Page 83 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

that only two can effectively co-exist at any given time. [78]
Democracy and national sovereignty are only compatible if

globalization is contained. By contrast, if both the nation state and
globalization flourish, then democracy becomes untenable. And
then, if both democracy and globalization expand, there is no
place for the nation state. Therefore, one can only ever choose

two out of the three – this is the essence of the trilemma. The
European Union has often been used as an example to illustrate
the pertinence of the conceptual framework offered by the

trilemma. Combining economic integration (a proxy for
globalization) with democracy implies that the important decisions
have to be made at a supranational level, which somehow
weakens the sovereignty of the nation state. In the current
environment, what the “political trilemma” framework suggests is

that globalization must necessarily be contained if we are not to
give up some national sovereignty or some democracy. Therefore,
the rise of nationalism makes the retreat of globalization inevitable

in most of the world – an impulse particularly notable in the West.
The vote for Brexit and the election of President Trump on a
protectionist platform are two momentous markers of the Western
backlash against globalization. Subsequent studies not only
validate Rodrik’s trilemma, but also show that the rejection of

globalization by voters is a rational response when the economy is
strong and inequality is high. [79]

The most visible form of progressive deglobalization will occur
at the heart of its “nuclear reactor”: the global supply chain that

has become emblematic of globalization. How and why will this
play out? The shortening or relocalization of supply chains will be
encouraged by: 1) businesses that see it as a risk mitigation
measure against supply chain disruption (the resilience versus

efficiency trade-off); and 2) political pressure from both the right
and the left. Since 2008, the drive towards greater localization has
been firmly on the political agenda in many countries (particularly

in the West), but it will now be accelerated in the post-pandemic
era. On the right, the pushback against globalization is driven by
protectionists and national-security hawks who were already
gathering force before the pandemic started. Now, they will create

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