The Tribune

IN AN increasingly interconnected world in which information can be instantaneously and continuously transmitted across time zones at the click of a computer mouse, it comes as no surprise that globalisation continues to grow at a bewildering pace.

The development of digital technology has facilitated more effective international co-operation, in particular economic interdependence, and this has boosted the drive towards the so-called “new world order” and the Utopian dream of Western liberal democracies becoming a form of universal government.

To achieve this, Western political leaders have relentlessly pursued, since the end of the Cold War, ever wider co-operation on issues like open borders and mass immigration, financial globalisation, including the scrapping of currencies in Europe, and the strengthening of diversity of equality, together with indulgence of drugs, scorn for patriotism and the promise of worldwide prosperity which has not materialised — and all this has been done with the ultimate aim of imposing a governmental system which supersedes the nation-state as global institutions are further developed and reshaped.

Although many people favour such lofty ideals and objectives in a world beset with, and torn apart by, conflict, the inevitable reaction has been a wave of nationalism in the Western world and the spawning of a reinvigorated populist movement which is transforming politics.

Described as a resentment of existing authorities – elected politicians as well as big business, banks and multinational corporations – which are depriving the people of their rights, values and prosperity, populism is essentially a reflection of the public’s dissatisfaction with, and rejection of, the political establishment.

Older people, in particular, fear they are being marginalised and left behind while they watch the metropolitan elite, from whom they feel alienated, condemning the traditional basic principles of patriotism and personal responsibility together with a sense of community and belonging. Unsurprisingly, therefore, they reject multiculturalism and the free flow of people, labour and capital because they favour national self-interest and identity together with the protection of traditionalism over progressive and liberal social values.

The wave of populism and antagonism between the populace and political elite (driven by fear, anger and distrust and partly encouraged by social media), which is now sweeping the richer northern European countries, manifested itself last June in the vote for ‘Brexit’ in the United Kingdom while President-elect Trump came to power in the US essentially on a populist, anti-establishment platform.

Globalisation will surely develop further, but, reportedly, British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that claiming to be a citizen of the world means one is a citizen of nowhere. She has pledged that in a post-’Brexit’ UK a fresh national effort will take advantage of new global opportunities, including free trade, for the benefit of all its citizens.

In the midst of geopolitical uncertainty and conflict, people want security, stability and a sense of rootedness as well as reassurance about the future. However, one fundamental danger of the rise of populism is a revival of the ugly face of nationalism, demagogy and totalitarianism as existed over the years in some Latin American countries and which led to fascism in Europe in the 1930s and eventually to the Second World War. Western democracies have been evolving since 1945 and, with the establishment of the rule of law and functional judicial systems, they appear to be strong enough to withstand the potential threat of populism to democracy. But, ironically, their stability has been weakened by the European Union’s long-standing commitment to “ever-closer union”, which now seems to be making voters nervous of EU bureaucrats trying to dismantle the nation-state.

Here in The Bahamas, it remains to be seen whether people exposed to news of the spread of populism, particularly in our giant neighbour, may be inspired to flex their political muscles and express meaningful dissatisfaction with a corrupt and failing Progressive Liberal Party government.

The political class would do well to accept that the old, comfortable relationship with a largely quiescent local public, normally reluctant to protest, has ended. There is growing pressure on politicians to respond more readily to people’s fears, needs and demands since it is these which have precipitated today’s so-called Black Friday March in the Bahamas. Perhaps this demonstration and the fast approaching general election, due to be held in May next year, will serve to concentrate the minds of our leaders on the political reality of the times.