We’re living in one of those miserable transition phases, during which one system slowly fails while another painstakingly replaces it. It took almost a millennium for the Roman Empire to be replaced by the system of states and hierarchies. Hopefully, it won’t take that long for the system of states and hierarchies to be replaced by the corporate system. Meanwhile, during this messy period, all sorts of old and, so we thought, discredited social ideologies have come back to haunt us. I’m thinking mainly of religious sectarianism (hey, where the hell did that come from?) and nationalism which, it has to be admitted, was never really discouraged to the degree it should have been. (Look at Europe’s inability to shake off those old and useless national identities.)
At the end of this transition period, a relatively small number of global corporations will rule the world (relatively small, compared to the number of countries there are today), and the political entities which we now see as the ultimate seats of power, whose erstwhile raison d’etre was based on geography (geography!) will play the role of administrators of corporate activity.
With every world crisis, another aspect of this transition becomes clear. The reaction of the United States and Europe to Russia’s annexation of Crimea is to impose sanctions on particular individuals, Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. What are these sanctions? Denying them the right to travel to Europe and the United States and freezing their foreign bank accounts. These sanctions would be meaningless if the world had not progressed as far as it has into globalization and the rise of the international, pan-geographical corporation.
Would it have made a difference to Hitler and his henchman not to have been able to travel outside Germany? I don’t think any of them had apartments in London or New York they used as bases for shopping sprees. They had no huge foreign bank accounts. German industry suffered from trade sanctions, yes; but as for Herr Krupp, I doubt if his total assets amounted to anything more than a small fraction of that of a 21st century oligarch, and I would bet that most it was held in Germany.
Precisely targeted warfare, whether in the form of drone strikes or sanctions on individuals, is an interesting aspect of this transition period. The last thing the international corporate community wants is bombs falling helter skelter and bringing down the value of precious real estate. With precisely targeted punitive actions, states are demonstrating that they are able administrators who can fix problems in the developed world without resorting to all-out war and the destruction of viable markets.
At the end of this transition period, a relatively small number of global corporations will rule the world (relatively small, compared to the number of countries there are today), and the political entities which we now see as the ultimate seats of power, whose erstwhile raison d’etre was based on geography (geography!) will play the role of administrators of corporate activity.
With every world crisis, another aspect of this transition becomes clear. The reaction of the United States and Europe to Russia’s annexation of Crimea is to impose sanctions on particular individuals, Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. What are these sanctions? Denying them the right to travel to Europe and the United States and freezing their foreign bank accounts. These sanctions would be meaningless if the world had not progressed as far as it has into globalization and the rise of the international, pan-geographical corporation.
Would it have made a difference to Hitler and his henchman not to have been able to travel outside Germany? I don’t think any of them had apartments in London or New York they used as bases for shopping sprees. They had no huge foreign bank accounts. German industry suffered from trade sanctions, yes; but as for Herr Krupp, I doubt if his total assets amounted to anything more than a small fraction of that of a 21st century oligarch, and I would bet that most it was held in Germany.
Precisely targeted warfare, whether in the form of drone strikes or sanctions on individuals, is an interesting aspect of this transition period. The last thing the international corporate community wants is bombs falling helter skelter and bringing down the value of precious real estate. With precisely targeted punitive actions, states are demonstrating that they are able administrators who can fix problems in the developed world without resorting to all-out war and the destruction of viable markets.