Trumpism is a Global phenomenon

16 November 2016

The economical consequences of Donald Trump’s promises were the subject of our discussion in the previous article. In this article we are going to look at the phenomenon of Trumpism and its worldwide appeal.

Whether or not Donald Trump is going to implement his promised policies which were so strongly vocalised during his campaign or he is going to adopt a series of more realistic policies when he assumes power and also other factors such as the unpopularity of his opponent and the corruption of the politicians in the establishment are not the subject of this discussion, even though they were very important factors in the outcome of the election.

Here we try to look at a general phenomenon which is spread widely across the world and if not addressed can have great worldwide consequences.

The opening of the world market to the movement of goods, labour and capital as a result of multilateral trade agreements during the course of the last half a century has had great consequences in boosting economies and creation of prosperity. Unfortunately the created wealth has not been distributed fairly amongst different nations and more importantly different communities and sections of each one of these countries. In actual fact some of the industries in many countries have been closed or suffered drastically. There is no doubt that globalization has lead to the closure of many industries as a result of the import of cheap goods and labour from abroad. Quite a number of people have lost their jobs and even the prospect of ever getting a job under present conditions. Globalization has created a large number of dissatisfied and disillusioned people all across the industrialised nations. Trumpism is vocalisation of the pains and dissatisfaction of all the people who have been taken for granted and ignored all these years.

Putting up trade barriers and restricting movement of goods,capital and labour would sound like a good remedy to millions of people who have lost their jobs as a result of free trade agreements and globalization policies. It might be a temporary remedy for the ills of the system but in the long term would have the opposite effect. Protectionist policies would have adverse effect not only in creation of wealth and worldwide prosperity but they also increase the tension between competing economies and might even lead to international wars.

The victory of Donald Trump has already given heart to nationalist and protectionist politicians all across the world in particular France, Germany and many of east European countries. Victory of Marine Le pen and her right wing Front National in the next election in France is a very likely possibility.

After Brexit in Britain we might even experience Frexit in France and maybe some other movements which can eventually lead to disintegration of the European community.

Following Keynesian economic policies which might appeal to socialist parties, if combined with nationalism, can easily lead to Fascism. It is worth remembering that National Socialism (Nazism) in Germany lead to second world war and destruction of Europe and loss of millions of lives on both sides.

What needs to be done is a very serious revision of the existing policies and their shortcoming and flaws before it is too late.