The Foreign Service Journal, April 2007

Western Europe came from immi- grant groups in France, where youth unemployment is over 20 percent. Guaranteed jobs for some mean mass unemployment for others. Protectionism has another nega- tive effect. It encourages companies to use the political system to extract rents from society for themselves. Increasing the ability of governments to protect markets can drive corrup- tion deeper when firms manipulate policy instead of improving their mar- ketplace performance. This makes markets even less transparent, in- creases prices, drives subsidies higher and usually worsens customer service. Fear and Protectionism If protectionism is so counterpro- ductive, why is it so popular? How is it possible for politicians from Hugo Chavez to Jose Bové to win popular acclaim by attacking trade and global- ization? Why is open trade so disrep- utable in so many quarters? Starting most visibly with the protests at the 1999 WTO ministerial in Seattle, anti-globalization has be- come increasingly popular for several reasons. One is the fear of what change can mean to individuals, espe- cially if they lack a clearly defined way to benefit from it. Without some assurances about their future employ- ment and incomes, people will rightly ask what’s in it for them as the process moves forward. And unless support- ers of globalization have an answer, they will be vulnerable to attack. A second is that the real costs of change are borne by individuals. Although entire economies may ben- efit from trade and openness, and most individuals are generally better off, some people will lose out. When they lose their jobs, watch their pen- sions become insolvent, face a salary cut or witness their community falling apart because of competition, they blame globalization and see it as fuel- ing a race to the bottom. After all, for them, life really is getting worse. A third concern is that globaliza- tion is fueling inequality and causing a loss of opportunity. Although trade A P R I L 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 51 To move forward with the Doha Round, and economic liberalization generally, calls for a new, more comprehensive view of globalization.