Join or Stay aside

It is the era of the fight between globalisation and separatism (or populism, or nationalism). People who believe in globalisation think that countries should join the global community in the spirit of working for the mutual benefit of the entire world, and those who believe in nationalism or populism think it is bad to stay away from other countries’ matters and only focus on what is beneficial for themselves. If we assume that all countries are working for the best interests of their own people, then it is not a matter which ideology is better, whether it is globalisation or nationalism; the only question is under which system it is good for their countries.

Joining the global system is like diversifying oneself across the world, as once a country joins the global community, its economy is linked with other economies that if one country is doing well, other countries will be also benefited. The same situation will occur when bad things happen that

bad influence will also pass on. If one country believes that it will receive greater negative spillover effects coming from all countries’ bad performances (including the multiply effect generated by its own performance) than the positive spillover effects coming from all countries’ good performances, then it is sensible for it to make itself isolated from the outside world. For example, many Americans become nationalists because they think that the US can do well by itself and the world economy is dragging the US economy down in terms of its employment rate, economic growth rate and the stock market performance.

Overall, countries are merely choosing the best strategies for themselves, they do not have to stick to one single strategy. There is no right or wrong ideology, there is only the most suitable for the time.