Hard times to make friends
On Internet optimism, the G7 meeting, and what happens when a powerful country like the US senselessly throws away lots of its sway
One of the idealized promises of the Internet Age was the flattening of time and distance. With an Internet connection, everyone could be connected everywhere without delay. It was never entirely true, at least not to the full extent, but we may be on the verge of a substantial reversal of direction.
■ There is no reasonable doubt that domestic politics around the world are being shaped in meaningful ways by foreign interference: See, for instance, the riots taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Simultaneously, international collaboration both in the shadows and in the spotlight has had big effects on politics, as well.
■ Meanwhile, this takes place against a backdrop of a general amplification of extremes without interference from abroad, charged heavily by the effects of both social media and algorithmic media siloization.
■ With the G7 meeting looming, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has openly declared, “What one can’t do at this point in a rapidly shifting world order is to rely on one set of institutions, one grouping, one country to provide the answers”. Carney is in many ways a textbook institutionalist, but he seems unapologetic about calling out what he sees as a major geopolitical realignment that moves the United States from hegemon to participant.
■ The risk is grave that Carney might be right. The time of peak global cooperation, mutuality, and barrier-lowering, largely under US leadership, may be over -- or, at the very least, put on hold for a substantial time to come. And that’s a travesty, because such a reversal in policy will hurt the United States more than most other countries, and it’s largely a self-inflicted injury.
■ Other periods of barrier-building and general retreat from international engagement have been costly, as anyone with even a modest exposure to history would know. But it takes trust and patience to lower the barriers, and while those barriers are in place, people like Carney will rationally position themselves around building substitute arrangements for the good of their own countries if it looks like no one will really stand up for the old institutions.