united-states-mexico-canada-agreement">free-trade agreement</a> between the US and Mexico.</p>
<p>Two global blocs are increasingly emerging, with US treasury secretary Janet Yellen in April calling for “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/business/janet-yellen-supply-chains.html">friend-shoring</a>” with trusted partners, dividing countries into friends or foes. The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/26/fact-sheet-president-biden-and-g7-leaders-formally-launch-the-partnership-for-global-infrastructure-and-investment/">Biden administration announced</a> at the June G7 meeting a new “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment”. Aiming to mobilise US$600 billion in investments over five years, this is an overture to various developing countries already being courted by China under its similar <a href="https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/belt-road-initiative/">Belt and Road Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>Days earlier, China had hosted the annual BRICS summit, which includes Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. It welcomed leaders from 13 other countries: Algeria, Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Malaysia and Thailand. Xi urged the summit to build a “global community of security” based on multilateral cooperation. <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/iran-argentina-apply-to-join-brics-bloc-after-recent-summit-report-122062800935_1.html">Iran and Argentina</a> have since applied to join the bloc. </p>
<p>We are already seeing what bipolarity will mean for vital components and commodities. In nanochips, the US is leading a “<a href="https://techwireasia.com/2022/07/chip-4-alliance-japan-pours-money-into-kioxia-western-digital-to-cement-pact-with-the-us-spur-chip-production/">chips 4</a>” pact with Japan, Taiwan and possible South Korea to develop next-generation technologies and manufacturing capacity. China is <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tech/Semiconductors/Beijing-probes-leaders-of-China-s-semiconductor-industry-drive#:%7E:text=China%20laid%20out%20plans%20in,2020%20and%2070%25%20by%202025.">investing US$1.4 trillion</a> between 2020 and 2025 in a bid to become self-reliant in this technology. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/taiwan-dominates-the-worlds-supply-of-computer-chips-no-wonder-the-us-is-worried-188242">Taiwan dominates the world’s supply of computer chips – no wonder the US is worried</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another big issue is cobalt, which is essential for making lithium batteries for electric vehicles. To secure supply from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which produces 70% of world reserves, China has navigated Congolese politics, lobbying powerful politicians in mining regions. <a href="https://www.economist.com/special-report/2022/05/20/how-chinese-firms-have-changed-africa">By 2020</a>, Chinese firms owned or had a stake in 15 of the DRC’s 19 cobalt-producing mines. </p>
<p>As China hoards cobalt supplies, the US seeks alternatives. GM is developing its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/business/energy-environment/next-generation-auto-battery.html">Ultium battery cell</a>, which needs 70% less cobalt than today’s batteries, while <a href="https://www.ornl.gov/news/new-class-cobalt-free-cathodes-could-enhance-energy-density-next-gen-lithium-ion-batteries">Oak Ridge National Laboratory</a> is developing a battery that doesn’t need the metal at all. </p>
<h2>Silver linings</h2>
<p>As US-China relations have moved from building bridges in 1972 to building walls in 2022, countries will increasingly be forced to choose sides and companies will have to plan supply chains accordingly. Those seeking to trade in both blocs will need to “divisionalise”, running parallel operations. </p>
<p>American companies wanting to serve Chinese consumers will still need to manufacture in China or other nations within that bloc, while Chinese companies will need to do the same in reverse. Interestingly, Chinese companies have been <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/19/china-buying-us-farms-foreign-purchase-499893">rapidly buying</a> farmland and agriculture-based companies in the US and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Yet though the new supply chains will almost certainly increase costs for western consumers and dampen China’s growth, there will be benefits. Supply chains should be more resilient to future crises and also more transparent, while reduced transportation (and reliance on Chinese coal) should cut carbon emissions. This should help to meet the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">UN Sustainable Development Goals</a> on environmental and social sustainability. </p>
<p>The cobalt and nanochips examples also show how the US-China rivalry is catalysing innovation. And importantly, global trade will continue growing as countries depend on each other, even as trade links change.</p>
<p>It will certainly take time to find an equilibrium. It took years for the USSR and US to figure out how to co-exist without getting into direct military conflict. Hillary Clinton <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/americas-pacific-century/">wrote in 2011</a> as Secretary of State that “there is no handbook for the evolving US-China relationship”, and that remains the case today. </p>
<p>At any rate, the businesses that thrive in this new environment will likely be those that plan for a divided world with divisional supply chains. The recent Taiwan row will probably not lead to direct military conflict; rather it will reinforce a trend that has been gathering momentum for a decade or more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188380/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Welcome to an era of two parallel worlds in global business.ManMohan S Sodhi, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, City, University of LondonChristopher S. Tang, Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1860032022-07-21T14:00:06Z2022-07-21T14:00:06ZIs the world retracting from globalisation, setting it up for a fifth wave?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473172/original/file-20220708-23-wlj7k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=68%2C122%2C4955%2C3135&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fourth wave of globalisation saw China's increasing role as a global powerhouse.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 25 years there has been lots of research and debate about the concept, the history and state of globalisation, its various dimensions and benefits. </p>
<p>The World Economic Forum has set out <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/how-globalization-4-0-fits-into-the-history-of-globalization/">the case that</a> the world has experienced four waves of globalisation. In a 2019 <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/how-globalization-4-0-fits-into-the-history-of-globalization/">publication</a> it summarised them as follows.</p>
<p>The first wave is seen as the period since the late 19th century, boosted by the industrial revolution associated with the improvements in transportation and communication, and ended in 1914. The second wave commenced after WW2 in 1945 and ended in 1989. The third commenced with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the disbanding of the former Soviet Union in 1991, and ended with the global financial crises in 2008. </p>
<p>The fourth wave kicked off in 2010 with the recovery of the impact of the global financial crises, the rising of the digital economy, artificial intelligence and, among others, the increasing role of China as a global powerhouse. </p>
<p>More <a href="https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/four-futures-for-economic-globalization-scenarios-and-their-implications/">recent debates</a> on the topic focus on whether the world is now experiencing a retraction from the fourth wave and whether it is ready for the take-off of the fifth wave.</p>
<p>The similarities between the retraction period of the first wave and the current global dynamics a century later are startling. But do these similarities mean that a retraction from globalisation is evident? Is there sufficient evidence of de-globalisation or rather “slowbalisation”? </p>
<h2>Parallels</h2>
<p>The drawn-out retreat from globalisation during the 30-year period – 1914 to 1945 – was characterised by the geopolitical and economic impact of WWI and WWII. Other factors were the 1918-1920 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/story/how-long-did-the-flu-pandemic-of-1918-last">Spanish Flu pandemic</a> ; the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/stock-market-crash-of-1929">Stock Market Crash of 1929</a> followed by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Depression">Great Depression of the 1930s</a>; and <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/communist-bloc">the rise of the Communist Bloc under Stalin in the 1940s</a>. </p>
<p>This period <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/abs/slide-to-protectionism-in-the-great-depression-who-succumbed-and-why/4DBED88D9AD4102C7B922E54CC83D076">was further typified</a> by protectionist sentiments, increases in tariffs and other trade barriers and a general retraction in international trade.</p>
<p>Looking at the current global context, the parallels are remarkable. The world is still fighting the COVID pandemic that had devastating effects on the world economy, global supply chains and people’s lives and well-being.</p>
<p>For its part, the <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2022/03/15/how-war-in-ukraine-is-reverberating-across-worlds-regions/">Russia-Ukraine war</a> has caused major global uncertainties and food shortages. It has also <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/how-war-ukraine-reshaping-world-trade-and-investment">led to</a> increases in gas and fuel prices, further disruptions in global value chains and political polarisation. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/how-war-ukraine-reshaping-world-trade-and-investmentsure">increase in the price</a> of various consumer goods and in energy have put pressure on the general price level. World inflation is <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/inflation-stats-usa-and-world/">aggressively on the rise</a> for the first time in 40 years. Monetary authorities worldwide are trying to fight inflation. </p>
<p>Global governance institutions like the World Trade Organisation and the UN, which functioned well in the post-WWII period, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/united-nations-un-people-belief-positive-impact/">now have less influence</a> while the Russian-Ukraine war has split the world politically into three groups. They are the Russian invasion supporters, the neutral countries and those opposing, a group dominated by the US, EU and the UK. This split is contributing to complex geopolitical challenges, which are slowly leading to <a href="https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/how-is-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-likely-to-alter-the-post-world-war-ii-international-order/">changes in trade partnerships and regionalism</a>. </p>
<p>Europe is already looking for new suppliers for oil and gas and early indications of the potential expansion of the Chinese influence in Asia are evident. </p>
<h2>A less connected world</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/10/what-deglobalization/">De-globalisation</a> is seen as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a movement towards a less connected world, characterised by powerful nation states, local solutions and border controls rather than global institutions, treaties, and free movement. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There’s now talk of <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/research-insights/economy/global-economy-watch/predictions-2020.html">slowbalisation</a>. The term was first used by trendwatcher and futurologist <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Slowbalization-market-state-century/dp/9491932160">Adjiedji Bakas</a> in 2015 to describe the phenomenon as the</p>
<blockquote>
<p>continued integration of the global economy via trade, financial and other flows, albeit at a significant slower pace.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The data on economic globalisation paint an interesting picture. They show that, even before the COVID pandemic hit the world in 2020, a deceleration in the intensity of globalisation is evident. The data which represent broad measures of globalisation, includes:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.ZS">World exports of goods and services</a>. As a percentage of world GDP, these reached an all-time high of 31% in 2008 at the end of the third globalisation wave. Exports fell as a percentage of global GDP and only recovered to that level during the early stages of the fourth wave in 2011. Exports then slowly started to regress to 28% of global GDP in 2019 and further to a low of 26% during the first Covid-19 year in 2020.</p></li>
<li><p>The volume of <a href="https://unctad.org/topic/investment/world-investment-report/fdi-flows-2022">foreign direct investment inflows</a>. These reached a peak of US$2 trillion in 2016 before trending lower, reaching US$1.48 trillion in 2019. Although the 2020 foreign direct investment inflows of US$963 billion are a staggering 20% below the 2009 financial crises level, they recovered to US$1.58 billion in 2021.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS">Foreign direct investment as percentage of GDP</a> started to increase from a mere 1% in 1989 to a peak of 5,3% in 2007. After a retraction following the global financial crises, it peaked again in 2015 and 2016 at around 3,5%. It then declined to 1,7% in 2019 and 1,4% in 2020.</p></li>
<li><p>Multinational enterprises have been the major vehicle for economic globalisation over time. The number of them indicates the willingness of companies to invest outside their home countries. In 2008 the UN Conference on Trade and Development reported approximately 82 000. The number <a href="https://espace-mondial-atlas.sciencespo.fr/en/topic-strategies-of-transnational-actors/article-3A11-EN-multinational-corporations.html">declined to 60 000</a> in 2017.</p></li>
<li><p>Data on world private capital flows (including foreign direct investment, portfolio equity flows, remittances and private sector borrowing) are not readily available. However, <a href="https://data.oecd.org/drf/private-flows.htm#indicator-chart">Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data show</a> that private capital flows for reporting countries reached an all-time high of US$414 billion in 2014, followed by a declining trend to US$229 billion in 2019 and a negative outflow of US$8 billion in 2020.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These declining trends are further substantiated by the evidence of deeper fragmentation in economic relations caused by <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1024529420921481">Brexit</a> and the problematic US/China relations, in particular during <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1024529420921481">the Trump era</a>. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>The question now is whether the latest data is:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>indicative of either a retraction from globalisation similar to that experienced after the first wave a century ago;</p></li>
<li><p>or it is merely a process of de-globalisation;</p></li>
<li><p>or slowbalisation in anticipation of the world economy’s recovery from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The similarities between the first wave of globalisation and the existing global events are certainly significant, although embedded in a total different world order.</p>
<p>The current dynamics shaping the world such as the advancement of technology, the digital era and the speed with which technology and information is spread, will certainly influence the intensity of the retraction of the already embedded dependence on globalisation. </p>
<p>Nation states realise that blindly entering into contracts and agreements with companies in other countries, may be problematic and that trade and investment partners need to be chosen carefully. The events over the past three years have certainly shown that economies around the world are deeply integrated and, despite examples of protectionism and threats of more inward-looking policies, it will not be possible to retract in totality. </p>
<p>What may occur is fragmentation where supply chains becoming more regionalised. Nobel prize winning economist <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-05-31-davos-2022-missed-an-opportunity-to-reflect-on-globalisation/">Joseph Stiglitz refers</a> to the move to “<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/news/transcripts/transcript-us-treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-on-the-next-steps-for-russia-sanctions-and-friend-shoring-supply-chains/">friend shoring</a>” of production, a phrase coined by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.</p>
