Category Archives: Articles for Irish Times

Recent years have seen somewhat of a populist backlash to globalization, and trade and immigration in particular. Seemingly less controversial are technological advances that have changed the way we work, play, learn and interact. Indeed, a certain brand of techno-optimism looks to the ‘white heat’ of technology as humanity’s savior, whether to tackle climate change or provide us all with lives of infinite leisure, unconstrained by the physical limits of planet Earth. Often, those who challenge the prevailing narrative are dismissed as neo-luddites, standing astride the march of progress yelling stop.

A new book by two esteemed MIT economists presents a necessary corrective. Simon Johnson was Chief Economist of the IMF at the onset of the global financial crisis. Darren Acemoglu, an important thinker in political economy, co-authored the influential Why Nations Fail in 2012 and The Narrow Corridor in 2019. They have teamed up to write Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 12 August 2023 ***

There was much Western hubris when the Soviet Union collapsed three decades ago. Political scientist Francis Fukuyama made his name heralding the ‘End of History’. The Cold War gave way to unipolar Pax Americana. The peaceful rise of China was to be accommodated within the architecture of neoliberal globalization. The onward march of social and economic liberalism seemed assured.

In 2022, however, revanchist Russia seeks to turn back the clock while China flexes its military muscles. Universal liberal democracy looks increasingly utopian while even some of its supposed exemplars in the West have flirted with an authoritarian turn. So, has Liberalism failed? Two new books address different aspects of this question.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 19 March 2022 ***

For all the often-justified criticism it attracts, globalization has undeniably lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty over the last four decades. International trade and investment have been central to the rise of China and many more emerging economies.  Immigration, meanwhile, has allowed tens of millions more to escape oppression or abject poverty. Among advanced economies, Ireland has been unarguably one of the big winners.

At the same time, globalization has been blamed for premature de-industrialization, rising inequality, stagnant wages, financial crises and, at least in part, the emergence of populist politics at both ends of the political spectrum. A cottage industry of worthy tomes has emerged to explain this phenomenon, epitomized by Brexit and the election of President Donald J. Trump. Such a political backlash has yet to land on Irish shores, but as one of the most open economies in the world, we stand in the cross-hairs for the actions of others.

Aimed squarely at self-declared ‘progressives’ in the U.S., Kimberly Clausing’s new book is an apparent attempt to influence debate within that country’s Democratic Party as it selects its standard bearer to take on President Trump in the 2020 Presidential election. While acknowledging the need to improve trade, investment and immigration policies, and to introduce a range of other policies to mitigate any negative impact of globalization, she warns against the temptations of rejecting economic openness.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 20 April  2019 ***

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