An interesting piece titled "Don't give up on the power of governments" on globalisation and role of governments in challenging times is found here. While governments are often compared, at times unfairly, with well performing corporates, the enormity of the challenges are often under estimated.
"But, on another level, the attempt to rate government alongside business and the media is fundamentally misguided: no sector operates at the scale of responsibility, accountability, and expectation that governments do.
Business decides for itself where to invest and grow. Media indulge themselves in a fast-moving news cycle. Government enjoys neither luxury. It cannot simply pack up and move on when it faces a loss or is bored with a story. Government must stay put – and must often clean up the messes left behind by those who do not. On a good day, it may even get to make improvements.
The problem for governments, more often than not, is that in attempting to respond to and reconcile often conflicting individual, family, and national needs, their ability to deliver results efficiently and effectively has declined. As a result, trust in government has plummeted."
Often n the debate on globalisation, the issue is of the State versus the market. The debate is ideological at times and is fuelled by prejudice rather than rationale. May be there is a middle path of recognizing the limitations of both unbridled State power as well as inescapable market failure, of recognizing their respective roles and of working together to make lives better.