<p>It is becoming obvious that the process of globalisation certainly shows characteristics of both de-globalisation and slowbalisation. It’s also clear that the global external shocks require a total rethink, repurpose and reform of the process of globalisation. This will most probably lead the world into the fifth wave of globalisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186003/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elsabe Loots does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The global external shocks require a total rethink, repurpose and reform of the process of globalisation.Elsabe Loots, Professor of Economics and former Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1854562022-06-23T14:28:38Z2022-06-23T14:28:38ZFirms from rich countries are taking factories home: what this means for Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470026/original/file-20220621-13-5wmsss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sea port of Matadi at the Congo River. Matadi is the chief sea port of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is no doubt that globalisation <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/%7E/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/Middle%20East%20and%20Africa/Africa%20at%20work/b%20test/MGI_Africa_at_work_August_2012_Full_Report.pdf">has benefited</a> Africa greatly. This includes job creation, innovation, increased productivity and foreign direct investment. </p>
<p>But global value chains are shifting in the wake of the COVID pandemic and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. These changes are informed by the decisions of various companies to shift or move their manufacturing or supply chain networks <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa-faces-hard-knocks-as-rich-countries-take-manufacturing-back-home-181490">closer to their home country</a>. These decisions are being driven by a number of factors. They include a race to reduce exposure to disruptions, increase proximity and reduce vulnerability to external shocks.</p>
<p>In light of this, Africa’s current benefits from globalisation will be jeopardised.</p>
<p>Can African countries build a resilient economic future post-COVID-19 that is less reliant on the current uncertain global value chain?</p>
<p>I believe that they can. </p>
<p>To maximise the advantages of regional growth and markets, Africa must look inward and perhaps consider how to establish its own internal and national value chains. This may emerge from the recently enacted <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/january-2021/afcfta-africa-now-open-business">Africa Free Trade Agreement</a>, which most African nations have already embraced.</p>
<p>Now is the time for African countries to start looking for African value chains or alternatives to the global value chain. Of course, this presents a myriad of challenges. Most African nations still don’t have the necessary transportation and road infrastructure to support logistical operations in regional markets. </p>
<p>Consequently, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-70538-1_8">significant investment</a> is required for this <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SCM-06-2020-0263/full/html">to work</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, countries must look at developing homegrown solutions enabled by public and private sector collaboration.</p>
<h2>Africa’s position in the global value chain</h2>
<p>The value chain concept enables different businesses to add value to raw materials at various stages of production until they become finished goods. The final stages of the value chain are more lucrative than the earlier ones. The current reality is that most activities that create value and transform inputs into finished products <a href="https://hbr.org/2005/06/strategies-that-fit-emerging-markets">are concentrated</a> in developed countries rather than in developing countries.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2020">World Bank</a>, increasing value chain participation by 1% could increase per capita income by more than 1%. Despite <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-78791-2_6">evidence</a> that some African small firms have moved up global value chains through process upgrading over the past decade, there is a deficiency in product upgrading – the transition to production of higher-value goods and services. </p>
<p>This aspect must be improved. Most African countries are still primary commodity producers and specific steps need to be taken to reverse the situation.</p>
<p>The first is that both the public and private sectors must work together to capture domestic value and be prepared for the repercussions of deglobalisation. Industrialists such as <a href="https://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/news/what-is-africapitalism">Tony Elumelu</a> and scholars such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23322373.2015.1026229">Kenneth Amaeshi and Uwafiokun Idemudia </a> have argued for a framework they call <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-africa-needs-capitalism-that-is-aligned-with-its-development-needs-48776">Africapitalism</a>. The idea is that it will support Africa’s socio-economic realities through the commitment of the private sector. </p>
<p>But the role of government is also critical in creating an enabling environment.</p>
<p>In other words, public and private sector partnership is key to foster the African potential for the common good of the continent. In this light, the following are essential:</p>
<p><strong>Looking inward:</strong> Governments need to support research into the current “lower” stages activities of global value chains in Africa and how their movement elsewhere can impact employment. </p>
<p>This step would create awareness of the potential problems that may arise from deglobalisation. It would also open the door to revisit and modify current inept economic policies.</p>
<p><strong>Matching societal and corporate needs:</strong> Based on the current <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37032">World Bank data</a> on global trade integration and global value chain participation, it’s uncertain what the new sort of global value chains will look like.</p>
<p>As a result, multinational corporations operating in Africa, particularly those with “lower” stage activities, may want to reconsider how they may increase their positive impact in these regions, either directly or indirectly. For example, they could examine their needs as an organisation critically (perhaps through a comprehensive needs assessment) and connect them to an existing problem where their value chain exerts influence (for instance dealing with unemployment).</p>
<p><strong>Capturing domestic value:</strong> The reshoring of production will mean that trade will become dominated by a few in the future. These would almost certainly include a Chinese-led Asian syndicate, a US-led North American syndicate, and an EU syndicate (perhaps led by Germany and France).</p>
<p>If this occurs, Africa (particularly the sub-Saharan region) will become disconnected from the global value chain. This should be enough of a catalyst for African leaders to realise that domestic manufacturing, products, and services may be the way forward.</p>
<h2>Pressing problems</h2>
<p>The high percentage of unemployment in Africa is indicative of under-exploitation of economic resources and inadequate entrepreneurial frameworks. Youth unemployment has been regarded as one of the generation’s most pressing social and economic issues. Data show that an estimated 140 million people <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/the-role-of-entrepreneurship-and-innovation-in-tackling-unemployment-in-africa-youth-jobs-employment-education/">aged 15 to 35 are unemployed in Africa</a>. This is a third of the continent’s entire youth population. </p>
<p>According to the African Development Bank, up to 263 million young people will be <a href="https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Images/high_5s/Job_youth_Africa_Job_youth_Africa.pdf">deprived of employment prospects in the near future</a>. There has therefore never been a better time for the public and private sectors to collaborate and capture domestic value in Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adegboyega Oyedijo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Now is the time for African countries to start looking for African value chains or alternatives to global value chains.Adegboyega Oyedijo, Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1806152022-05-05T02:12:42Z2022-05-05T02:12:42ZChina’s ‘innovation machine’: how it works, how it’s changing and why it matters<p>China has had the world’s fastest growing economy since the 1980s. A key driver of this extraordinary growth has been the country’s pragmatic system of innovation, which balances government steering and market-oriented entrepreneurs. </p>
<p>Right now, this system is undergoing changes which may have profound implications for the global economic and political order. </p>
<p>The Chinese government is pushing for better research and development, “smart manufacturing” facilities, and a more sophisticated digital economy. At the same time, tensions between China and the west are straining international cooperation in industries such as semiconductor and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.</p>
<p>Taken together with the shocks of the Covid pandemic, and particularly China’s rapid and large-scale lockdowns, these developments could lead to a decoupling of China’s innovation system from the rest of the world. </p>
<h2>Balancing government and market</h2>
<p>China’s current “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/demystifying-chinas-innovation-machine-9780198861171?cc=fr&lang=en&">innovation machine</a>” began developing during the economic reforms of the late 1970s, which lessened the role of state ownership and central planning. Instead, room was made for the market to try new ideas through trial and error. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-get-rich-is-glorious-how-deng-xiaoping-set-china-on-a-path-to-rule-the-world-156836">'To get rich is glorious': how Deng Xiaoping set China on a path to rule the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The government sets regulations aligned to the state’s objectives, and may send signals to investors and entrepreneurs via its own investments or policy settings. But within this setting, private businesses pursue opportunities in their own interests. </p>
<p>However, freedom for businesses may be declining. Last year, the government cracked down on the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-07/china-s-central-bank-governor-vows-to-continue-fintech-crackdown">fintech</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-20/china-crackdown-private-tutoring/100392352">private tutoring</a> sectors, which were seen to be misaligned with government goals. </p>
<h2>Building quality alongside quantity</h2>
<p>China performs well on many measures of innovation performance, such as R&D expenditure, number of scientific and technological publications, numbers of STEM graduates and patents, and top university rankings. </p>
<p>Most of these indices, however, measure quantity rather than quality. So, for example, China has:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>produced <a href="https://www.natureindex.com/country-territory-research-output?type=share&list=China%3BUnited+States+of+America+%28USA%29">a huge number of scientific and technological publications</a>, but lags far behind the US in highly cited publications, which indicates the influence and originality of research </p></li>
<li><p>substantially <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/GB.XPD.RSDV.GD.ZS?locations=CN&start=2000&view=chart">increased R&D expenditure</a>. However, the proportion of its R&D expenditure on basic research, especially by enterprises, is still far lower than in many industrialised countries </p></li>
<li><p>educated many <a href="https://www.aip.org/fyi/2018/rapid-rise-chinas-stem-workforce-charted-national-science-board-report">more STEM graduates than any other country</a> in recent decades, but still lacks top-tier talent in many areas such as AI and semiconductors </p></li>
<li><p>has applied for the <a href="https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2020/article_0005.html">most international patents of any country</a>, but the quality of these patents measured by scientific influence and potential commercial value still lags international competitors. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Adding “quality” alongside “quantity” will be crucial to <a href="https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202103/17/WS60513ac4a31024ad0baaf959.html">China’s innovation ambitions</a>. </p>
<p>In the past, policies have aimed to “catch up” with known technologies used elsewhere, but China will need to shift focus to develop unknown and emerging technologies. This will require greater investment in longer-term basic research and reform of research culture to tolerate failure.</p>
<h2>Developing smart manufacturing</h2>
<p>Chinese firms can already translate complex designs into mass production with high precision and unmatched speed and cost. As a result, Chinese manufacturing is appealing to high-tech companies such as <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3163117/worlds-largest-iphone-factory-maintains-production-schedule-amid">Apple</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/4/18/tesla-and-other-firms-look-to-reopen-shanghai-factories-sources">Tesla</a>. </p>
<p>The next step is upgrading towards “industry 4.0” smart manufacturing, aligned with the core industries listed in the government’s <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/02/made-in-china-2025-explained/">Made in China 2025 blueprint</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-fourth-industrial-revolution-is-powering-the-rise-of-smart-manufacturing-57753">A fourth industrial revolution is powering the rise of smart manufacturing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By 2020, China had built eleven “lighthouse factories” – benchmark smart manufacturers – the most of any country in the World Economic Forum’s “<a href="https://www.weforum.org/projects/global_lighthouse_network">global lighthouse network</a>”.</p>
<h2>Building an advanced digital economy</h2>
<p>China’s giant tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei are also using machine learning and big data analytics to innovate in other fields, including pharmaceutical research and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/10/china-autonomous-driving-2021">autonomous driving</a>. </p>
<p>In China the regulations for biotechnology, bioengineering and biopharmaceuticals are relatively relaxed. This has <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/the-dawn-of-china-biopharma-innovation">attracted researchers and investors</a> to several leading biotechnology “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusters_of_Innovation">clusters</a>”.</p>
<p>China’s population of more than 1.4 billion people also means that, even for rare diseases, it has a large number of patients. Using large patient databases, companies are making advances in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/529009a">precision medicine</a> (treatments tailored to an individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle).</p>
<p>The rising power of China’s big tech firms has seen the government step in to maintain fair market competition. <a href="https://www.bruegel.org/2021/09/opening-up-digital-platforms-and-reducing-anticompetitive-risks">Regulations force digital firms</a> to share user data and consolidate critical “platform goods”, such as mobile payments, across their ecosystems.</p>
<h2>International collaboration is key</h2>
<p>As we have seen in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03626-1">recent triumph of COVID-19 vaccines</a>, global collaboration in R&D is hugely valuable. </p>
<p>However, there are signs that such collaboration between China and the West may be under threat. </p>
<p>The semiconductor manufacturing industry – making the chips and circuits which drive modern electronics – is currently global, but at risk of fragmentation. </p>
<p>Making chips requires huge amounts of knowledge and capital investment, and while China is the world’s largest consumer of semiconductors it relies heavily on imports. However, US sanctions mean many global semiconductor companies <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/restricting-trade-with-china-could-end-united-states-semiconductor-leadership">cannot sell in China</a>. </p>
<p>China is now investing <a href="https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3085362/china-has-new-us14-trillion-plan-seize-worlds-tech-crown-us">vast sums</a> in an attempt to be able to make all the semiconductors it needs. </p>
<p>If China succeeds in this, one consequence is that Chinese-made semiconductors will likely use different technical standards from the current ones.</p>
<h2>Different standards</h2>
<p>Diverging technical standards may seem like a minor issue, but it will make it more difficult for Chinese and Western technologies and products to work together. This in turn may reduce global trade and investment, with bad results for consumers.</p>
<p>Decoupling standards will increase the fracture between Chinese and Western digital innovation. This in turn will likely lead to further decoupling in finance, trade, and data.</p>
