Don’t Destroy Globalization, Manage It
Countries have given away power over cross-border flows unnecessarily. They should take some of it back.
Populist leaders feed off rage against losing power to superstates such as the EU.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergAngry populist nationalist politicians don’t just rally the native-born against minorities and immigrants, but against the ceding of power to international bodies. As markets have expanded across the world, the power and resources to act have also drifted up, from the community to the region, further to the state and even to the superstate. Some legitimate national powers are now circumscribed by international agreements.
When many countries engage in nostalgic nationalism, though, each pining for an era when they were strong, international relations become a zero-sum game and cooperative international action an impossibility. Nations come closer to conflict.