Pushing Against the Tide
In “The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions,”[1] Jeffrey Sachs deftly combines the long arc of history with policy recommendations for the here and now. His book is classified under the rubric of economic and global history, a subsection of the social sciences. Sachs, an expert in the field of sustainable development, teaches in this field through Columbia University and directs the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His book begins with a preface that offers a helpful orientation to the rest of his book. Here he expresses his reason for writing this book:
“This book is about complexities of globalization, including the powerful capacity of globalization to improve the human condition while bring undoubted threats as well…Throughout history, it has been important to understand the threats arising from globalization (disease, conquest, war, financial crises, and others) and to face them head on, not by ending the benefits of globalization, but by using the means of international cooperation to control the negative consequences of global-scale interconnectedness.”[2]
Then, in Chapter One, which serves as a succinct introduction to what he expands in the rest of his book, he elaborates on his thesis: “By studying the history of globalization, we can arrive at an informed understanding of globalization in the twenty-first century and how to manage it successfully.”[3] His interpretive frame for understanding history is the “…interplay of geography, technology, and institutions…”[4] He defines these terms and then shares the questions that will shape the structure and content of his remaining chapters:
- “…what have been the main drivers of global-scale change?”
- “…how do geography, technology, and institutions interact?”
- “…how do changes in one region diffuse to others?
- “…how have these changes affected global interdependence?”
- “…what lessons can we glean from each age to help us meet our challenges today?”[5]
In the following six chapters he explores these questions as they related to each age of history:
- Chapter 2: The Paleolithic Age (70,000-10,000BCE)
- Chapter 3: The Neolithic Age (10,000-3000 BCE)
- Chapter 4: The Equestrian Age (3000-1000 BCE)
- Chapter 5: The Classical Age (1000BCE-1500CE)
- Chapter 6: The Ocean Age (1500-1800)
- Chapter 7: The Industrial Age (1800-2000)
- Chapter 8: The Digital Age (21st Century)
In his closing chapter, given the history he has described and the lessons from each period that can help societies today draw on “…our capacities to reason and to cooperate,”[6] he a makes five guiding policy recommendations. He prefaces these recommendations with this thought: “Each age has…invented new forms of governance, and that can give us hope.”[7]
- Sachs has a deep commitment to the policies and practices that can emerge from commitment to sustainable development. He defines this as “…meaning the holistic approach to governance that combines economic, social, and environmental objectives.”[8] A tangible expression of this is the commitment made by UN member states to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 as “…part of an agreed 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”[9] As an aside, I remember being asked by my PC(USA) UN Office colleague to write a devotional reflection on goal 16 (Peace & Justice, Strong Institutions) for a study guide and devotional they were developing for congregational use.[10]
- He also recommends the adoption of a social-democratic style of governance, defined as “…an inclusive and participatory approach to political and economic life.”[11] His policy of taxing “winners” in the benefits of advancing technology in order that those left behind have “…quality healthcare, education, and social protection…”[12] is included in this section.
- Combined with this is his policy commitment to “…subsidiarity, meaning that we solve problems at the proper level of governance.”[13]
- In many respects, he believes the above will only be more fully realized if there is also reform in the structure and current power dynamics at the United Nations. This is his fourth recommendation, and in many respects probably the most challenging to implement any time soon because it would mean that the United States, especially, would have to surrender its place as assumed global superpower. Given everything else he describes from the entire history of the human race, such a surrender seems highly unlikely. I feel grief as I read his analysis: “As the power, voice, and influence of the developing countries increased at the UN, and as the competition with the Soviet Union waned toward the end of the Cold War, the U.S. attitude toward the UN became ambivalent and at times hostile.”[14]
- His final recommendation is encouraging interfaith work that can help create a world that is “…safe for diversity.”[15] Here he held up the “…multifaith effort to find the common basis for global action for sustainable development…”[16] that resulted in “Ethics in Action. He concludes: “The challenge then, is not an unbridgeable divide of human belief but rather the clash of interests and ambitions. The problem is one of politics rather than irreconcilable human difference.”[17] He also relays here the three moral precepts that this diverse gathering found they held in common. One of those is what is frequently referred to as the Golden Rule. His wording for it, however, is done in the negative, whereas the way Matthew’s Gospel quotes Jesus, it is stated in the positive: ““So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (ESV, Matthew 7:12). I’m curious as to why Sachs states it in the negative: “Do not do unto others what you would not have them do to you.”[18]
There is so much in Sachs’ book that I found valuable and thought-provoking. His long view of history and the interaction effects of geology, technology, and institutions on who we’ve become as human beings and human societies gave me another way of mapping the transformative challenges I hope to engage through my project portfolio. I’m chewing on that.
