PERSPECTIVES: The globalization phenomenon (08/26/01)

PERSPECTIVES

by Andrew Fedynsky

The globalization phenomenon

"Mankind as a whole," Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote, "has always striven to organize a universal state." In his novel, "The Brothers Karamazov," Dostoyevsky maintained that the great conquerors - Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, etc. - were manifestations of that craving for universal unity. Whether that's the case or not, many authors have explored that theme, and, invariably, most of them depicted it as a nightmare - think of George Orwell's "1984," Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We."

As for the reality, that's been worse than fiction. In the 20th century, those who sought to impose universal government unleashed such suffering that words and images can only hint at their monstrosity. Mercifully, the political systems they created are dead.

Yet now, in one of history's great paradoxes, the free enterprise system has created what Lenin, Hitler and others failed to achieve: a universal state of sorts, consisting of giant multinational corporations, multilateral financial and political institutions, and the worldwide communications web.

The phenomenon known as "globalization" makes it possible for a gargantuan ship built in the Netherlands and registered in Panama to bring Saudi oil to Texas refineries that provide gasoline for cars assembled in Japan, Korea or Germany. The drivers, wearing clothes sewn in Singapore from Australian cotton might be listening to an Argentine tenor singing Italian arias recorded on a magnetic cassette made in Mexico and played on a tape deck assembled in China. In another car, the driver might be using a Finnish cell phone to tell a broker in New York to buy stocks in a Canadian company that does business in Brazil.

This phenomenon, this "globalization," is utterly staggering, and, predictably, it's engendered its critics. The annual meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the G-7 (plus Russia) provide a forum for demonstrations and riots, although, in fairness, the vast majority of protesters are peaceful and raise legitimate concerns about human rights, labor conditions, the global environment, poverty and disease. Scores of international alphabet agencies - the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc. - try to address them, with uneven success, but the fact is, for better or worse, we live in a global society.

Now, just a decade after the end of the Soviet Union, it takes some effort to recall how the world looked when half of Europe was "behind the Iron Curtain." Remember Chornobyl? Imagine: a nuclear reactor blows up, and for nearly a week the world has no idea it happened. Even a few miles away in Kyiv, people were kept in the dark, their children made to march in a May Day Parade while Communist officials evacuated their own kids to safety. God forbid something like Chornobyl should happen today, but if it did, CNN would have it live within an hour.

As it turned out, the Soviet cover-up campaign 15 years ago didn't work. Once the radioactive cloud blew across the Iron Curtain into Norway and Sweden, it became everybody's business and the Kremlin was forced to confront a new factor: global public opinion. In the absence of information, alarming rumors spread, fanned to a large extent by another novel phenomenon - a large and vocal Ukrainian diaspora in the West. Eventually, the Soviets sent a spokesman to testify at a congressional hearing in Washington to respond to widespread alarm over their mishandling of the world's worst nuclear disaster.

Since Chornobyl, Ukrainians, who inherited the whole mess, have become active players in the global village. They participate in NATO maneuvers and in U.N. peacekeeping operations; they use money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), apply for World Bank loans ,and work on a variety of projects with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the European Bank (EBRD) and other institutions.

Despite this, the country sputters along, suffering from a decade-long hangover from the days when Moscow used brute force to try to create a global system of their own, based on an entirely different model than the one we see today. Remnants of that top-down, centralized Soviet model continue to command key economic and political positions at all levels of Ukrainian society.

In the past few years, Ukraine's leaders have often asserted their orientation toward "Europe." This is shorthand for the global economic and political system, headquartered in Washington, New York and Brussels, which is the source of investment and ultimately prosperity. Before he was ousted, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko seems to have made good progress in restructuring his country; recent economic indicators are promising. Nonetheless, Ukraine continues to suffer from enormous poverty, even misery. What a disgrace, for example, that one of the country's principal exports is young women who work as virtual slaves in the international sex industry!

Now, after 10 years of independence, the formula for Ukraine's full integration into the global economic system is not that complicated:

1) Stay on course for democracy. There is no better system for unleashing the creative energies of a nation.

2) Respect human rights - freedom of speech, press, assembly and worship. The Soviets paid lip service to these principles, then violated them every day. Ukrainian leaders must resist the temptation to silence journalists and political opponents.

3) Adhere to a market economy. The collective farm system, born of terror and famine, is fundamentally evil and unproductive. The same is true of the Soviet economic model. It worked only through coercion and corruption. Western and, now, global business practices are based on principles of trust and the sanctity of contract law. Ukraine must embrace them.

The global economic system we enjoy today offers uniformity, to be sure - think of McDonald's, Coca-Cola and the English language. But there is also magnificent variety - check out the cheese, beer and wine displays at any decent deli. On its 10th anniversary of independence, Ukraine has arrived as a member of the global community. Now, as with any 10- year-old, it's a matter of learning the rules and behaving yourself. With time, most of us get there.

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