Key Takeaways
- The profound change in USA is bound to impact every part of the world, according to EAM Jaishankar.
- EAM Jaishankar mentions a shift in the relative weight of countries, with China, India, and others gaining influence.
- There is a backlash against globalisation, with people wanting their identity and diversity to be recognised, and not wanting a flat world controlled by someone else.
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today said the “profound” change taking place in the USA is bound to impact every part of the world, and that there is a “very intense backlash” in the world against globalisation, of a group of people trying to dictate how the world should be run.
EAM Jaishankar spoke to the Raisina Young Fellows Alumni about three major changes in the world, including a profound change in USA, a shift in the relative weight of countries, and a backlash against globalisation.
“When a country like the US changes so profoundly there is no part of the world which is not going to feel its impact and no domain or dimension which is going to be impervious to that change,” in reference to the taking over of the Donald Trump administration and the far-reaching changes being wrought in that country.
“I think the change in America is a very, very fundamental change; you may like it you may not, that’s a different matter, but we have to recognise that change has happened.”
“The second change to my mind is a much more gradual one, which is the relative weight of countries. If you look at the world like a shareholding, the distribution of shares has changed over time.”
Referring to a “practical list of the 20 most important countries since World War II”, he said that one can see definitely a change in the list, and ups and downs, every 20 years.
“There is China, India and others (in the list), and relatively the influence of the western world has been balanced off by many others. So in that sense we have the makings of a multipolar world, or a much more balanced and diverse world.”
“The third change is that there is actually a very intense backlash to globalisation. Not the reality of supply chains which are trans-national, but globalisation as an ideological conviction and an agenda where, if there can be private equity in ideology, where a set of players say we own the world we are the masters of globalisation, and we will tell you what is right and what is wrong, and what is good and what is not; we will decide the cultural correctness of the world. I think today you are seeing the backlash,” he said in reference to billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundation that is accused of political interference in countries, including India.
“That feeling is very pervasive. In Africa, in America, the Pacific Islands, that people want their identity, their diversity to be recognised, they don’t think it is a flat world, because a flat world means someone out there controls it, they don’t like that,” he added.
