Strains in the Global System: Uneasy Realignments 7.9
Identify strains in today’s system of global stratification.
It is never easy to maintain global stratification.
At the very least, a continuous stream of unanticipated events forces the elite to stay on their toes, and at times, huge currents of history threaten to sweep them aside.
No matter how secure a stratification system may seem, it always contains unresolved matters.
These contradictions can be covered up for a while, but inevitably the discontent multiplies and the demand for change grows louder.
Some are just little dogs nipping at the heels of the world’s elites, bringing issues that can be resolved with few drones or tanks or bombs—or, better, with a scowl and the threat to bomb an opponent.
Other issues are of a broader nature, part of huge historical shifts. Baring their teeth, unresolved contradictions snarlingly demand change, even the rearrangement of global power.
Historical shifts bring cataclysmic disruptions. We are now living through such a time. The far-reaching economic–political changes in Russia and China have been accompanied by huge cracks in a creaking global banking system.
In desperation, the global powers have pumped trillions of dollars into their economic–political systems.
As curious as we are about the outcome and as much as our welfare is at stake, we don’t know the end point of this current strain in the global system and the power elites’ attempts to patch up the most glaring inconsistencies in their global domination.
As this process of realignment continues, however, it is likely to sweep all of us into its unwelcome net.
No comments:
Post a Comment