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Giddens eggs on India to step up globalisation efforts

Gurdip Singh in New Delhi

Professor Anthony Giddens, director of the London School of Economics and renowned political scientist, egged India to move ahead
on the path of globalisation.

"It should not be equated with economic liberalisation, but should engulf the entire gamut of sociological and political changes," he said.

In an informal meeting with journalists in New Delhi on Thursday, he said India's movement towards liberalisation has been truncated and heavily Western-influenced.

Giddens is to deliver the 1999 Reith Lecture here, entitled 'Runaway World', exploring the theme of globalisation. The lecture has been organised by the BBC World Service.

He called for greater collaborative effort between the G-7 nations and the developing countries to evolve a pattern of globalisation acceptable to all. Giddens said India could take the lead.

Globalisation is a complex process, encompassing almost all social and political institutions, but whose results are sweet, provided care is taken to see that the financial muscle of trans-national companies does not stretch too far. There is need for a new balance between regulation and deregulation, he stressed.

Giddens said globalisation offers tremendous advantages, not least economic benefits. Women's emancipation is one.

Giddens said the word globalisation was hardly used ten years ago. Now it is impossible to escape it.

Every in-flight magazine seems to have an article on globalisation, the speeches of politicians are peppered with references to it, and there is no business manual that does not play with it.

"But does the emperor have any clothes? Is globalisation a myth? If not, how should we best understand what it means and what its consequences are for the world at close of the 20th century?" he wondered.

Coalition governments are not hindrances to globalisation, as the case of England clearly demonstrates, he observed.

Giddens favoured a tax on international financial transactions. He said the recent fall in primary commodity prices was undesirable because it was due to the south-east Asian crisis which led to growth in incomes of the developed world.

"We are the first generation living in a new globalised world. What kind of world is it, what are the consequences for our lives?" he asked.

Giddens is internationally famous for his writings in sociology, politics and social theory. He is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals of the time and the guru of British Prime Minister Tony Blair on issues of social policy.

Giddens is a strong proponent of the "third way", the new evolving social structure between socialism and the naked power of the market.

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