Localising politics and power

The world, India included, must push power to the lowest levels of governance to avoid popular alienation from the political process

- R JAGANNATHAN

The Trump-era disruptions may be a good time for each country to examine its own economic policies and reform those that have outlived their utility. Many commentators, including some in this paper, have urged India to rethink its protectionist mindset and be open to lower tariffs and more competition. One cannot disagree with this opinion, but it begs a more basic question: Was the world working just fine before Mr Trump ruined it?

My view is that you cannot fix broken global economics by looking only at economic reforms. No country lives in a world where only economics counts; we live in a political economy, and trying to reform economic policies without reforming political systems—and regularly—will only lead us to another cul-de-sac.

To see Mr Trump's victory as some kind of isolated event is to fool ourselves. The same set of economic and political forces has brought parties like France's National Rally (led by Marine Le Pen, now debarred from contesting elections), Germany's Alternative for Deutschland (AfD, led by Alice Weidel), and Nigel Farage's Reform Party in the United Kingdom to the fore. If political systems were truly working for the people, why would they seek out more extreme voices to register their cries of disapproval?