What is a Crisis?
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a crisis as “The turning point for better or worse.” Also, “The decisive moment,” and “An unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending,” or “A situation that has reached a critical phase.”
In Greek, krisis, literally means, “decision,”
from krinein, “to decide.”
The connection among people throughout the world has grown much closer in the last few decades. Globalization has created a flow of goods, services, information, and people from place to place, effectively “shrinking” the world into a global village. Ian Goldin, Director of Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, and former Vice President of the World Bank stated in a lecture: “Globalization is getting more complex, and this change is getting more rapid. The future will be more unpredictable. ...What happens in one place very quickly affects everything else. This is a systemic risk.” [15]
Globalization has made it clear that we are all connected to and dependent on one another like cogwheels in a machine. An event that occurs in one area of the planet can instigate a domino effect that sends ripples throughout the world.
The trade connections in the car industry between the U.S. and Japan exemplify how interdependence is the name of the game in a globalized world. The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011 hampered the chain of production and import of cars and car parts from Japan to the U.S. Although it adversely affected the production lines of Japanese carmakers’ factories in the U.S., it positively affected other car makers, who gained market share because of Japan’s troubles.
The financial market is perhaps the best example of international interdependence. Government bonds bought by other governments keep economies and indeed countries locked in unbreakable ties. The Chinese government, for example, must buy U.S. bonds so that Americans can buy Chinese goods, thus maintaining China’s rapid growth and preventing it from suffering from unemployment.
Editor of Newsweek International, Fareed Zakaria, eloquently described this entanglement in a Newsweek article titled, “Get Out the Wallets: The world needs Americans to spend”: “If I were told by the economic gods that I could have the answer to one question about the fate of the global economy… I would ask, ‘When will the American consumer start spending again?’” [16] Indeed, we have become a global village, completely reliant on one another for our sustenance.
A more recent example of global interdependence is the American debt ceiling crisis. In July of 2011, the U.S. needed to set a new debt ceiling. However, the political struggle between Republicans and Democrats caused them to nearly miss the deadline for setting the ceiling. The world was afraid that America would stop buying because it had exceeded its debt ceiling. Consequently, stock markets around the world plummeted. Although no one really expects America to repay its colossal debt, which now exceeds 100% of its GDP [17], and passed the 15 trillion dollar mark [18], everyone still waited anxiously for America to sort out its political dispute so the world could keep working. After all, if America were to default on its debt, tens of millions of workers worldwide would be out of work within days.
Prof. Tim Jackson, economics commissioner on the UK government's Sustainable Development Commission, said about globalization: “It’s a story about us, people, being persuaded to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need, to create impressions that won’t last, on people we don’t care about.” [19]
The Eurozone crisis, where Germany and France are having to pay for the bailouts and rescue programs of the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain), is another example of economic interdependence. While it may seem unfair that German citizens have to pay for Greece’s past squandering, in truth, much of what the Greeks were spending their money on was German goods, which kept German workers employed and paying taxes. So there is a two-way bargain here, with the Greeks helping Germany maintain its economic strength in return for Germany bailing the Greeks out when they are broke. Interdependence at work!
In the past, the world was an aggregate of isolated parts, but as the network of global connections grew stronger, we found ourselves in a new, volatile, unpredictable world. Renowned sociologist Anthony Giddens expressed that bewilderment succinctly yet accurately: “For better or worse, we are being propelled into a global order that no one fully understands, but which is making its effects felt upon all of us.” [20]
Without planning it, we have moved from independently rowing our personal boats in the sea of life into being all in the same boat, as Christine Lagarde pointed out in her above-quoted address. And because now we are all in the same boat, clearly we are all dependent on one another. This means that unless we all agree on the direction in which we wish to sail, we will not be able to advance in any direction whatsoever, as demonstrated by the global slowdown. Imagine what happens when myriad people turn in myriad directions all at the same time. The obvious result is that we are stuck in paralysis, which is the current state of the world.