<p>At a time of heightened international tensions both China and the West need to be clear on the value of international collaboration in innovation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180615/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>From 2010–2014, while Vice President at Imperial College London, I collaborated with Huawei in forming the Data Science Institute, Imperial College London.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Yue Zhang and Mark Dodgson do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>China’s innovation plans and international trade tensions may risk an economic ‘decoupling’ with the West.Marina Yue Zhang, Associate Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of TechnologyDavid Gann, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Development and External Affairs, and Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, University of OxfordMark Dodgson, Visiting Professor, Imperial College Business School, and Emeritus Professor, School of Business, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1814902022-04-25T13:24:46Z2022-04-25T13:24:46ZAfrica faces hard knocks as rich countries take manufacturing back home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459128/original/file-20220421-21-s67bmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global economic crisis triggered by <a href="https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/en/themes/global-economy">the outbreak of the COVID pandemic</a> in 2020 and Russia’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a6227910-751b-443c-883f-2ed41a828426">invasion of Ukraine</a> in February this year has intensified the risk of declining trade integration between countries. A process referred to as the deglobalisation of trade.</p>
<p>The pandemic sent shocks through supply chains across the world. As a result, companies in some advanced economies have started to prioritise bringing production that was previously outsourced to Asia back home – or closer to home. The expectation is that this will avert ongoing – and future – supply-chain disruptions, ensuring a steady and reliable supply of goods. </p>
<p>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated global supply shortages after the pandemic. It is also further fuelling expectations of major reduced reliance on global supply chains by businesses. This is particularly true of companies in Europe and the US.</p>
<p>This trend risks adding additional strain to economies in Africa on top of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-ukraine-conflict-could-influence-africas-food-supplies-177843">the current economic pain</a> from soaring food and fuel price inflation imposed by the war in Ukraine. A deglobalising world poses serious risks for Africa. This has been confirmed by findings in a recent World Bank <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37032">report</a>. It shows that reversing globalisation through reshoring of value chains has the potential to push an additional 52 million people into extreme poverty. </p>
<p>Those living in Sub-Saharan Africa would be the hardest hit. It would make Africa a poorer place. As shown in Figure 1, global trade integration (trade’s share of global GDP) sped up after 1990, and then slowed down after reaching a peak in 2008 when the financial crisis caused an economic downturn. The remarkable rise in global trade integration during the 1990s and 2000s is intimately tied to the rapid growth in global value chain trade.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458558/original/file-20220419-11-w5xt72.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why being connected matters</h2>
<p>Connecting to the global economy is vital for spurring growth and development on the continent. This is because it creates opportunities for firms to specialise in specific tasks. In turn this allows them to integrate into parts of a global value chain even when they lack the competitive advantage to produce an entire product domestically. </p>
<p>In addition, greater participation in global value chains provides African firms with better access to capital, technology and other inputs needed to upgrade products and become more diversified. This is important to point out, given that African firms face significantly higher costs that reduce their capacity to compete in regional and international markets. These costs are particularly crippling for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of many African economies. </p>
<p>Entry into global value chains is therefore crucial for a number of reasons. Firstly to boost the growth of African SMEs, secondly to support the African Continental Free Trade Area in advancing regional trade integration, thirdly in diversifying production and export structures, and finally promoting the pick-up of industrialisation. </p>
<p>Over time, these positive economic outcomes will substantially reduce poverty in Africa. This will be reminiscent of the impact of the second wave of globalisation which rapidly accelerated after <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2020/brief/world-development-report-2020-data">1990</a>. This helped some Asian and emerging economies lift millions out of poverty by supporting their integration into global value chains and narrowed the income inequality gap between <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37032">advanced economies and the developing world</a>. </p>
<h2>The shift</h2>
<p>A range of companies are relocating their manufacturing plants.</p>
<p>Among them are the motorbike and electric bicyle manufacturer Pierer Mobility. It is <a href="https://www.cesport.eu/en/Nd/i/more/Joint+Venture+for+e-bike+production+in+Bulgaria/idn/4806">building a plant in Bulgaria</a> so that it’s closer to its main customers in Europe. The German suit maker Hugo Boss has also <a href="https://www.retaildetail.eu/news/fashion/hugo-boss-shortens-supply-chain/">moved manufacturing</a> closer to home. </p>
<p>In the US, Stanley Black & Decker <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2019/02/06/stanley-black-decker-north-texas.html">has expanded</a> its tool making operations in North America. The aim is to support regional development of its supply chains and enable shorter time leads. </p>
<p>Apparel companies in the US also see supply-chain woes as an opportunity to reconsider bringing their supply chains home. </p>
<p>Governments in advanced economies are also reinforcing moves to re-shore production, mainly for geopolitical reasons. The EU now aims <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/08/eu-plans-multi-billion-euro-boost-for-chip-production.html">to boost its chip production</a>. It has promised to back chip manufacturers such as Intel Corp with subsidies worth billions of dollars. The US is also planning to invest billions of dollars <a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-china-united-states-congress-a6c2366885d82cca4089d3cc09b3acb0">to bolster domestic chip production</a>. And Japan is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-01-04/japan-has-big-plans-for-chips">allocating huge funds</a> to develop its semiconductor industry. </p>
<p>These substantial expenditures reflect the geopolitical significance of cutting-edge chips, which are vital for current and future technological advancement. The US and Europe chip investments are also motivated by competition with China and a desire to reduce reliance on Taiwan and South Korea as major suppliers, as they can be vulnerable to supply shocks and geopolitical conflicts in the region. </p>
<p>In addition to growing geopolitical rivalry and tensions between China and the West, the rise of nationalism in the West after the financial crisis of 2008/9 has also dampened enthusiasm for accelerating global trade integration. </p>
<p>In the US for example, former president Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-came-up-with-make-america-great-again/2017/01/17/fb6acf5e-dbf7-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html">agenda</a> was anti-global economic integration in nature and specifically promoted protectionist policies focused on reducing trade between China and the US. </p>
<p>Similar nationalist and anti-global moves were also happening across Europe, and were a major factor behind UK’s departure from the EU in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">2020</a>. </p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>Globalisation is a powerful engine of global value chain integration that is important for Africa’s growth and development. African economies suffered greater scarring from the <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2021/03/23/world-economic-outlook-april-2021">pandemic</a>. The divergent recoveries between advanced and developing economies in Africa and other regions threaten to reverse gains in poverty reduction. </p>
<p>Absent of any decisive action, reshoring of production implies that trade will be dominated by a few powerful regional blocks in the future. These would likely include an Asian block dominated by China, an American-led block in North America, and an EU block. </p>
<p>If this happens, decades-long progress in global poverty reduction would be at high risk of being further derailed. It would make the world a poorer place and Africa would be the hardest hit by being severed from global value chains.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Munemo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Companies are moving their production back to developed countries. This is jeopardising the decades-long progress in global poverty reduction.Jonathan Munemo, Professor of Economics, Salisbury UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1771912022-02-16T22:53:00Z2022-02-16T22:53:00ZA new species of flatworm in our gardens that comes from Asia: Humbertium covidum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446553/original/file-20220215-21-1d169v2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C19%2C3199%2C1681&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new species _Humbertium covidum_.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12725">Pierre Gros</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A hundred animal or plant new species are described each year in metropolitan France. In most cases, these are native species, present here for a long time, but which had so far escaped the attention of scientists. In a very different way, <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/12725/">we are now reporting</a> the existence of a new species found in France, but which has been introduced, and which is even potentially capable of invading our gardens.</p>
<p>This species is a flatworm, the size of one knuckle of your little finger. The species is elongated, with a broader head, like all hammer-headed flatworms. Its colour is quite extraordinary: totally black, it is reminiscent of “liquid metal”. Its name: <em>Humbertium covidum</em> – we will come back to this name later.</p>
<h2>How to tell the species apart?</h2>
<p>For about ten years, we have known that flatworms have invaded the gardens of France. Our team thus reported and mapped the invasion by several species: <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/1037/">the New Guinea flatworm</a> (<em>Platydemus manokwari</em>), the <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4672/">giant hammerhead worms</a> (especially <em>Bipalium kewense</em>) and the oddly named <em>Obama nungara</em>, which alone has invaded <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/8385/">more than 70 departments in France</a>. We have also reported recent invasions <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4951.2.11">overseas</a>.</p>
<p>To give a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature">name to a species</a>, scientists must be convinced that the species is new, and therefore explain how it is different from already known species. In all cases, the shape and colour of the organism must be accurately described. Very often, it is also necessary to precisely describe the sexual organs of the species, which are characteristic and different from other species. This is where a problem arises for flatworms: some species only reproduce asexually, and therefore simply do not have sex organs. One can imagine the problem of how then to differentiate them. This is why we used modern molecular biology techniques to characterise the mitochondrial genomes of these species.</p>
<h2>The mitochondrial genome</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_DNA">mitochondrial genome</a>, abbreviated as mitogenome, is the genetic code that makes the mitochondria work, small organelles that are in their thousands and are the energy powerhouses in all cells. As this mitochondrial genome is present in millions of copies in an animal, it is therefore technically easier – and less expensive – to obtain it than the genome of the nucleus. The mitochondrial genome is circular DNA, about 15,000 nucleotide base pairs long: long enough to give a lot of information, and short enough to be easily obtained.</p>
<p>We therefore obtained the mitochondrial genome of several species of invasive flatworms, such as that of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2020.1748532">New Guinea flatworm</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2019.1596768">hammerhead worms</a>. We used the characteristics of these genomes to differentiate the species found, even if they had no visible sexual characteristics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442105/original/file-20220123-25-xyqe5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mitochondrial genome of the new species <em>Humbertium covidum</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justine et al., 2022</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The new species in France</h2>
<p><a href="https://peerj.com/articles/12725/">We found the new “metallic black” species</a> in two gardens in France, both in the department of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9es-Atlantiques">Pyrénées-Atlantiques</a>, in communes separated by a hundred kilometres. It is now well known that the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4672/">small paradise for flatworms</a> introduced from all over the world, mainly because of its mild and always somewhat humid climate. In both cases, there were only a few individuals of the black species. </p>
<p>At the beginning of our study, we even wondered if they were not simple black variants of a larger species, <em>Bipalium kewense</em>, also found in these gardens. But close examination of the specimen morphology and genome, and comparison of these with other species, there was no doubt that the black species was different. We then looked in the scientific literature if the species had been described elsewhere, and especially in tropical Asia, which is the main continent of origin of these hammerhead worms. We did find a few reports of animals that look like it, but nothing more.</p>
<h2>Also in Italy</h2>
<p>Toward the end of 2019, we were warned that a black species was proliferating in a field in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneto">Veneto</a>. Hundreds of black worms, very active early in the morning, and very mobile. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02638-w">Other reports</a> were then made of this black worm near Rome. We compared the mitochondrial genome of individuals found in France with that of individuals found in Italy: they were very little different, which shows that they are the same species, which was therefore already present in two countries in Europe.</p>
<p>And so, it was necessary to describe the species, that is to say, to give it a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature">Latin name</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PwXlwyXAiIU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The new species <em>Humbertium covidum</em>, filmed in Italy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The name of the new species</h2>
<p>Assigning a name to a species is an essential and essential key step for any subsequent study. When dealing with potentially invasive species, and which therefore may attract the attention of the legislator, it is even more essential to be able to name them: the laws and decrees use Latin names, because these names guarantee that we correctly designate the right species.</p>
<p>Each Latin species name is binomial, with a genus name and a species name. For the genus name, it is “Humbertium”, simply because the animal has the characters of <a href="https://biblio.naturalsciences.be/associated_publications/bjz/bibliographic-references/ISI_000170313800034">this genus described in 2001</a>. For the name of the new species, we have chosen “<em>covidum</em>”, a name obviously based on “Covid”, the virus. Why? First, because we started this work in 2020, when our laboratories were in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_lockdowns">Covid pandemic regulatory lockdown</a>. Then, as the pandemic progressed, we wanted to name the species to honour of all the victims. And finally, it seemed to us that “<em>covidum</em>” was an appropriate name for an organism capable of invading the world and coming from Asia, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic">the Covid-19 pandemic</a> itself.</p>
<h2>Invasive species</h2>
