Globalize or De-globalize in a Changing World Order?

IT is said that "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." But what happens when history seems ill-equipped to offer solutions for the future, simply because the ground rules are undergoing tectonic shifts?

Post the pandemic, the world has transformed on many fronts. One of the biggest lessons from this recent and unprecedented event was the hazard of being a highly connected world. We learned that in times of extreme and global systemic shock, being self-reliant is the best recipe for survival. Whether it was manufacturing supply chains or the distribution of medical supplies, functioning within domestic boundaries became critical.

Most may argue that the pandemic was a 'once-in-a-lifetime occurrence and should not become a reason to throw away the baby with the bathwater. They may say that years of gains from globalization should not be discarded due to one black swan event. But these moderates may have to think again. Before the world could completely recover from the successive waves of Covid19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict began and once again, supply chains were disrupted and countries had to run helter-skelter to procure basic necessities of life, like food and fuel.