To better understand that paralysis, think of a married couple having a marriage breakdown. When the crisis peaks, they are so resentful of each other that they cannot tolerate living side by side. While they are still living in the same house, they can’t wait for the moment when they part ways. In such a tense state, the walls seem to be pressing them together, but at the same time, their repulsion presses them away from each other. Like that married couple, we are hateful towards each other. But unlike the couple, we cannot leave because there is no other Earth for us to inhabit.
“Because interdependence exposes everyone around the world in an unprecedented way, governing global risks is humanity’s great challenge. Think of climate change; the risks of nuclear energy...; terrorist threats...; the collateral effects of political instability; the economic repercussions of financial crises; epidemics...; and sudden, media-fueled panics, such as Europe’s recent cucumber crisis. All of these phenomena form a part of the dark side of the globalized world: contamination, contagion, instability, interconnection, turbulence, shared fragility... Interdependency is, in fact, mutual dependency—a shared exposure to hazards. Nothing is completely isolated, and ‘foreign affairs’ no longer exists... Other people’s problems are now our problems, and we can no longer look on them with indifference, or hope to reap some personal gain from them.”
Javier Solana,
former Secretary General of NATO [21]
To cope with the modern reality, we must be considerate of the global, connected nature of the world that appears before us. And here is where science comes to our aid. Connected systems are nothing new; the whole of Nature consists of such systems. The human body—a comparison that will be used frequently in this book—is a great example of a connected system. All the organs in the body are connected and work in synchrony and reciprocity. Each cell and organ in the body “knows” its role and performs it, thus benefiting the entire organism: the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body, the lungs absorb oxygen for the rest of the body, and the liver filters the blood for the rest of the body.
At the same time, each organ in our body is also a consumer, receiving from the body all it needs for its sustenance. And yet, the purpose of existence of each organ is not self-centered, meaning the benefit of the organ, but organism-centered, meaning the benefit of the entire organism. Organs exist as parts of a collective that together form a single, complete unit. Without the context of that unit, we would not be able to fully understand the function or purpose of each organ. The nutrients that each organ receives from the body enable it to function and realize the purpose of its existence, its unique role with respect to the rest of the organism, and realize its full potential by “sharing” its product with the entire organism. This is the prime condition of life in a community.
When one of the systems in the organism does not perform its function, the organism deteriorates into a state called “illness.” If the state of illness is prolonged or acute, it could lead to the collapse of the entire system and the death of the organism.
The global human society and the changes that have occurred in the world over the last few decades indicate that humanity is becoming an integrated, interconnected system, like the rest of the systems in Nature. Therefore, the laws that define the mutual connections among elements in Nature now apply to the human society, as well.
“The 21st century, unlike the period after the Congress of Vienna, is no longer a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Rather, it is a century of multiple networked nodes. The better these nodes are connected with each other, the more they will resonate with the best ideals and principles.”
Professor Dr. Ludger Kunhardt,
Director at the Center for European Integration Studies [23]
Until recently, we felt that each of us was more or less an independent unit. We built a society that allowed everyone to succeed on one’s own, even when that success often came at the expense of others.
But the network of connections that is now developing tells us that this approach can no longer work. The old way has exhausted itself, and now it has been upgraded. To continue to advance, we must work with the new functionality that has taken over in accord with globalization. And to do that, we must connect to one another and work together.
There are already numerous experts in many fields who explain that the old world is falling apart right before our eyes because it is based on a self-centered approach whose time has gone. The new world requires us to reconstruct all systems and processes based on a new approach of collaboration and mutual guarantee, where all are guarantors of each other’s well-being. In the coming years, we will all have to learn how to work together to ensure our survival. Each person, each society, each nation, and each state will have to learn to work together.
“The real challenge today is to change our way of thinking—not just our systems, institutions or policies. We need the imagination to grasp the immense promise—and challenge—of the interconnected world we have created. ...The future lies with more globalization, not less, more cooperation, more interaction between peoples and cultures, and even greater sharing of responsibilities and interests. It is unity in our global diversity that we need today.”
Pascal Lamy,
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) [23]
The solution to our present crisis depends first and foremost on changing ourselves and adjusting to the new reality. For this reason, throughout the world people are beginning to change their behavior—they are beginning to sense that their governments are not functioning properly and cannot provide solutions to their problems. Many feel a need to go out to the street and congregate with others of like mind.