<p>Apart from <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/12725/">the description of this single species</a>, what does this discovery of a new species of flatworm in Europe tell us? Above all, that foreign species are constantly invading our regions (the same thing exists elsewhere in the world, with European species invading other continents). Should we blame them and hold them responsible? These species have nothing to do with it, of course. It is humanity that is responsible, and in particular the modern phenomenon of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization">globalisation</a>, by which goods are circulated at a breakneck pace in all directions. A few individuals of a flatworm, who do not realise anything, find themselves crossing the whole world in a few days, probably in the soil of a lot of plants. They arrive in a new environment where their natural enemies are absent, find abundant food, and proliferate. In the case of <em>Humbertium covidum</em>, by analysing the DNA of their prey, we were able to show that the species eats small snails, but it may also consume other prey.</p>
<p>How is this arrival of <em>Humbertium covidum</em> a problem? Because the animal species that live on and in the ground have been in balance with their European environment for a long time, and the arrival of an opportunistic predator can change this balance, and therefore alter the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity">biodiversity</a> of our soils. Altering biodiversity has an ecological cost, and even an economic cost. For example, we can calculate that invasive species reduce agricultural production. The cost of invasive alien species in France is enormous, in the order of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.67.59134">hundreds of millions of euros</a> per year.</p>
<p><em>Humbertium covidum</em> is therefore <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/12725/">one more example of an introduced species</a>, which ultimately threatens biodiversity. Hopefully, unlike the virus that gave it its name, it doesn’t take over the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177191/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Lou Justine has received funding from the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. He is one of the "Academic Editor" (volunteer) of the scientific journal PeerJ in which this research is published.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leigh Winsor ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A new species of flatworm is invading us. It is metallic black in color and its name is Humbertium covidum.Jean-Lou Justine, Professeur, UMR ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Leigh Winsor, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1749212022-02-14T14:44:41Z2022-02-14T14:44:41ZTransformation of Ghana’s legal profession. A return to Kwame Nkrumah’s vision?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442978/original/file-20220127-6424-tc8ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There have been major demographic shifts in the profile of Ghana's lawyers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Late last year the University of Ghana School of Law at Legon held a <a href="https://law.ug.edu.gh/international-conference-future-legal-education-ghanaafrica-icflea">conference</a> to discuss the future of legal education in Ghana. The keynote speaker, President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo called for a <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/reform-of-legal-education-system-necessary-akufo-addo.html">reform</a> to meet the current and future needs of the country. His remarks came at a time when law students held several protests requesting changes in the current selection process for entry to the law school.</p>
<p>The legal profession in Ghana has come a long way. In 1887, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41405839?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">John Mensah Sarbah</a> was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in England, making him the first Ghanaian lawyer. 58 years later, <a href="https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/african-women-in-law/Essi-Matilda-Forster">Essi Matilda Forster</a> made history as the first woman from the British Gold Coast and the third woman in British West Africa to be called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in London in 1945. She was later called to the Ghana Bar in 1947. </p>
<p>The profession has grown since the first nine lawyers trained on Ghanaian soil were called to the Ghana Bar in 1963. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09695958.2021.1992283?journalCode=cijl20">recent article</a>, I traced the developments in Ghana’s legal profession over the past 30 years, through three phases: indigenisation, professionalisation and globalisation. </p>
<p>I examined the ongoing demographic shifts in the profession – the number of lawyers, the gender composition of the Bar and the intersection of ethnicity, age and class. </p>
<p>Among my findings were two that stand out. First, more people are pursuing a legal degree and career. Secondly, more women are becoming lawyers, accounting for over 30% of those called to the bar in recent years. The increase in the number of women lawyers mirrors the general gender demographic shifts taking place globally. Across Africa, <a href="https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/_files/ugd/dc397a_f4ad148771d44bea826991d7c95e87c4.pdf">gender transformation</a> is happening within the legal profession though women still face gender-based professional biases.</p>
<p>The increase in the number of lawyers could signal increasing opportunities for Ghanaians to access the services of lawyers. This expands opportunity for access to justice and legal services. </p>
<p>But the positive changes we hope to see from an increase in the number of lawyers, cannot happen without a strong foundation for a legal education structure that meets the needs of the country. </p>
<h2>Three eras</h2>
<p><strong>Indigenisation:</strong>
I trace the indigenisation phase from the mid 19th century to the late 1970s, gaining roots in 1962 with the establishment of the first law faculty and law school in Ghana. Ghana’s first president, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kwame-Nkrumah">Kwame Nkrumah</a> played a central role in establishing legal education in Ghana. His vision of a united Africa found expression when he <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/745009?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">noted </a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our lawyers therefore, if they are to understand the spirit of our laws, must understand the basic principles upon which the state is directed and why certain laws are enacted, repealed or amended by Parliament. The teaching of law is totally incomplete if it is not accompanied by a background of economic, social and political science, and even politics, science and technology.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Three points are worth highlighting about the indigenisation phase. </p>
<p>First, Ghanaian lawyers who trained abroad had to develop their understanding of the legal systems in Ghana since they had not received any training in customary law. </p>
<p>Second, these lawyers were later to serve as a check on the political, legal, and economic excesses of the colonial administration. Not surprising, some of the early independence leaders were lawyers.</p>
<p>Third, many lawyers concentrated in land litigation given the colonial economy’s dependence on agricultural production.</p>
<p><strong>Professionalisation:</strong>
Professionalisation marks the period from the 1980s to the early 2000s. It was during this phase that the profession sought to institutionalise and contextualise its professional ethos. This period occurred during the political turbulence of the 1980s, during prolonged periods of dictatorships. Lawyers played important roles, opposing the military junta’s policies, such as the institutionalisation of kangaroo courts and the imposition of detention laws.</p>
<p>Lawyers played insider-outsider roles, as some lawyers worked for the government, while others served as opposition through civil society organisations and emerging political parties. This phase also witnessed an increase in the number of law firms, the introduction of continuing legal education, the use of technology and expansion in the areas of legal practice and specialisation.</p>
<p><strong>Globalisation:</strong>
This begins from the 2000s to the present. In this phase, legal education expanded through the privatisation of law school education. Private universities were allowed to establish law faculties. With the increase in the supply of lawyers, law firms began growing in scale and size.</p>
<p>Legal practice continues to change as lawyers expand their areas of specialisation. Regulatory bodies such as the <a href="https://www.glc.gov.gh/">General Legal Council</a> are enforcing professional regulation and ethics. Opportunities are expanding for professional affiliations at the domestic and international levels. </p>
<p>The last three decades have seen the profession expand, and become increasingly globalised. The peaceful transition to democratic government in 1992 and the alternation of political power between political parties and leaders has created new opportunities for lawyers. Democratic governance has led to an increase in public interest litigation due to constitutional freedoms and the guarantee of rights.</p>
<p>Given these changes in the profession, legal education has to change to meet these seismic developments in the legal profession.</p>
<h2>Future directions</h2>
<p>Lawyers in Ghana continue to occupy an elite status in society. Since 1992 three lawyers have held the position of president of Ghana, including the current president, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nana-Addo-Dankwa-Akufo-Addo">Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo</a>. Several members of parliament are lawyers.</p>
<p>To keep abreast with global and international developments, the legal profession in Ghana will have to undergo internal occupational and organisational transformation. Some of these changes are happening through increased specialisation, use of digital tools, and connections with foreign law firms via partnerships and best friend agreements. </p>
<p>However, more needs to be done to position the legal profession at a competitive advantage as global law firms and corporate practices around the world grow. </p>
<p>The changes needed to position the profession as a strong global competitor starts with an overhaul of the current legal education system. </p>
<p>Ghana has become a frontier for corporate legal services as global corporations take advantage of the economic growth happening across Africa. The teaching and practice of corporate law needs attention, but should not be prioritised to the disadvantage of other areas such as environmental law, human rights, and women’s rights. Maybe it is time to reconsider the foundational ideology for Kwame Nkrumah’s establishment of legal education in Ghana – a legal education that is holistic and meets the needs of the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josephine Jarpa Dawuni does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The present state of legal education in Ghana cannot be discussed without understanding its beginings.Josephine Jarpa Dawuni, Associate Professor, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763902022-02-04T14:07:01Z2022-02-04T14:07:01ZAs China welcomes the world to Winter Olympics, its economy is ever more isolated from the west<p>As the Beijing Winter Olympics get underway, all eyes are on China. There has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/30/sport-politics-and-covid-collide-at-the-beijing-winter-olympics">lots of coverage</a> about <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/at-beijing-olympics-xi-and-putin-strive-for-unity-against-us/6426270.html">China’s chilly relationship</a> in the west and its persecution of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/2/chinese-exiles-boycott-beijing-olympics-over-uyghur-genocide">the Uighur</a> and other minorities, but there is also much to be said about the Chinese economy. </p>
<p>China’s great rise over the past several decades has been the great economic success of our times, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and giving the global economy wheels in the years after the financial crisis of 2007-09. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, however, the <a href="https://www.boj.or.jp/en/research/wps_rev/wps_2021/data/wp21e07.pdf">miracle became</a> a bit more ordinary as growth gradually slowed. China found it difficult to keep increasing exports at the same pace year after year, particularly in the face of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47492397">weaker international demand</a> for its products – not least because of the trade war with the US. <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-long-term-problems-are-forcing-it-to-rethink-the-whole-economy-173443">Other issues</a> have included an ageing population and the fact that growth had become increasingly dependent on debt, which wasn’t sustainable. </p>
<p><strong>China’s economic growth 1997-2021</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444277/original/file-20220203-17-1gjb2zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://tradingeconomics.com/china/gdp-growth-annual">Trading Economics/National Bureau of Statistics of China</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e45496ec-82ff-4586-a062-20124739fcc1">China did</a> seem to have weathered the pandemic better than many major economies, having contained the virus so aggressively. Yet the picture has since deteriorated as renewed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/11/millions-more-chinese-ordered-into-lockdown-to-fight-covid-outbreaks">domestic COVID outbreaks</a>, including the new omicron variant, have caused fresh economic disruption. </p>
<p>Omicron’s effect on other major economies is not good news for Chinese exports either. Neither is the resurgence of inflation in many countries, which has prompted the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to threaten higher interest rates and an end to creating money via <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/quantitative-easing">quantitative easing</a>. This is likely to further dampen demand for Chinese goods. </p>
<p>China’s debt has also become an even bigger issue. Leading property developer Evergrande’s financial difficulties in 2021 made headlines, but excessive debt <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/evergrande-just-tip-china-debt-001209129.html">is rife</a> throughout the property sector and beyond. If the bubble bursts, it could lead to a prolonged downturn that significantly damages the wider economy. </p>
<p>The government has been <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/chinas-debt-reduction-campaign-is-making-progress-but-at-a-cost/">pressuring major companies</a> to reduce their debts, while also restricting borrowing in the property sector and cracking down on informal lending across the country. It also sent a warning to excess borrowers through its willingness to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/09/business/china-evergrande-default.html">let Evergrande default</a>. </p>
<p>Weaker exports and reducing debt mean that China is heading for a slowdown: the World Bank <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2022/01/12/rebalancing-act-china-s-2022-outlook#:%7E:text=Following%20a%20strong%208%20percent,of%20output%20at%20full%20capacity.&text=In%20the%20face%20of%20these,nonetheless%20keep%20a%20steady%20hand.">projects that</a> its economic growth will be just over 5% in 2022, compared to 8% in 2021. </p>
<h2>China’s challenges</h2>
<p>More broadly, China’s traditional growth model based on exports, infrastructure and real estate investment looks like it has run its course. The nation is facing a difficult rebalancing act as it aims to transition to relying much more on Chinese households consuming goods and services, while also <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-energy-crisis-shows-just-how-hard-it-will-be-to-reach-net-zero-169478">having to move</a> to a much less carbon-intensive economy.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the ruling Communist Party, the best way to achieve this rebalancing is arguably to implement reforms that would limit the government’s influence in Chinese life. For example, the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/publication/china-economic-update-december-2021">World Bank thinks</a> China needs to make it easier for companies to fail and to allow more private competition in sectors like education and healthcare as a way of driving up productivity. It also recommends enabling workers to move around the country by abolishing the <em>hukou</em> registration system in cities, since this system stipulates where someone is permanently resident. </p>
<p>Some World Bank recommendations do involve more government intervention, such as making the tax system more progressive to encourage consumers to spend more, and raising government spending on health and education so that people don’t need to save so much. Generally speaking, however, more liberalisation is the order of the day – and looks like the right way forward from my point of view. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDj8UL9kjnQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Yet China has become more interventionist in the Xi era, cracking down on everything from <a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/chinas-crackdown-on-its-tech-billionaires-marks-a-strategic-watershed-for-xi-jinping">tech billionaires</a> to the number of hours that <a href="https://qz.com/2056875/chinas-crackdown-on-video-games-is-getting-more-serious/">children can play</a> video games each day. Meanwhile, China’s <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00191-7">zero-COVID strategy</a> has involved tightly sealed borders, swift citywide lockdowns and mass testing. </p>
