About the Book and Author
The book under review is titled 'The Age of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions' and was authored by Jeffrey D. Sachs and published in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The book's central theme is how global challenges like international governance and conflict can be addressed by incorporating new methods like digital technology to ensure sustainable development. Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development and University Professor at Columbia University. He has also served as an advisor to three UN secretaries-general and is the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network's incumbent director. Based on his books, Building the New American Economy (2017), The Age of Sustainable Development (2015), and A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018), Sachs is regarded as a best-selling author by the New York Times.
Summary
Global challenges are often the most urgent problems in the current era. They can only be addressed through planetwide, concerted actions if the solutions should be long-term. Jeffrey D. Sachs, expert, and economist on sustainable development, resorts to world history to highlight how opportunities and challenges can be met in the twenty-first century. In the book, the author leads the reader through a series of seven distinct waves of institutional and technological change, beginning with when the planet was settled by early modern humans through long-distance migration and ends in the reflection about globalization in the current age. The author explains horses' role in the emergence of new empires; how technology, geography, and institutions played a role in influencing Neolithic revolutions; the industrial age, and how global empires rose after the sea route from Europe to Asia and America was opened. The author demonstrates the dynamics of this past wave and presents new perspectives about continuing processes in the current era, for example, the incorporation of digital technology in globalization. The author mentions that globalization is a progressive affair that started with foraging in the Paleolithic Age, to farming in the Neolithic age to the use of horsepower in the Equestrian age into the Classical age where empires were built. T progressed to the Ocean age, where capitalism and oceangoing vessels were developed, to the Industrial Age when the modern world was created until where we are in the Digital Age.
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Review
It is quite a good time to be reading the book, "The Ages of Globalization," amid the COVID-19 crisis that has so far challenged globalization and its relevance today. The COVID-19 pandemic has made readers of the book raise the following question: Should countries revert to national self-sufficiency and closed borders policy? Is globalization over? These complexities can be understood through Sachs's writing that helps unravel the historical approach of global linkages' long-term experience since 70,000 BC. According to the author, a staunch supporter of globalization, it is vital to comprehend the threats that arise from globalization, for example, conquest, disease, financial crisis, war, to mention a few. These challenges need to be addressed head-on by foregoing the benefits globalization has on us and adopting international cooperation to inhibit the negative consequences of global scale interconnectedness." The globe is currently suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, but this is not the only global challenges that the globe can face almost the same time. Thus, it is not only through disease control that the world can show its responsiveness toward curbing globalization's negative impacts. The globe can show its responsiveness to other issues like internet control, climate change, and biodiversity loss (Sachs, 2020). These are challenges that have slow impacts, unlike COVID-19, which has almost instantaneous effects. As Sachs acknowledged, it is evident that the book does not provide responses to questions posed earlier on, but they can be responded to from an analytical perspective in the next paragraphs. However, Sachs gives an eye-opener on guidelines that can be adopted to minimize the downside of globalization and instead benefit from it.
Globalization is nowhere close to ending. Contrarily, the challenges that are facing the globe; for example, COVID-19 has helped expose to us how significant globalization is. Globalization is the interactive process and integration among companies, people, and governments worldwide from a definitive perspective. It has accelerated because of communication and transportation since the 18th century. When COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, most countries across the globe imposed lockdowns and other intervention measures to help control the spread of the deadly virus. Flights were canceled very few people were allowed to cross borders. Consequently, COVID-12 acted as an isolative measure that saw the reduction in movement, trade activities, and inter-country cooperation. Many economies suffered due to the recession brought about by the disease. Precisely, the COVID-19 succeeded in diminishing globalization efforts. People worldwide decided to seek different means of reinstating global ties and business, however little the success would have been. People decided to use the internet to hold business meetings, talking to loved ones, touring even museums virtually, among other aspects. This responsiveness helps to explain why globalization is here to stay for as long as no one knows when. This perspective concurs with Sachs posits in the book that globalization is an endless journey that the globe embarked on back in the 18th century. The author mentions that "Humanity has always been globalized," and it is in no way going to end in the foreseeable future regardless of the emergent global challenges like terrorism, disease, and war. Humanity has progressively learned to depend more on the broader world as technology continues to open up to more remote places, exposing unexploited opportunities.
In line with what Sachs proposes, it is unhealthy and even more risky to abandon globalization because of emergent challenges that the globe faces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is easy for most countries to ignore the long-term. However, a country that fails to prepare to revive global links and partnerships will likely stumble into a future of perpetual national selfishness. Most governments are striving to combat the virus using short-term interventions, but they should keep in mind the importance of returning to travel, open trade, and international investment. The pandemic has proven that global challenges know no boundaries. No matter how much countries tried to lock their borders, the efforts seemed futile because the virus still managed to penetrate every into every space. After the pandemic, there is a need for closer international cooperation and the establishment of stronger international organizations that will not only intervene in emergent global challenges like COVID-19 but also vigorously address other issues like climate change, social stratification, and war. Even before the pandemic took a tool, China was able to control the virus since it was the global epicenter of it. In early December, the Chinese police were harassing doctors and experts who exposed any information about the virus. The cover-up for the pandemic has seriously hurt other countries. China had even started mass production of facemasks before the pandemic, meaning it was preparing for a severe crisis but never sent the signal to the rest of the world. At the moment, it is still producing facemasks in bulk number but has since banned their exportation of the same product. This indicates that the country is trying to inhibit globalization by being selfish on information and facilities. Unlike Sachs's perspective, globalization is being hindered by what China has done and is still doing, which has already paid the price. Besides, the author is against the idea of reverting to national self-sufficiency and closed borders because the consequences are dire, as depicted in the current pandemic.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the book "The Age of Globalization," offers a perfect example of how progressive globalization has been through the ages since its inception to the current Digital Age. Globalization is inevitable, which has been proven by the emergent challenges like COVI-19, which has taught the world how merely we perceive globalization but forms an essential aspect of our survival and livelihood. Thus it is very risky for powerful nations to create the illusion that globalization is not as important as perceived. The pandemic has warned us that defying globalization is catastrophic, and we should embrace it in a beneficial way rather than in an adverse way
References
Sachs, J. (2020). The ages of globalization: geography, technology, and institutions . Columbia University Press.