I see in Sachs a deep reliance on the “slow thinking” skills we learned about from Kahneman[19] and an unrelenting humanistic optimism. Both are certainly required to pursue cooperation among multiple nations each with their own self-interest driving them forward. Sachs says multiple times in several different ways throughout his book, “…we also have our capacities to reason and to cooperate…”[20] At the same time, he is deeply aware that “…human nature was forged in the cauldron of territorial competition, which instilled in our genes and our cultures a remarkable capacity to cooperate within a group, combined with a deeply rooted tendency toward conflict and distrust between groups.”[21]
It’s that tendency toward conflict and distrust that is the continuing sticking point at both a micro and macro level. I wonder how Sachs pushes against this tide and the injustices it breads day-in and day-out. His analysis of the challenges facing us in the digital age includes discussion over the tensions between the USA and China and the USA and Russia. His book was published before Russia invaded Ukraine and before today’s headlines that the USA is beefing up its military presence in Asia just in case China invades Taiwan and that a Chinese spy balloon has been seen over Montana.[22] And those are just two examples of many unfolding in our world today at a macro level, let alone the issues confronting our societies at a micro level. And then there is the rapidly multiplying impacts of artificial intelligence with both fascinating and terrifying headlines just this week about ChatGPT and will certainly require significant ethical considerations.[23] I wonder what kind of epilogue he would attach to his book today? As it is, he ends on this note:
“We are left, in the end, with a need, a hope, and a conundrum. The need is to steer the new age of globalization so that our energies are directed toward ending human poverty rather than human life. The hope is that across the world’s societies and religions there are common ethical underpinnings. The conundrum is how easily we nonetheless fall prey to our small difference, which can be stirred into virulent hatreds by demagogic leaders in their quest for power.”[24]
As a follower of Jesus who is also a leader, I need a different location for my hope in order to persevere in the transformative work I have felt and continue to feel called to undertake. Though an important part of my work is building on what diverse communities hold ethically in common, my hope rests in the knowledge that Jesus is both Alpha and Omega and thus holds all of human history in his hand. This is what fuels me to keep on keeping on as I pray, “Your will be done on earth as it already is done in the heavenlies around us.” Part of God’s will is the incarnating of the values of the Kingdom, which includes the kind of just peace Sachs longs to see through Sustainable Development.
[1] Sachs, Jeffrey. 2020. The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions. New York: Columbia University Press.
[2] Ibid., ix and xii.
[3] Ibid., 1.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., 2.
[6] Ibid., 214.
[7] Ibid., 195.
[8] Ibid., 196.
[9] Ibid. 198.
[10] https://www.presbyterianmission.org/resource/study-devotional-guide-for-the-sustainable-development-goals/
[11] Sachs, 196.
[12] Ibid, 202-203.
[13] Ibid., 196.
[14] Ibid., 208.
[15] Ibid., 196.
[16] Ibid., 211.
[17] Ibid., 211-212.
[18] Ibid., 212.
[19] Kahneman, Daniel. 2013. Thinking, Fast and Slow. 1st pbk. ed. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
[20] Sachs, 214.
[21] Ibid., 28.
[22] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/world/asia/china-spy-balloon.html; https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/us/politics/us-china-philippines.html.
[23] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/technology/chatgpt-openai-artificial-intelligence.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Technology.
[24] Sachs. 213.
About the Author
Elmarie Parker
7 responses to “Pushing Against the Tide”
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Hi Elmarie,
thank you for your insightful post. I was curious, out of the five recommendation you mentioned, (In his closing chapter, given the history he has described and the lessons from each period that can help societies today draw on “…our capacities to reason and to cooperate,”[6] he a makes five guiding policy recommendations), which one did you find it most helpful to your current work and organization?
Hi Jonathan. Thank you so very much for your time in reading my post and for your thoughtful question. I think the policy recommendation from Sachs that my organization is able to most directly work with (and does) is his fifth: encouraging interfaith work that can help create a world that is “…safe for diversity.”[15]. At the same time, my organization is deeply committed to addressing the root causes of structural poverty, which is part of the sustainable development goals he describes in his first recommendation. My organization, and the partners with whom we work around the globe, also engages with the other 16 goals to varying degrees. We’re also addressing at more of a conversational level right now the issues raised under his second point–social-democratic style of governance. At this point it is mostly through critiquing the negative impacts of capitalism as it has been historically practiced. This, along with addressing systemic racism, is part of a new office/ministry we have established that is taking up the reparations conversation. This, I think, will help to make the conversation more practical in terms of how at local levels can we go about cultivating a more “…inclusive and participatory approach to political and economic life”[11] in USA communities.
Great post. I do wonder what his epilogue would say given the past three years! How quickly things change.
Do you align with his optimism?
Hi Eric…thank you for your question. I really found myself wrestling with his optimism as I read his book. At the same time, it takes that level of optimism to keep on keeping on with the global-level of work he is engaged in. I can only imagine the disappointments he has experienced over the course of his career. I imagine it is his vision and reliance on this optimistic view of humanity’s capacity to make rationale and reasonable decisions that keeps him going. For me, it is knowing and trusting in God’s commitment to shalom that keeps me going through the disappointments. How about for you? What did you make of his optimism?
Elmarie: Sachs certainly takes the long-arc of human history as you mentioned. It is a greatly condensed history but I appreciated the brevity of it–it enable shim to touch on all the high points of the development of humanity. You can’t help but to see how God is building his Kingdom as human kingdoms come and go. It would be interesting to have a conversation with Sachs about faith.
Hi Troy…thank you for your time in reading my post and for your reflections. I’m very curious to hear more from you of how you see God building his Kingdom as human kingdoms come and go. What in Sachs’ writing brought that forward for you?
Elmaire I appreciate you summarizing this book. You share his quote “By studying the history of globalization, we can arrive at an informed understanding of globalization in the twenty-first century and how to manage it successfully.” Then he leaves the reader with the conundrum that seems to fly in the face of what he claims. How would you classify his initial argument with the tension?