<p>China adopted this strategy partly out of fear that its poor healthcare system could be completely overwhelmed by COVID, and more recently as a way of ensuring that the Winter Olympics proceed smoothly. Yet such is the climate in China that <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/0e6914ed-3ce5-4f7f-ab91-ce7b0ad68f2c">some commentators fear</a> that it will not open up again, that the health crisis is turning into a political crisis of more committed isolation. </p>
<p>China therefore finds itself at a crossroads. On the one hand, it wants a greater role in the global economy, as can be seen through its <a href="https://greenfdc.org/brief-china-belt-and-road-initiative-bri-investment-report-2021/">Belt and Road Initiative</a> to drive infrastructure development around the world in exchange for closer ties with Beijing. </p>
<p>But there is a contradiction between continuing to engage with global trade and the Chinese government’s instinct towards technological self-sufficiency and homegrown innovation. Trade liberalisation also requires, for example, opening up the banking sector to foreign lenders to make it more efficient. Yet that is a long way from Beijing’s interventionist approach. Indeed, the fact that the banks, which are partly owned by the state, were given mandates to lend to state-owned companies with poor financial status was the cause of many the debt problems in the first place. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the indications are that China is more likely to move towards greater isolationism from the west. This might mean restricting people visiting the country and concentrating more on domestic consumption than global trade. We might see it further tacking away from globalisation via trade wars, as well as imposing greater <a href="https://www.centralbanking.com/central-banks/currency/7860946/chinas-capital-controls-here-to-stay">capital controls</a> to make it harder for money to get in and out of the country. Obviously, China is partly acting out of provocation from the west, but its overall policy shift has been to a large extent homegrown. </p>
<p>As with the winter Olympics, where China is trying to keep the athletes separate from its people, the nation is also behaving in a similar way with regard to the rest of the world. What should be a celebration of international cooperation is happening at a time when the exact opposite is taking place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Phylaktis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>China is at a crossroads: it is retreating from the world’s major economies at the very moment it arguably needs to open up.Kate Phylaktis, Professor of International Finance and Director, Emerging Markets Group, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1639332021-07-07T13:03:03Z2021-07-07T13:03:03ZEngland’s identity: fans sing football’s coming home, but what is home?<p>Sport matters to national identity. The pageantry of flags, emblems and anthems (both official and unofficial) load sport with symbolism and imagery of the nation. One of the key reasons governments spend billions of dollars to host sporting mega events is to build or reinforce a sense of national identity. </p>
<p>However, national identity is fluid, not fixed. Sport offers an arena in which national identity can adapt and change. </p>
<p>In England, where many civic institutions represent Britain as a whole, the men’s national football team is particularly important to English identity. In 1996, the country hosted the European Championships tournament. This coincided with the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jbwp">so-called awakening of English national identity</a>, symbolised by the supplanting of the union flag with the waving of the Saint George’s cross at Wembley football stadium and the singing of a new fans’ anthem, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqimlFcJsM">Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)</a>.</p>
<p>In recent years, celebrating Englishness has often been linked to a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1369148117730542">narrow and exclusive imagery</a>, which is said to <a href="https://www.britishfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Beyond-a-90-minute-nation.-Inclusive-England-report.10.6.21.pdf">marginalise ethnic minorities</a> and those with a more socially liberal perspective, and has been tied to a football culture often associated with hooliganism. Yet now, as England have reached the finals of the Euros for the first time, the team and its manager, <a href="https://theconversation.com/gareth-southgate-what-football-and-business-can-learn-from-englands-manager-163292">Gareth Southgate</a>, have put football at the centre of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-the-knee-in-football-why-this-act-of-protest-has-always-been-political-162541">debate about English identity</a> for the opposite reason. Is a more proud, inclusive version of Englishness emerging? </p>
<h2>Multicultural teams in a globalised world</h2>
<p>A recent graphic promoted by the UK’s Museum of Migration shows a stark picture of what England’s starting 11 would look like without immigration over the past two generations. With only three players without a parent or grandparent born overseas, the national team is held up as a microcosm of a diverse, multicultural population (although the absence of England’s significant Asian communities is glaring). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1409894311374753798"}"></div></p>
<p>To paraphrase <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/nations-and-nationalism-since-1780/3F6F595CECCE1DC0A3F57F8071D98C40">historian Eric Hobsbawm</a>, the imagined community of multicultural England seems more real as a team of eleven named people. As Southgate said <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sport/2018/07/gareth-southgate-and-new-progressive-englishness">before the 2018 World Cup</a>: “In England we have spent a bit of time being a bit lost as to what our modern identity is. I think as a team we represent that modern identity and hopefully people can connect with us.”</p>
<p>In many ways, this is old news. Sport in England and the UK (akin to national identity) has always been a multinational affair, owing to its colonial ties with the countries of the former British Empire. Whether it was Jamaican-born John Barnes scoring against Brazil in 1984, Kevin Pietersen (South African born) winning the Ashes in 2005, or Greg Rusedski (Canadian born), Johanna Konta (Australian born) or, more recently, Emma Raducanu (Canadian born) performing at Wimbledon, British sport has long reflected its colonial history and the tensions and contingencies that brings.</p>
<p>Nor is this issue unique to England or the UK. In 1998, the French World Cup-winning team was both celebrated and attacked by pro- and anti-migrant voices for the multiracial makeup of their <a href="https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/allez-les-bleus-how-frances-multiracial-rainbow-warriors-united-a-nation-98">“rainbow team”</a>, as a large proportion of its players – including its star Zinedine Zidane – had ethnic backgrounds in former French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. The imperial legacies of Belgium, Netherlands and Portugal are also evident in the diversity of their respective squads. </p>
<p>Beyond former colonial powers, most national teams are now more ethnically diverse than they were 30 years ago, due to globalisation and the naturalisation of foreign athletes. England’s quarter-final opponents Ukraine have fielded Brazilian born players Júnior Moraes and Marlos this year, and their captain Andriy Yarmolenko was born in Russia. In addition to historical, cultural and linguistic connections, there is a clear performance imperative: teams that embrace ethnic diversity <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328243676_The_Economics_of_Sports">often</a> <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/262130">outperform</a> teams that don’t.</p>
<h2>‘Englishness’ and immigration</h2>
<p>What is significant about this moment is the wider political context in the UK – particularly the uncertainty over what is “English” national identity and, critically, what should it be. </p>
<p>All this comes amid the fray of polarised debate over the issues of immigration and race in England, and the UK more generally. The prospect of a tighter, points-based system of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48785695">immigration</a>, which has now been introduced, was one of the key themes of the Leave campaign in the 2016 EU referendum. Had such a system been installed several decades ago, the graphic about the English team’s immigration history may well have been approaching reality. And without the talents of Raheem Sterling, Kalvin Phillips, Kieran Trippier and others, England fans may well have been lamenting another disappointing tournament campaign.</p>
<p>Amid the euphoria of reaching a final, there remains much soul-searching, as well as division, among the English on the key questions of “who are we” and “what exactly do we want to celebrate”? </p>
<p>Fans, quite rightly, are celebrating the achievements of the whole English team, as well as the activism of individual heroes like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/06/raheem-sterling-england-denmark-man-should-fear-euro-2020-semi-final">Sterling</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/21/how-marcus-rashford-became-such-a-devastating-activist">Marcus Rashford</a>. Yet while many fans embrace the diversity of the team, the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-57382945">booing of their own players</a> taking the knee against racism – a gesture that originated in the US – shows that identity politics can still divide, on and off the pitch. </p>
<p>In spite of the positive image of diverse modern England projected by this group of players and manager, it is unrealistic to expect football to navigate the current “culture war” and be able to consolidate a more progressive, inclusive vision of Englishness – at least on its own. Other civic, and possibly political, institutions are needed if England is going to mean more than “the 11 men in white shirts at Wembley”.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding how people identify themselves in terms of their nationality, research shows that both hosting a football tournament and making successful progression through it can have a positive impact on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487009001214">national feelings of happiness</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1441352312000927">well-being</a>. If England beat Italy at Wembley on Sunday and win Euro 2020, a feel-good factor will inevitably abound, which may be a springboard to unite a country that is still deeply divided.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johan Rewilak receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Fitzpatrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Could a national football team of multicultural players usher in a more inclusive version of Englishness?Johan Rewilak, Lecturer in Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship, Aston UniversityDaniel Fitzpatrick, Lecturer in Politics, Aston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1521352021-01-15T12:53:48Z2021-01-15T12:53:48ZWhat if the world was one country? A psychologist on why we need to think beyond borders<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378097/original/file-20210111-23-bqsfwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C84%2C7980%2C5072&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/planet-earth-elements-this-image-furnished-248374732">shutterstock Aphelleon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are countless different species on the surface of this planet. One of these is the human race, which has over seven billion members. In one sense, there are no nations, just groups of humans inhabiting different areas of the planet. In some cases, there are natural borders formed by sea or mountains, but often borders between nations are simply abstractions, imaginary boundaries established by <a href="https://moverdb.com/world-border-age/">agreement or conflict</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rustyschweickart.com/">Rusty Schweikhart</a>, a member of the 1969 Apollo 9 space mission, explained how when he looked at the Earth from space, he experienced a profound shift in perspective. Like most of us, he was brought up to think in terms of countries with borders and different nationalities, but seeing the world from this new angle changed his view. He felt “part of everyone and everything”. As he <a href="https://www.context.org/iclib/ic03/schweick/">described it</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You look down there and you can’t imagine how many borders and boundaries you cross, again and again and again, and you don’t even see them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Schweikhart’s perspective reminds us that we belong to the Earth rather than to a nation, and to a species rather than a nationality. And although we might feel distinct and different, we all have a common source. Our species originally developed in eastern Africa around <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/july/the-way-we-think-about-the-first-modern-humans-in-africa.html">200,000 years ago</a> and migrated out into the rest of the world in a series of waves. If there was an ancestry website that could trace our lineage back to the very beginning, we would find that we all have the same great-great (followed by many other “greats”) <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-origin-of-our-species.html">grandparents</a>. </p>
<p>How then do we explain nationalism? Why do humans separate themselves into groups and take on different national identities? Maybe different groups are helpful in terms of organisation, but that doesn’t explain why we feel different. Or why different nations compete and fight with one another. </p>
<p>The psychological theory of “<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/terror-management-theory">terror management</a>” offers one clue. This theory, which has been validated by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215091914000042">many studies</a>, shows that when people are made to feel insecure and anxious, they tend to become more concerned with nationalism, status and success. We seem to have an impulse to cling to labels of identity to defend ourselves against insecurity. There has, however, been <a href="https://web.missouri.edu/%7Esegerti/capstone/Arndt.pdf">criticism</a> of the theory by some psychologists who believe it overlooks wider factors that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10478400701366969?journalCode=hpli20">contribute to human behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>That said, the theory could go some way to help explain why nationalism grows in times of crisis and uncertainty. Poverty and economic instability often lead to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/jun/02/economic-insecurity-nationalism-on-the-rise-globalisation-nouriel-roubini">increased nationalism</a> and to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122271/">ethnic conflict</a>. An increased sense of insecurity brings a stronger need for conceptual labels to strengthen our sense of identity. We also feel the impulse to gain security through the feeling of belonging to a group with shared beliefs and conventions.</p>
<p>On this basis then it’s likely that people who feel the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3792342">strongest sense of separation</a> and the highest levels of insecurity and anxiety, are the most prone to <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/out-the-darkness/201801/the-psychology-racism">nationalism, racism and to fundamentalist religion</a>.</p>
<h2>Beyond nationalism</h2>
<p>One pertinent finding from my own <a href="https://www.stevenmtaylor.com/books/the-leap/">research</a> as a psychologist is that people who experience high levels of wellbeing (together with a strong sense of connection to others, or to the world in general) don’t tend to have a sense of group identity. </p>
<p>I have studied many people who have undergone profound personal transformation following intense psychological turmoil, such as bereavement or a diagnosis of cancer. I sometimes refer to these people as “shifters”, since they appear to shift up to a higher level of human development. They undergo a dramatic form of “post-traumatic growth”. Their lives become richer, more fulfilling and meaningful. They have a new sense of appreciation, a heightened awareness of their surroundings, a wider sense of perspective and more intimate and authentic relationships. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man standing in front of sea with dramatic sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378104/original/file-20210111-23-1nh88li.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shifters report feeling more connected to the world and less focussed on their individual identity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/beach-beautiful-california-clouds-301952/">Pixabay/Pexels</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As I report in my book, <a href="https://www.stevenmtaylor.com/books/the-leap/">The Leap</a>, one of the common traits of “shifters” is that they no longer define themselves in terms of nationality, religion or ideology. They no longer feel they are American or British, or a Muslim or a Jew. They feel the same kinship with all human beings. If they have any sense of identity at all, it’s as global citizens, members of the human race and inhabitants of the planet Earth – beyond nationality or border. Shifters lose the need for group identity because they no longer feel separate and so have no sense of fragility and insecurity.</p>
