The new global world

摘要

States are defined by their geographical boundaries, but what makes them truly influential is their participation in flows (of people, goods, data, capital...) and their degree of connectedness, Rus-sia, for example, is physically larger than China, but China is much more powerful because it has greater weight in global trade. In the same way, Laos covers more land than Singapore, but Singapore is better connected with the rest of the world. Connectiuity is the most reuolutionary force in human history. Mankind's usage of all available technology to build connectivity between cities, communities and individuals is quite simply an anthropological fact, whether we are talking about energy infrastructure such as electrical grids or pipelines, transportation infrastructure such as highways, railroads or airports, or telecommunications infrastructure such as broadband systems or communications satellites. But we must not forget economic connections, such as the stock market and the supply chain. COVID-19 has reduced some of these and amplified others. While trade and air travel haue suffered reductions, digital connections and financial flows have increased. The virus has not killed globalization. Historically, the world has always come out more globalized after periods of great crisis, such as those in the post-war years. The same thing will probably happen when this pandemic ends. For the first time in the history of mankind, we have witnessed a coordinated effort to halt migration, but this is a temporary phase. There are forces at play that will once again oblige people to pull up stakes and migrate as soon as they are able. One of these forces is precisely COVID, which drives people out of countries that haue done a poor job of managing their response to the pandemic; people are also motiuated to abandon lands that haue become unliveable due to pollution.