Economic globalisation, nationalism & reforms in India.
Uploaded by on Sep 26, 2007
Economic globalisation, nationalism and economic reforms in India- the literature
Anusri Pal
Senior Research Fellow
BRIC, NSB Business School.
Introduction:
The last quarter of 20th century has seen a wave of economic policy reform in the developing world. This wave of reform had been preceded by the state-directed effects of economic development, where the goals were to achieve self-reliance and import substitution industrialization. These goals seemed justified considering the agricultural nature and colonialism pattern of their economy.
The economic liberalisation covers a number of aspects of policy, but the central issue is to define the relative role of the state and the market in the operation and management of the national economy. The contemporary movement in economic policy reform has involved the retreat of the state and the shedding of many of its economic functions in favour of the market. In the process of globalisation, the ˜international™ economy becomes more closely integrated, with domestic economic agents increasingly oriented to the global market rather than to particular national markets even as the state continues to remain central to national economic development. Thus it is equally necessary to consider also the opposing the in the form of economic nationalism to understand the economic policy reform.
Thus, economic globalisation and economic nationalism are then two fundamental forces that have been shaping the world economic situation over the last few centuries. Both these forces are integrally linked with ˜markets™ and ˜states™. Thus, economic nationalism simply represents another level of working of markets and states.
The rise of globalisation:
The origins of economic globalisation lie in the rise of capitalism in Europe and the process was reinforced by the rise of industrialization that arose as a spontaneous development in Great Britain, and aided directly and indirectly by state. After achieving its own industrialization, Britain turned towards liberalism in the 19th century and as a most advanced industrial power it now enjoyed greater economic advantage for itself in the operation of freer trade. More particularly, Britain has received more credit for its liberalism through political and military coercion to the less developed colonized world. Economic globalisation thus developed not only through the operation of some autonomous economic forces, but also with military power. The other European powers and European colonial settlements like Germany & US launch their own industrialization programmes of industrialization under strongly protectionist or mercantilist policy regimes persuaded by their economic welfare and military securities. But this option of economic nationalism was firmly...