Globalism is neither dead nor dying but it does need fixing

THERE was a time, many light years ago, long before the onset of the Internet-driven 24/7 media age, when politicians and pundits would wait for a while before trying to figure out what was happening out there and making bold statements about the state of the world.

But these days, taking a breath before making sense of the recent political crisis or economic downturn is so passé. So if unemployment is up, there is no need to study the figures. Instead, start tweeting that #GreatRecessionIsHere. A right-wing government comes to power in a faraway country. What does that mean? Never mind. Just post on your Facebook page that the "Nazis are coming".

So it's probably not surprising that the combination of concerns over global economic stagnation and the rising power of nationalist movements helped generate a popular meme, that anti-globalisation forces are in ascendency and that the age of globalism or "neo-liberalism" was over.