<h2>Why we need trans-nationalism</h2>
<p>In my view, then, all nationalistic enterprises – such as “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-38698654">America First</a>” or Brexit – are highly problematic, as they are based on anxiety and insecurity, so inevitably create discord and division. And since nationalism contravenes the essential reality of human nature and human origins, such enterprises always turn out to be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267256887_The_Limits_of_Nationalism">temporary</a>. It’s impossible to override the fundamental interconnectedness of the human race. At some point, it always reasserts itself. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black placard with 'one world' written on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378105/original/file-20210111-23-1ghv1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What if we came together instead of pulling apart?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/earth-blue-banner-sign-3039036/">pexels/markus spiske</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like the world itself, our most serious problems have no borders. Problems like the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change affect us collectively and so can only be <a href="https://www.opml.co.uk/blog/tackling-climate-change-is-a-global-effort">solved collectively</a> – from a trans-nationalist approach. Such issues can only be properly solved by viewing humans as one species, without borders or boundaries. </p>
<p>Ultimately, nationalism is a psychological aberration. We owe it our ancestors and to our descendants – and to the Earth itself – to move beyond it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that when people feel insecure and anxious they become more concerned with identity values such as nationalism, status and success.Steve Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1499672020-12-31T20:19:22Z2020-12-31T20:19:22ZKiwiana is past its use-by date. Is it time to re-imagine our symbols of national identity?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375224/original/file-20201215-23-zjxixl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C6%2C4268%2C2837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What’s with those jandals, hokey pokey ice-creams, buzzy bees, Swanndris and gumboots? Far from being random and unrelated objects, these icons of so-called Kiwiana tell a story of late 20th-century nostalgia at a moment of rapid social transformation.</p>
<p>Definitions of Kiwiana vary and the term is widely applied to objects, expressions and pastimes that evoke a sense of national identity. But, as sociologist Claudia Bell has <a href="https://journals.cultcenter.net/index.php/culture/article/view/47">argued</a>, it’s an identity where Pākehā culture is dominant. </p>
<p>When including Indigenous content, Kiwiana has occupied a largely aesthetic and apolitical place. The focus has been on flora and fauna, such as the kiwi itself, the silver fern, koru and pāua shell. Māori incorporation within Kiwiana involves myth-making, traditional costumes and objects such as kete, poi and tiki. </p>
<p>In the 2020s, then, Kiwiana is arguably no longer fit for purpose in a diverse, decolonising nation. Yet these relic symbols persist, part of art and culture in schools and still selling products.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Postage stamp with image of buzzy bee toy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4423%2C3792&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375223/original/file-20201215-14-1dpnfr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Comfort in times of anxiety</h2>
<p>When Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, New Zealand lost its major trading partner and status as “Britain’s farm”. Global oil shocks dealt a further blow, ending the post-war economic “golden weather”. Decolonisation spread from the economy to the social, cultural and political worlds. </p>
<p>As author Richard Wolfe put it, Kiwiana objects emerged as “reminders of who we are”, which served as anchors in a world of change. It was sentimental and looked backwards, nestled in nostalgia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-australian-womens-weekly-spoke-to-50s-housewives-about-the-cold-war-145699">How the Australian Women's Weekly spoke to '50s housewives about the Cold War</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This all happened in the context of a wider popular “heritage moment” in the late 20th century. The British historian Raphael Samuel <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/232534/theatres-of-memory-by-raphael-samuel/">said</a> these “historical fictions” were affectionately conjured up, often in reaction to change, with Americana, Canadiana and Australiana all part of the same phenomenon.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, however, economic deregulation meant cheap imports began to flood the local market. Iconic brands were subject to buyouts and takeovers, fuelling nostalgia for a post-war rural idyll.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Soft toy kiwi souvenirs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375226/original/file-20201215-19-roaaoc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>Symbols out of time</h2>
<p>In a sense, Kiwiana was about evoking the uniformity of a post-war closed economy. The farmed bounty of the land, in particular from the traditional meat and dairy industries, was the mainstay of New Zealand’s economy. </p>
<p>Comforting Kiwiana clothing revived a settler farming and rural mythology, such as the Swanndri, a New Zealand-made woollen bush shirt popular in the 1950s and ’60s with rugged outdoor men including farmers, deer cullers and timber workers. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/born-to-be-wild-revelling-in-the-design-and-desire-of-the-motorcycle-150067">Born to be wild — revelling in the design and desire of the motorcycle</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Along with lamb chops and full-cream milk, nothing captured this quite as much as the breakfast cereal Weetbix. According to legend, Weetbix fuelled Edmund Hillary in his successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. By the 1980s it had captured an estimated 40% of the breakfast cereal market. </p>
<p>Similarly, Tip Top commanded the domestic ice-cream market. Its hokey pokey flavour, a local adaptation involving toffee nuggets in vanilla, became popular in the post-war years. From the 1980s it qualified as Kiwiana, promoted as an example of Kiwi ingenuity, originality and playfulness.</p>
<p>When local supermodel Rachel Hunter become the advertising face of Tip Top, she embodied the connections between the land, produce and consumption. Commercial interests were central in the construction of Kiwiana.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Postage stamp with picture of hokey pokey ice cream" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375227/original/file-20201215-20-omde6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>An expression of uniqueness</h2>
<p>As cheap imports began to replace locally made objects, Kiwiana came to represent a strange kind of authenticity. The humble jandal is a case in point. Auckland businessman Morris Yock started making these “Japanese sandals” in his garage in 1957. Touted as an example of Kiwi ingenuity and adaptation, they were sucked up into the Kiwiana vortex. </p>
<p>The buzzy bee re-emerged in response to the plethora of plastic toys from overseas. Manufactured from 1948 by the Ramsey brothers, the local variation of the wooden pull-along toy was lodged in the infant memories of baby boomers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/confronting-colonial-legacies-in-londons-little-india-151601">Confronting colonial legacies in London's 'Little India'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Objects such as the buzzy bee and Crown Lynn crockery became valued for their manufactured localness — a response, as Claudia Bell <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272209149_Migrating_meanings_New_Zealand_kiwiana_collectors_and_national_identity">put it</a>, to “the risk of annihilation of difference through the impacts of globalisation”. </p>
<p>In the late 20th century, trade with China, Australia, the United States and Japan had overtaken Britain, and tourism had become a major industry. Ironically, kitsch Kiwiana souvenirs made overseas filled a new demand for symbols of an invented national story of Kiwi culture. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, massive social, socioeconomic and political change was challenging the post-war Kiwi consensus. Race and gender relations were shifting. The Waitangi Tribunal’s powers were extended in 1985 and te reo Māori became an official language in 1987. Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1986, paving the way for civil unions and same-sex marriage in the early 21st century. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Paua shell" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375228/original/file-20201215-19-7mfbmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<h2>The past isn’t what it used to be</h2>
<p>Post-war family values gave way to a greater acceptance of divorce, blended families, and solo and gay parenting. Traditional Kiwiana was effectively out of step in this new world.</p>
<p>At the same time, migration from Asia and the Pacific was creating an ethnically diverse population with no cultural memory of Kiwiana or its origins in the fuzzy sameness of a New Zealand that no longer existed. The professional transformation of the once predominantly rural and amateur “national game” of rugby embodied the shift. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-singlet-a-short-history-of-an-australian-icon-145545">Friday essay: the singlet — a short history of an Australian icon</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>And yet, Kiwiana has been carried along in the visual, digital age by a wave of marketing and souvenir commerce. The symbols may have been past their expiry date, but there was still profit to be made in Kiwiana. </p>
<p>It might even be that Kiwiana filled a void left by the decline of religion and its icons in an increasingly secular age. As a kind of national symbolism it is broad, accepting and appealing. </p>
<p>But a closer examination reveals a narrow and nostalgic set of symbols that mirrored colonial settler narratives at a time of economic, social and cultural change. Comforting nostalgia on one level, it’s nonetheless the assertion of an imagined world that was fading away. </p>
<p>With international tourism paused for the time being, maybe now is the perfect opportunity to gently draw the curtains on our Kiwiana past and re-imagine the symbols of our national identity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Based on the nostalgic yearning for an imaginary past, Kiwiana should be quietly retired in the face of massive social and political change.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1466732020-10-05T15:13:10Z2020-10-05T15:13:10ZFrom COVID-19 to the climate emergency: Lessons from this global crisis for the next one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360216/original/file-20200928-22-iigpc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=110%2C0%2C5156%2C3056&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Erosion damage caused by Hurricane Hanna is seen along the Fisher border wall, a privately funded border fence, along the Rio Grande River near Mission, Texas, on July 30, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eric Gay)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic can teach us many things about how climate change emergencies manifest themselves, and how humanitarian organizations can think and do things differently.</p>
<p>COVID-19 is itself linked to some of the same issues as human-influenced climate change. <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-cause-prediction-prevention.html">The outbreak in humans of any zoonotic virus</a>, as SARS-CoV-2 is, goes immediately to <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/">the poisonous way in which humans interact with the natural world</a> — habitat loss <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/covid19-urgent-call-to-protect-people-and-nature">pushing wild animals closer to human settlement</a>, remote mining and road-building putting more people into what were once wilderness areas, industrialized meat production introducing viruses into the food supply, <a href="https://dighr.yorku.ca/resource/the-lancet-countdown-on-health-and-climate-change-2019-policy-brief-on-humanitarian-impacts/">and so on</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-wake-up-call-our-war-with-the-environment-is-leading-to-pandemics-135023">Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics</a>
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</p>
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<p>Some of the worst peaks of the pandemic have reportedly not been in the Global South but in the north, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/10/24/none-these-countries-us-included-is-fully-prepared-pandemic-report-says/">in rich societies that were ostensibly better prepared for a pandemic</a> but that have become unused to facing crises and so struggle to cope with them. Likewise, <a href="https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/the-cost-of-doing-nothing/">the humanitarian consequences of climate change will dominate the lives of all countries, in all parts of the world</a>.</p>
<h2>We’re not all in it together</h2>
<p>Despite the pandemic’s global impact, any illusion that facing a common viral enemy might bring us together lasted a short second. As with all crises, COVID-19’s case numbers and mortality rates have tracked the fissures of racism, class and gender. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race">Black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of white Americans</a>, as <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/why-are-there-so-many-isolated-indigenous-peoples-infected-covid-19">reportedly</a> are <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/disaster-looms-indigenous-amazon-tribes-covid-19-cases-multiply/">Indigenous peoples in Brazil</a>. Climate change impacts <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/beyond-any-drought-root-causes-chronic-vulnerability-sahel%22%22">show a similar inequality</a> in which emerging crises disproportionately affect communities made vulnerable by longstanding, unaddressed disadvantages.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two health-care workers completely covered by white protective suits and face masks tend to patients on gurneys." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Medical staff tend to patients at the intensive care unit of the Casalpalocco COVID-19 Clinic on the outskirts of Rome on March 25, 2020. Italy was hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, putting pressure on its intensive care units.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)</span></span>
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<p>COVID-19 has found multilateralism incapable of delivering on its promise of co-operation between states to overcome global-level threats beyond the capacity of any one nation-state to handle. Three examples from many: the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31527-0/fulltext">Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization</a>, the <a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8a011de1-8206-4ebd-9ee1-26e670f9210e">scramble for personal protective equipment</a> including export restrictions and even charges of state piracy, and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/03/coronavirus-vaccine-global-race/">political race to secure COVID-19 vaccines</a>. </p>
<p>Comparable points apply to international co-operation on climate change. In the short term, the <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/06/25/covid-19-impacts-climate-change/">next-stage climate negotiations (COP26) have been delayed a year, as have international negotiations</a> such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the High Seas Treaty. In the longer term, the accommodations granted to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/17/polluter-bailouts-and-lobbying-during-covid-19-pandemic">polluting-industry lobbies</a> and allied states will only add to the challenges of international negotiations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-global-ocean-treaty-could-protect-biodiversity-in-the-high-seas-139552">How a global ocean treaty could protect biodiversity in the high seas</a>
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</em>
