In the Word of Dr. Shashi Tharoor on Globalization

a second and parallel major theme that of globalization and its paradoxical globalization in many ways is knitting us all together while fear of terror is driving us all apart and both of these are happening at the same time in the world the forces of convergence and divergence prevailing in the 21st decade of the 21st century at exactly the same time and I think the tension between those two to me is profoundly important

I'm not a great believer in the clash of civilizations and all that I think the great flaw in that theory is it assumes the existence of modelling civilizations and I don't think there are any I think all civilizations are deeply divided within themselves and are deeply interpenetrating each other in ways that mean that there really is much more of human civilization than say a pure Islamic civilization or a Christian civil engineer Christian civilization or whatever but the whole notion of this clash is I think underscored by this phenomenon of conversions and disruption taking place at the same time in our present era

so when I look beyond the headlines of the day to the broader patterns of the stories around the world that's what I see is is a struggle between globalization and terror between convergence and disruption in a sense between coexistence and putting up barriers

well argue for or against it's always suggesting we have my choice on the matter

I mean we're looking at a world in which globalization is truly a reality you can't uninvent the computer trip you can't uninvent the satellite phone you can't uninvent the various ways in which human beings, as well as their finances their lifestyles, are connected with a speed that was unimaginable a few decades ago so to that degree globalization is merely a term that reflects the real interdependence of human civilization at this point in our existence and so the argument for it is that it's there it's something we have to live with or adjust to the argument against that

I think is not against globalization itself but against those it leaves out from the argument is that the magic of the market is all very well but it will not appeal to those who cannot afford to enter the marketplace and so we do need in a globalized world in which the poorer the people who can't actually get onto the train of globalization get an assist get lifted up where the train stops at every station and not just in the big fancy capitals of the globalized world well we don't have a way seas of prosperity but all-inclusive globalization that actually pulls people out of poverty everywhere in Africa as much as in rural India as much as in China all of that I think it is still lacking and so the critics of globalization are critics in my view of its lack of inclusiveness rather than of its very existence which in my view something we really can't wish away

well, the challenges of globalization are many and varied so to suggest that any institution is up to meeting all those challenges would be futile because obviously the challenges are vast and the best that institutions can do is to be agile enough to respond to them but the fact that we have these institutions is very important because it's very clear like without global institutions we would not be able to respond effectively at all.