They mention many reasons for such gatherings, depending on the country. In the Arab world they are protesting for democracy and freedom of speech. In Europe they are demanding solutions to the problems of unemployment and austerity measures, and in America it is the 1% who are wealthy vs. the 99% who are not.
Once people come together in protest, they are aware of a new sense of empowerment. You can sense it in tent cities throughout Europe, in the “Occupy Movement” in the U.S., and even in Egypt, where people continually take to the streets because they feel that together they have the power to get what they want. Even when they cannot quite verbalize what it is they want, such as in the early days of the Occupy Movement, it is clear that people enjoy the experience of a genuine democracy where all decisions are made in a group spirit, rather than through lobbying and political maneuverings.
The togetherness of the protesters aligns with the new laws of the globalized world. This congruence adds power to the protests, power to which governments cannot remain indifferent. However, for the protests to succeed, they must remain in harmony with the law of globalization. Any solution that favors one sector or faction over another is just as self-centered as the current system, and therefore bound to fail.
Today, any pressure group that benefits only itself at the expense of others will only intensify the power struggles that already exist, and will accelerate the decline of the society and the economy of that country. The new state of the world necessitates that all of us, from ordinary citizens to decision-makers, resolve our problems through deliberation, consideration, and mutual guarantee.
“Our well-being is inextricably intertwined with that of strangers from around the globe. ...At some point, we'll have to move beyond fighting mode and adapt to our interconnectedness. As Clinton put it, ‘We find as our interdependence increases ... we do better when other people do better as well, so we have to find ways that we can all win.’”
Gregory Rodriguez,
founding director of the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University [24]
The new world requires that we revolutionize our relations, not by force, but in our hearts. It must happen within each and every one of us. In Chapters 3 and 4, we will discuss the means at our disposal to succeed with this revolution. For now, let’s just say that the purpose of this revolution in our perception is to expand our awareness from “me” to “we,” to pull us out of our narrow cubes into our great, common sphere.
There is no doubt that we are living in a special time. The mutual guarantee among us presents itself as the law of life in our connected world. In the next chapter, we will see that not only are all humans connected, but that we and the whole of Nature form a single unit.
“I asked the Dalai Lama what is the key to Peace? He said, ‘Think We, not Me or I.’”
Kenro Izu, founder of Friends without a Border [25]
[15] Ian Goldin, “Navigating our global future,” TED (October 2009), http://www.ted.com/talks/ian_goldin_navigating_our_global_future.html
[16] Fareed Zakaria, “Get Out the Wallets: The world needs Americans to spend, Newsweek (August 1, 2009), http://www.newsweek.com/2009/07/31/get-out-the-wallets.html
[17] “U.S. Debt Reaches 100 Percent of Country's GDP,” Fox News (August 4, 2011), http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/04/us-debt-reaches-100-percent-countrys-gdp/#ixzz1jIhe6Qly
[18] “The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It,” Treasury Direct, http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway
[19] Tim Jackson, “Tim Jackson's economic reality check” TED (October 2010), http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/tim_jackson_s_economic_reality_check.html (min. 06:59)
[20] Anthony Giddens, Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives (N.Y., Routledge, 2003), 6-7.
[21] Javier Solana and Daniel Innerarity, “The New Grammar of Power,” Project Syndicate (July 1, 2011), http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/solana10/English)
[22] Ludger Kühnhardt “A Call for the United States to Rediscover Its Ideals,” The Globalist (May 24, 2011), http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=9149
[23] Pascal Lamy “Lamy underlines need for ‘unity in our global diversity,’” World Trade Organization (WTO) (June 14, 2011), http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/sppl_e/sppl194_e.htm
[24] Gregory Rodriguez, “Rodriguez: Zero-sum games in an interconnected world,” Los Angeles Times (August 1, 2011), http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/01/opinion/la-oe-rodriguez-zerosum-20110801
[25] L'Oeil de La Lettre, “‘Think We, Not Me or I’–The Dalai Lama,” La Lettre, http://www.lalettredelaphotographie.com/entries/think-we-not-me-or-i-the-dalai-lama