3 Two tales of globalization

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of
incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it
was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything
before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct the other way (Charles Dickens,A Tale of Two
Cities, 1859)

To say that the world is more and more complex is today considered
conventional wisdom. Three overarching factors justify this almost
universal perception. First, the communications technology revolution
has fostered a formidable compression of space and time. Second,
globalization has brought about an unprecedented increase in eco-
nomic, political, social, and cultural interaction among populations of
all regions and countries. Finally, the international scene, which was
traditionally dominated by sovereign states, now has to adapt to the rise
of new actors, both collective (including international institutions, sub-
state governments, transnational corporations, and non-governmental
organizations) and individual (including migrants, refugees, tourists,
and terrorists). The fundamental changes underway in global politics
have quite naturally engendered a vast diversity of reactions among
experts. Far from being altogether cacophonic, however, these multiple
viewpoints can well be understoodas the expression of a coherent
dialogue.
Whereas theprevious chapterconcerned the attitudes of citizens,
this chapter focuses on the discourse of opinion leaders, and shows
that their debates on world affairs can be summarized in two narra-
tives, proposed by the right and the left. As explained earlier, the right
generally believes that the global order is working well, even though
there is obviously room for improvement. Given their insistence on the
egoistic tendencies of individuals, conservatives are forever mindful of

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