France

WP. It was just the scene the French government had been dreading: burning cars seven blocks from the Eiffel Tower, shop windows smashed along one of the capital's toniest streets, and columns of helmeted riot police advancing across the greensward of a prominent tourist venue... "My country is broken," said Ethuin, gazing at the smoldering automobile carcasses a few yards away and the carpet of glass shards, broken dishes and computer pieces covering the sidewalk in the heart of one of the city's most affluent neighborhoods. "I never imagined I would ever see this in Paris."

It looks like France is feeling the effects of globalization early. It may be the canary in the coal mine for many western societies as off-shoring sucks away jobs at an ever increasing rate. See Blinder:

Sometimes a quantitative change is so large that it brings about qualitative changes, as offshoring likely will. We have so far barely seen the tip of the offshoring iceberg, the eventual dimensions of which may be staggering... That said, we should not view the coming wave of offshoring as an impending catastrophe. Nor should we try to stop it. The normal gains from trade mean that the world as a whole cannot lose from increases in productivity, and the United States and other industrial countries have not only weathered but also benefited from comparable changes in the past. But in order to do so again, the governments and societies of the developed world must face up to the massive, complex, and multifaceted challenges that offshoring will bring. National data systems, trade policies, educational systems, social welfare programs, and politics all must adapt to new realities. Unfortunately, none of this is happening now.

Resilience isn't limited to security. It is also tied to economic prosperity. There aren't any answers to this on the national level. The answer is at the grassroots level. It is only at that level that you get the flexibility, innovation, and responsiveness to compete effectively. The first western country that creates a platform for economic interop and at the same time decentralizes power over everything else is going to be a big winner.

Comments

[Alex]

Bollocks. In France, they have riots every so often. So do a lot of places, including the United States. The French economy created more jobs than the UK over the last 10 years; unemployment is falling, not rising, in France.

And they just, ahem, globalised Lucent..

[John Robb]

Alex, so true. We all have BIG riots. They also typically demonstrate that something is wrong.

[John Robb]

Also, employment and job creation numbers are misleading in this economy. It is very easy to hold multiple jobs, in aggregate producing much less income and benefits than a single good one did before. Some people are able to make this work and earn more (I did). Most aren't.

[mark safranski]

"Alex, so true. We all have BIG riots. They also typically demonstrate that something is wrong."

LOL ! True, true - except given the wildly unrealistic status quo in terms of political economy in France ( lionizing 50's dinosaur welfare statism as an ideal)these riots are a sign the government is on the right track.

[rjh]

I recall the 60's "end of the world" in France and have read about the rise and fall of the various Republics. (I'm too young to recall them from personal experience.) It is very hard to generalize from the French experiences to the entire world. The riots in the 60's had much the same feel. It seems that whenever the French face substantial revisions to the social structure that riots like this are part of the process.

The extent to which the social change is a local French adaptation to a changing world versus a reflection of comparable world wide social change is hard to assess. The intensity of the riots is driven primarily by local factors.

[Will]

I agree that much of what we are seeing in France has a local flavor. However, I agree with John's assertion that the solution is not at the national level, either in the political or the economic arenas, but will come from the grass roots. This,however, is not part of the French culture and will be quite difficult to nurture. Maybe there are some clues in "How to Starting and Open Source War."

In this context, please elaborate on the meaning of an "economic interop."