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<p>The instinctive response by states to the pandemic has been the opposite of co-operation: the hardening of bordering regimes. In early July 2020, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/more-than-nine-in-ten-people-worldwide-live-in-countries-with-travel-restrictions-amid-covid-19/">91 per cent of the world’s population</a> lived in <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/more-than-nine-in-ten-people-worldwide-live-in-countries-with-travel-restrictions-amid-covid-19/">countries with heightened border restrictions</a>. And refugees, migrants and asylum seekers have been stigmatized and targeted, <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2168">including in Greece</a>, <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2020/7/6/locked-down-and-left-behind-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-refugees-economic-inclusion">Malaysia</a>, <a href="https://blog.fluchtforschung.net/covid-19-and-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-in-south-africa/">South Africa</a>, <a href="https://www.animalpolitico.com/2020/04/migrantes-frente-covid-19-abandonados-mexico-fronteras-cerradas/">Mexico</a> and many other countries. A similarly repressive instinct, even the closure of external borders altogether, is reality for people <a href="https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/blogs/covid-19-climate-change-and-migration-constructing-crises-reinforcing-borders">fleeing the effects of climate change</a>.</p>
<h2>Extractivism — the only thing immune?</h2>
<p>One industry that seemingly is unaffected by the shutdowns is mining. <a href="https://www.gaiafoundation.org/mining-the-covid-19-pandemic/">Extractive industries have turned the pandemic into a boom time</a>, continuing operations by gaining “essential” status, lobbying successfully for weakened environmental regulations and allying with police and armed actors to repress environmental and Indigenous protests to this. </p>
<p>Canada has systematically <a href="https://theconversation.com/rolling-back-canadian-environmental-regulations-during-coronavirus-is-short-sighted-139636">used the COVID-19 crisis to curb environmental protections for communities and ecosystems</a> in Canada and beyond. It is not a coincidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1559834">extractive industries and supporting governments are the key antagonists</a> in preventing action against climate change and in trampling on the rights of Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large crowd on people walking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honduran migrants walking toward the United States arrive at Chiquimula, Guatemala, on Oct. 16, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Moises Castillo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Trust, denial, elite panic and lifeboats</h2>
<p>Some of the worst outbreaks have occurred in countries where political leaders have sought to downplay and deny the COVID-19 pandemic — most obviously in Brazil and the United States, but also in others, such as <a href="https://cpj.org/2020/04/alvaro-navarro-on-covering-covid-19-in-nicaragua-c/">Nicaragua</a>, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/death-and-denial-in-turkmenistan/">Turkmenistan</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/africa/tanzanias-coronavirus-president.html">Tanzania</a>. </p>
<p>COVID-19 denialism is grounded in the <a href="https://skepticalscience.com/history-FLICC-5-techniques-science-denial.html">same techniques</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/climate-science-deniers-downplaying-coronavirus-pandemic">same amplifiers</a> and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/03/16/climate-science-deniers-downplayed-covid-19-cato-acsh-aei">funders</a>, and the same intent as climate-change denialism. <a href="https://katz.substack.com/p/disarm-the-lifeboats">Rather than save the whole sinking ship, a panicked elite</a> seeks to <a href="http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html">jettison those it does not value</a>. This is “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/9945562/Tropic_of_Chaos_Climate_Change_and_the_New_Geography_of_Violence">the politics of the armed lifeboat</a>”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is a real risk that strong states with developed economies will succumb to a politics of xenophobia, racism, police repression, surveillance and militarism and thus transform themselves into fortress societies while the rest of the world slips into collapse. By that course, developed economies would turn into neofascist islands of relative stability in a sea of chaos. … [But] A world in climatological collapse — marked by hunger, disease, criminality, fanaticism and violent social breakdown — will overwhelm the armed lifeboat. Eventually, all will sink in the same morass.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Dismantling the ‘armed lifeboat’</h2>
<p>The act of providing life-saving assistance and protection to the victims and survivors of emergencies and crises has its own value. But humanitarians need to do much more than simply bandaging the violence embedded in pandemics and in climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with blue hair carries a paper bag and a pair of shoes as she steps among hundreds of pairs of shoes laid out in a grid in the public square." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">During the performance ‘Covid today, climate crisis tomorrow’ at Sol square in downtown Madrid, Spain, a member of the Extinction Rebellion group walks among shoes representing people unable to attend due to COVID-19 on May 29, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The act of moving across borders to escape the effects of an emergency should be understood as more than a mere act of survival — but rather as <a href="https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/migration-as-decolonization/">an important step in decolonization</a>. The same with the protest actions of people who oppose discriminatory, exclusionary and violent policies.</p>
<p>COVID-19 and the health impacts of climate change are closely intertwined with centuries of colonialism, extractive capitalism and racism. And so, a humanitarian response will only hold meaning as truly human, when and if the related histories of harm and acts of contestation are listened to, learned from and are leading the way.</p>
<p>It requires doing things radically differently. Doing otherwise.</p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Sean Healy, head of reflection and analysis at Médecins Sans Frontières - Operational Centre, Amsterdam.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linn Biörklund does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As a zoonotic virus, COVID-19 is itself a symptom of human-influenced climate change. It is also indicative of the humanitarian impact of future environmental crises.Linn Biörklund, PhD Student Critical Human Geography and Research Fellow at Dahadaleh Institute for Global Health Research, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1408112020-09-27T16:13:16Z2020-09-27T16:13:16ZQuinoa is a beacon of hope for the Andean communities in a time of global crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353383/original/file-20200818-20-kul4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C193%2C4608%2C2973&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wuilber Machaca, a quinoa farmer who lives in the Aymara community of Huancarani in Peru's Puno region.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been 7,000 years since indigenous rural communities of the Andes first grew quinoa. Among these deserted highlands, recognised by the United Nations as “globally important ingenious agricultural heritage systems” (<a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a186/84ddd027c429798cf60693d926b7177acce9.pdf">GIAHS</a>), farmers have always faced drought, frost and the difficulties of intense solar radiation. In the context of the ongoing climate and pandemic crises, traditional crops such as quinoa now have an even more fundamental role to play in preserving the local biodiversity heritage. </p>
<h2>Economic miracle or mirage?</h2>
<p>Over the last 40 years, Peru has experienced a quinoa boom, marked by the announcement of the <a href="http://www.fao.org/quinoa-2013/mobile/home/en/">“International Year of Quinoa”</a> in 2013 by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Its perceived qualities as a “superfood” (rich in compounds considered beneficial to a person’s health) led it to cross the oceans and land on European and North American tables, swelling demand for a product of which Peru is the world’s leading producer.</p>
<p>As result, the price of quinoa rose from 3 dollars per kilogram in 2012 to more 5 dollars in 2014. Between 2012 and 2014 the land dedicated to quinoa cultivation in Peru nearly doubled, rising from 35,000 hectares to more than 65,000. In 2014, however, the price collapsed, returning to 2012 levels. Quinoa is still an important commodity in Peru for both the local and global market, helping farmers to diversify their income and have a side role in household consumption. Peru leads the quinoa export from the Andean country accounting for 60% of the global trade in 2018 (Figure 1).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Quinoa market price and land use in Peru from 2008 to 2018" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353388/original/file-20200818-16-1g3cohi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">FAO STAT 2020</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The quinoa boom profoundly changed the country’s agricultural system, giving rise to large producers in lower elevation areas and on the coast. There, agriculture is mechanised, practices are more intensive, the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers is more widespread and the supply of cheap labour is more abundant. </p>
<p>To cash in on the global boom, other countries are now trying to grow their own quinoa – even China is working to become a player, with agricultural policies that in recent years have encouraged the cultivation of more nutritional and diversified foods such as quinoa. The new producers of quinoa creating a fierce competition against which Peru’s small-scale farmers struggle. </p>
<h2>Traditional varieties on the decline</h2>
<p>Before the quinoa boom, black and yellow quinoa were also produced in the Andes, but these traditional varieties have small grains. The global demand for large grains and white quinoa brought them to the forefront, and many farmers abandoned traditional varieties. In Peru’s Puno region, one of the centres of quinoa production in the Andes, farmers today tend to prefer improved varieties over <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3735">traditional ones</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to having larger, white grains that are popular with consumers, newer varieties resist mildew, mature faster and have lower levels of <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-saponins-in-quinoa-toxic/">saponin</a>. Farmers who prefer traditional varieties tend to have smaller farms. Rather than focusing on large-scale production and export, their primary concern is often their own food security, a crucial problem during the <a href="https://www.quinoasymposium.com/hilda-beatriz-manzano-chura-photo-essay">pandemic crisis</a>.</p>
<h2>Food security in time of crisis</h2>
<p>As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, many of the students and young workers living in Lima who were originally from the Puno Region returned to their home villages. Here they rejoined their families and helped them with the farming activities, mainly quinoa harvesting. After March 15, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Peru">Peru’s nationwide lockdown</a> prevented farmers from travelling to towns, making it impossible for them to sell their production. Some abandoned the large-scale harvests and produced only what was necessary for the family to be self-sufficient. The distance from markets featuring foods promoted by <a href="http://andrewwstevens.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Quinoa.pdf">globalisation</a> – pasta and rice – brought back an interest in local recipes with potatoes and traditional varieties of quinoa.</p>
<p>For the farmer Wuilber Machaca, who lives with his family in the Aymara community of Huancarani in the Puno region, quinoa represents a beacon of hope. At the <a href="https://www.quinoasymposium.com/english-program">International Quinoa Research Symposium</a> organized by Washington State University’s Sustainable Seed Systems Lab and Food Systems Program, held August 17-19 in Seattle. “Global demand made us abandon many native varieties”, Machaca said. The potential of selling internationally pushed farmers toward variants that were more productive and pleasing to consumers, but that required intensive farming. Today, however, the ability of traditional varieties to grow in scarce water conditions enables them to better withstand climate change. This advantage provides small farmers with food security and also respect the role of the community in maintaining traditional varieties.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-written by Lorenzo Pirovano, a freelance data and investigative journalist.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Federico Andreotti ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>As the twin crises of climate change and Covid-19 continue to unfold, a traditional crop can help South American communities preserve biodiversity and their heritage.Federico Andreotti, PhD candidate in Agroecology, Université de MontpellierLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1433062020-07-29T10:20:41Z2020-07-29T10:20:41ZHuawei and TikTok are at the forefront of a new drift to regionalism – many others will follow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349920/original/file-20200728-21-rui4zg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Huawei and TikTok were two of the most successful examples of globalisation. Huawei started as a small private firm in 1987 and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/03/the-improbable-rise-of-huawei-5g-global-network-china/">has risen</a> in just over 30 years to become a world champion in telecommunications. TikTok has succeeded over a much shorter time period. Having <a href="https://influencermarketinghub.com/tiktok-growth/#:%7E:text=TikTok%20is%20now%20available%20in,300%20million%20in%20June%202018.">only launched</a> in 2016, the video-sharing service <a href="https://www.socialfilms.co.uk/blog/tiktok-uk-statistics#:%7E:text=In%20total%2C%20App%20Store%20and,reach%2010%20million%20by%202021.">is now</a> the fourth most popular app in the world and has achieved 1.9 billion downloads worldwide. </p>
<p>Both of these Chinese companies are now at the mercy of a widening geopolitical divide. The US <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/07/16/americas-war-on-huawei-nears-its-endgame">has led</a> an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-4704134">increasingly successful</a> campaign to <a href="https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-07-17/tsmc-cuts-off-computer-chip-sales-to-huawei-under-us-sanctions-101580989.html">eliminate Huawei</a> from the global market over alleged security fears, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/22/894343562/trump-administration-is-considering-ban-on-tiktok-in-the-u-s">and is</a> threatening <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/27/21341062/biden-staff-delete-tiktok-personal-work-phones">to ban</a> TikTok too. There <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/tech-trade-war-after-huawei-which-chinese-firms-are-next-on-us-enemies-list/">has also</a> been speculation that other Chinese tech companies such as Lenovo, ZTE and Xiaomi could be at risk. Meanwhile, HSBC <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/06/04/hsbc-hong-kong-china-law-peter-wong/">has risked</a> getting caught <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/07/23/hsbc-fresh-pressure-claims-checks-hong-kong-clients-pro-democracy/">in the crossfire</a> by expressing support for China’s security crackdown on Hong Kong.</p>
<p>These developments are signs of attempts by the US <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/06/prepare-for-the-u-s-and-china-to-decouple">to decouple</a> from China’s economy and concentrate <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/12/29/us-and-china-technology-conflict-heres-why-2020-is-so-critical/#3f198be3175e">on alliances</a> within its own political and economic sphere. It chimes with the wider drift away from globalisation towards a more regional approach to trade, reflected in the difficulties of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the rise of regional trading blocs.</p>
<h2>Regional retrenchment</h2>
<p>In response to the US moves to restrict its activities, <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2020/05/south-korea-is-the-pivot-in-the-huawei-wars/">Huawei is now</a> trying to forge closer supply alliances with companies in China and elsewhere in Asia, such as Samsung. TikTok could be making a similar move but in the opposite direction, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/apps/2020/07/22/tiktok-might-be-sold-to-us-investors-to-ward-off-security-concerns/">amid reports</a> that several US investment capitalists might buy the brand from owner ByteDance and separate it from its Chinese version, which is called Douyin. In both cases, these companies appear to be retrenching from a global to a regional focus. </p>
