Predictions that the coronavirus pandemic would kill globalization began to emerge within weeks of the economic shutdowns it unleashed. Now, Russia’s war in Ukraine has crystallized a consensus that globalization is experiencing its death throes. Rumors of globalization’s death, however, are likely premature.
In Western liberal democracies, anti-China rhetoric seeks to embolden patriotism among Western citizens and provide a clear framework around which to rally the public. In practice, however, this pattern of behavior reveals more about the West than it does about Beijing. It also works to undermine key premises of liberal democracy.
There is nothing more depressing than seeing policymakers surprised by a crisis that informed observers have been predicting for many years. A case in point is the way the EU and the U.K. have lurched into furious action after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to address their energy dependence on Russia and other autocracies.
