Globalisation with a twist: stability, volatility and fragility all in one

It is repeatedly thought that globalisation has not made the world a more stable or equitable place. This brief explores two specific critical risks posed by globalisation for conflict-affected and fragile countries.

The paper demonstrates that:

• globalisation has primarily enabled a vast expansion of the global marketplace for illicit goods and services that offers easy access to various resources
• in this context, globalisation has facilitated the use of violence, and the export of arms and security services has become a thriving business
• on the other hand, globalisation has enabled dominant economic and political ideas to be more intrusively ‘imposed’ on societies without adequate consent
• for instance, the ‘export of democracy’ in the context of conflict has acquired a strong focus on holding elections, and it has on occasion fuelled violence

The document argues that these two risks have generated long-term volatility that manifested itself in cycles of conflict and fragility. Therefore, a strong international agenda to stabilise this dimension of globalisation is desirable.

As a result, the authors suggest the following three elements for such an agenda:

• changing course in the current approach to the global war on drugs: the current approach characterised by criminalisation and supply-side reduction is inefficient and may have adverse effects
• halting the spread of radical Islam as a global factor that fuels conflict: a more balanced approach is required than hunting down terrorists and freezing assets
• better regulation of the international provision of security services: markets in security services need to be guided by a legally binding framework that establishes the conditions under which they can be provided

All things considered, the authors deem that sustainably benefiting from the gains of globalisation requires addressing its unintended effects on the basis of shared responsibility.