<p>These developments are being driven by the growing antagonism between China and the US – but many other multinationals are facing a similar dilemma, because the global trade system is at risk of breaking down. Multinationals established their dominance by forging global supply chains that maximised the <a href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Topics/Details/comparativeadvantage.html">comparative advantages</a> of each country involved. </p>
<p>They have been encouraged since the 1940s by global trade policies that have struck down national trade barriers and deepened global economic integration. In recent years, this has been done through WTO agreements. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Donald Trump giving a speech." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349948/original/file-20200728-27-1ks0j50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protectionism personified.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/las-vegas-nevada-december-14-2015-353100986">Joseph Sohm</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the wealth created by globalisation <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldselect/ldeconaf/5/507.htm">has been</a> very unevenly distributed, which has caused domestic political disturbance in many corners of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/14/globalisation-the-rise-and-fall-of-an-idea-that-swept-the-world">the world</a>. Nationalist governments have <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2019/november-2019/in-focus-trade-protectionism-and-the-global-outlook">responded to</a> this new reality with protectionist measures, of which the <a href="https://theconversation.com/winners-and-losers-in-the-us-china-trade-war-119320">US-China trade war</a> is <a href="https://english.bdi.eu/article/news/protectionism-and-nationalism-on-the-rise/">only the most</a> prominent example.</p>
<p>As a result, the trade liberalisation promoted by the WTO has run into difficulty. This was clear from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/01/opinion/global-trade-after-the-failure-of-the-doha-round.html">the breakdown</a> of the Doha Round of negotiations in the mid-2010s due to unsolvable tensions between the member states. The WTO’s system for resolving trade disputes between countries <a href="https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/dispute-settlement-crisis-world-trade-organization-causes-and-cures#:%7E:text=WTO%20members%20have%20failed%20to,rules%20on%20dispute%20settlement%20itself.&text=For%20the%20past%20few%20years,the%20scope%20for%20judicial%20overreach">has also</a> become dysfunctional, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50681431">stemming from a row</a> over how it operates. Regrettably – but not surprisingly – the WTO’s director-general, Roberto Azevedo, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/wto-chief-roberto-azevedo-resigns-amid-appeals-dispute-with-united-states/:%7E:text=Robert%20Azevedo%20has%20said%20he,of%20the%20World%20Trade%20Organization.&text=World%20Trade%20Organization%20(WTO)%20Director,of%20the%20global%20trade%20body.">announced he was</a> stepping down a few weeks ago – a year before his term was due to end. </p>
<h2>The emerging trading order</h2>
<p>In parallel with the rise in protectionism and the WTO problems, countries have increasingly been building regional trade blocs. Examples include <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/nafta-and-usmca-weighing-impact-north-american-trade">the renewed</a> North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the <a href="https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-cptpp">Pacific rim’s</a> Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP), and the <a href="https://asean.org/joint-media-statement-10th-regional-inter-sessional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-rcep-ministerial-meeting/">forthcoming China-led</a> Regional Inter-sessional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). </p>
<p>These agreements are all about further liberalising trade between member states within a region. They do this by cutting tariffs, reducing administrative burdens by mutually recognising one another’s technical standards, harmonising public procurement rules, establishing similar employment levels and environmental protections, and giving easier market access to services.</p>
<p>These measures significantly reduce companies’ operating costs, particularly if their production lines are spread across the countries in the bloc. Ultimately they make supply chains more regional, making it easier to buy and sell goods and services within the zone. </p>
<p>But just like the US-China conflict has caused difficulties for Huawei and TikTok, this regional approach to free trade creates tensions with the multilateralism of the WTO. Regional trading blocs run against the principle on which the WTO is founded, namely “most favoured nation treatment”. This says that whenever one nation grants a trading concession to another, it should be extended to all other nations in the world.</p>
<p>Whenever regional blocs expand trade within their region, producers outside the bloc who can make the same goods more cheaply end up being discriminated against. Global welfare suffers as a result. For multinationals trying to operate global supply chains and trade around the world, this also represents a spaghetti bowl of red tape. </p>
<p>Yet the fact that we are now going to have rival trade blocs in Asia when RCEP launches at the end of the year suggests that more regionalism could be the shape of things to come. If so, this could further fragment the global trade system. </p>
<p>It is of course possible that more regionalism could stimulate global free trade in the long run. Once the nations within a bloc have become highly economically integrated, it may encourage outsider countries to join in a attempt to take advantages of the bloc. The UK’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-approach-to-joining-the-cptpp-trade-agreement/an-update-on-the-uks-position-on-accession-to-the-comprehensive-and-progressive-agreement-for-trans-pacific-partnership-cptpp">move to</a> participate in the CPTTP could be an early example. If this eventually encouraged multinationals to trade across regional blocs, global trade liberalisation could move back up the agenda. </p>
<p>Equally, the superiority of certain players within certain blocs might make this happen by necessity. For example, Huawei’s dominance in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielaraya/2019/04/05/huaweis-5g-dominance-in-the-post-american-world/#4e037b3848f7">5G technologies</a> and its efforts to establish an alliance in Asia and other developing countries raises the possibility that it might one day overtake the US tech giants. If so, it may make western governments think again about whether protectionism was working as intended, and encourage them to re-embrace the system of global trade.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zhongdong Niu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As world trade breaks down into a patchwork of regional blocs, it raises questions about the future of global multinationals.Zhongdong Niu, Lecturer in Law, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1427762020-07-16T12:54:03Z2020-07-16T12:54:03ZHow smugglers are shifting staggering amounts of contraband despite the pandemic<p>On July 1, Italian police made the <a href="https://www.dailysabah.com/world/europe/italy-seizes-daesh-made-drugs-worth-11-billion">largest amphetamine seizure</a> in the world. At the port of Salerno, just south of Naples, they used chainsaws to open large cylinders of paper and industrial machinery that were inside shipping containers from Syria and found 14 tonnes of pills. </p>
<p>In Hong Kong, customs officials seized <a href="https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/shark-fin-smugglers-using-coronavirus-as-cover-to-ramp-up-illegal-shipments-into-hong-kong">record numbers</a> of illegal shark fins in April and May, from an estimated 38,500 sharks. Meanwhile, the trade in counterfeit drugs and medical equipment has been in overdrive. US border authorities <a href="https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/06/cbp-has-seized-nearly-900000-counterfeit-and-unsafe-covid-19-supplies/165959/">recently confirmed</a> that they had seized nearly a million units by the beginning of June. </p>
<p>These record seizures are puzzling, since they suggest that such activities are increasing. The trade in illicit and legitimate goods are usually closely connected, with traffickers and smugglers often using <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/covid/Covid-19-and-drug-supply-chain-Mai2020.pdf">legitimate goods</a> to conceal their commodities – just like in the Italian amphetamine bust. Yet the global trade in legitimate goods has declined sharply during the pandemic and is <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d870d304-9ee8-4699-ae02-cf4e1c488d2a">forecast to be</a> down 10% year on year in 2020. So what is going on?</p>
<h2>Risk and reward</h2>
<p>To some extent, illicit traffic will be more visible to authorities because legal trade flows have shrunk and there is additional checking at national borders. The seizures are also a sign of criminals taking greater risks because they can make higher returns on scarce goods. In the UK, criminals <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/09/gangs-take-bigger-risks-to-smuggle-drugs-into-lockdown-britain">have been smuggling</a> drugs in bulk because it’s harder to smuggle lots of smaller shipments. Larger actors can often cope with the increased transaction costs, while petty smugglers sometimes end up getting pushed out of business. </p>
<p>Criminals have had to innovate to keep their supply chains open. A good example is concealing illegal drugs in consignments of <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/drug-runners-hiding-stash-in-ppe-consignments-say-police-8qb092rzn">face masks</a> or <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/21/world/meth-smuggled-hand-sanitizer-australia-trnd/index.html">other medical supplies</a>. We are also seeing changes in the modes of transport that smugglers are using. Some activities that usually move by air or road – <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/covidcrimewatch-n10/">certain wildlife trafficking</a>, for example – have switched to rail and maritime routes. </p>
<p>Shipping is more attractive because most seaports have continued to operate. In some cases, illicit trade on ships has increased. For example, the port of Antwerp in Belgium <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/cocaine-trafficking-rises-amid-global-coronavirus-pandemic-85464133692">reports that</a> cocaine shipments from Latin America have risen. </p>
<p>Yet there have also been drawbacks to maritime smuggling during the pandemic, including cargo congestion at seaports and reduced capacity because of coronavirus restrictions on vessels and crews. Trains, on the other hand, have <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2020/03/31/china-europe-rail-is-set-to-boom-as-covid-19-chokes-air-sea-and-road-transport/">been running</a> relatively unscathed. They are also less scrutinised by officials and transporting more legal cargo than usual. Hence rail routes from China to Europe have become <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zp6f3jayIE">an attractive alternative</a> for transporting counterfeit consumer goods, for example.</p>
<p>To the extent that smugglers have identified new routes and methods for moving illicit goods, or acquired new knowledge and skills, some of these techniques might well continue after the pandemic. </p>
<h2>Sales and production</h2>
<p>Criminals have had to learn new techniques of concealment and evasion in making and selling their contraband. There have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/07/drug-dealers-posing-joggers-nhs-staff-covid-19-lockdown">reports of</a> drug dealers posing as key workers to move freely in the UK, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/09/gangs-take-bigger-risks-to-smuggle-drugs-into-lockdown-britain">using props</a> like NHS badges or high-vis vests. </p>
<p>Before the crisis, there was already a <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/observatory/trade-in-fakes-in-small-parcels?TSPD_101_R0=085d22110bab20004ecc5e8edd6c3e5e8dd8d73cd436b771409f26ea5ae8bb652047b0a8057e1d04087524210e14300083c4f069fdd3573de56fd90c3afef8475cd4606b57cc51385689ad83d8687adc549111a7745eb0da6a1045e22d26fe96">growing problem</a> of criminals posting small parcels of illicit goods in the mail. This seems even more popular in some places during the pandemic – mail deliveries of recreational drugs <a href="https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2006260955/">in Shanghai</a> have risen, for instance. </p>
<p>Online trading has long been the main platform for illicit goods, and this too has grown in 2020. At least 100,000 new websites <a href="http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=GOV/PGC/HLRF/TFCIT(2020)3&docLanguage=En">have emerged</a> since March selling COVID-related substandard or fake medical items. There are <a href="https://corsearch.com/covid-19-and-counterfeiting-how-the-pandemic-is-reshaping-brand-protection-part-2/">also signs of</a> more counterfeit consumer goods selling online, <a href="https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=GOV/PGC/HLRF/TFCIT(2020)3&docLanguage=En">including</a> fake car parts and accessories. Demand for counterfeits is likely to keep rising as the economy worsens, and because some legitimate goods are more scarce than usual. </p>
<p>Manufacturing of illicit products was temporarily disrupted early in the pandemic. Chinese criminals <a href="https://www.karg-und-petersen.de/anti-piracy-analyst/en/covid-19-disrupts-counterfeiting-and-brand-protection/">couldn’t make</a> counterfeit luxuries, for example, <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/coronavirus-squeezing-mexico-criminal-groups/">or export</a> the usual chemical supplies for making fentanyl, but they were back to business as usual within a few weeks. </p>
<p>Illicit manufacturing did not change as dramatically as other aspects of the trade, partially because it is less flexible. The average producer of counterfeit handbags cannot quickly re-focus on making fake pharmaceuticals. In contrast, a new route for transporting illegal goods can move everything from drugs to wildlife to counterfeit luxuries. </p>
<h2>What next</h2>
<p>Counterfeiting and smuggling have <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v41y2012i2p376-390.html">been made easier</a> by the more dispersed supply chains in our globalised world. Yet these networks are <a href="https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/manufacturing-reshoring-pandemic-thomas/577971/">likely to</a> shrink after the pandemic as multinationals bring some manufacturing nearer home to be less vulnerable to the kind of trade restrictions seen in 2020. Indeed, this “reshoring” <a href="https://www.eft.com/supply-chain/us-reshoring-index-hits-record-high-even-covid-19-pandemic">started before</a> COVID-19, and <a href="https://reshorenow.org/?pageLink=blog-detail&blogLink=the-risks-of-offshoring-intellectual-property-theft">could make</a> smuggling and counterfeiting more difficult.</p>
<p>Shorter and simpler supply chains for legitimate goods will most affect illicit products that are smuggled on the back of them. This would include not only things like drugs concealed in shipping containers but also counterfeit consumer goods “sneaked” into authentic consignments of the same product and sold as the real thing. On the other hand, counterfeits that can be distinguished from the brand-name product usually rely on an independent supply chain. </p>
<p>Deglobalisation is bad news for China-based criminals, <a href="https://daxueconsulting.com/counterfeit-products-in-china/">since they produce</a> most of the world’s counterfeits. They will certainly have to adapt to some companies relocating and diversifying their supply chains and doing <a href="https://info.traceinternational.org/trace-esg-white-paper">more due diligence</a> about their suppliers. </p>
<p>Yet it is difficult to guarantee the ethical standards of your business partners even with greater due diligence, particularly if the economic fallout of the pandemic <a href="http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=GOV/PGC/HLRF/TFCIT(2020)3&docLanguage=En">reduces the alternatives</a>. <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-unstoppable-economy-domestic-investment-consumption-by-zhang-jun-2020-06">There are</a> also indications that for practical reasons, China’s status as the workshop of the world is unlikely to change dramatically. And even if shorter supply chains make a big difference to the illicit trade, it may just motivate criminals to come up with new ways to meet demand. It may just displace illicit supply chains to places such as Turkey, Thailand and India.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Kupatadze does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Illicit and legitimate trade are closely connected, so how come one seems to be rising while the other has plunged?Alexander Kupatadze, Lecturer in Transnational Crime, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.