We ignore the fallout from globalisation at our own peril

GLOBALISATION - a process which suggests the attainment of a worldwide political, social and economic order (but which has so far fallen far short of that ideal) - is in trouble, and faces a critical test in the imminent US presidential election.

Both main candidates are eschewing certain economic aspects of globalisation while the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other stepping stones towards global economic order such as the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are making scant progress. These setbacks, along with others such as Britain's mandated exit from the EU, are widely attributed to politicking on the part of leaders intent on appeasing domestic domestic constituencies. Populism and protectionism are terms very much in vogue at present.

But to ascribe too much blame to political rhetoric and demagoguery is to miss the point that such phenomena are symptoms rather than causes of the current malaise.The underlying cause is the process of globalisation itself, or rather the narrow approach taken towards it so far. The fact that it has not been accompanied by the arrival of anything resembling world government, a unified global culture or a common spoken language, suggests that globalisation is little more than a convenient label for describing a set of essentially economic phenomena.