The West and the Rest

It doesn’t take a think-tank like Niall Ferguson to tell us that Western societies have played a dominant and influential role across the globe. Now, he says the tables are turning. The U.S. and most European countries have been quite comfortable with their global status, but despite their efforts to spread democracy and liberal markets, they otherwise close their doors for fear of losing the competitive advantage.

Ferguson said that the Cold War kept the West’s colonies and Third World countries close at hand to be used as allies and at the same time containing instability. Now that the Cold War has been over, Ferguson said that these countries’ instability has been unleashed.

The fact that 97 percent of the world’s population growth is within Third World countries demonstrates that these countries have great potential for power and influence. To me, that is huge. It no wonder, why Western countries feel threatened by immigration. Yet, if living conditions improve in these countries as well as government stability, people will not want to immigrate. Something that did not cross my mind is that through the use of technology, people across the world see how comfortable the West is living, and they want that.

Given that the nation state concept is deteriorating, the U.S., especially, is still trying to have an influence on other countries. But it’s no surprise that their influence comes when it is beneficial for them. Our push on other countries is sometimes welcomed, but not always, especially in Islamic countries. I think it especially interesting how Ferguson said that democracy comes after economic development.

It is even more interesting how Ferguson said that countries look to Japan as an example of how to enter the global market. As more countries strive to be like Japan and not remain under the label of a former colony, I wonder how the U.S. will do economically with more competitors. I also wonder how we will control such development. At the same, as more countries become competitive, will inequality continue to increase globally?