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.Such a war of territorialversus nonterritorial political actors is creating an unprecedented crisis ofsovereign rights, where states become targets of potential military interventionbecause they are perceived as havens of terrorists.Since the Iraq War, with itsnow discredited rationalizations about weapons of mass destruction and links toal Qaeda, it seems evident that American global ambitions are not beingacknowledged by the current political leadership in Washington that is hiding itstrue goals in the thick patriotic haze that continues to dominate the politicallandscape despite the passage of time since the September 11 attacks.Normative Appraisal from the Perspective of GlobalGovernance, or Why Inhumane? To some extent, the preceding paragraphs explain why economic globalization,while clearly improving the material and social conditions of life for millions, isstill properly viewed as responsible for a dangerous momentum leading in thedirection of inhumane global governance.Four adverse normative effects will bestressed here, although there are others:Polarization and global apartheid: It is undeniable that globalization hasfostered widening income and skill gaps, whether these are measured by class,region, gender, or race.21 A crucial dimension of polarization is what some callthe digital divide, a term used to identify those who acquire the Internet skillsneeded for gainful access to the information age.This digital divide tends toaccentuate the other, more familiar, dimensions of polarization.The contrastbetween the economic conditions, work skills, and political supremacy of Euro-American whites in the Global North and sub-Saharan African blacks in theGlobal South as situated at the two ends of the poles gives plausibility to theallegation that world order as now constituted bears a significant resemblance to RELIGIOUS RESURGENCE " 139apartheid as it functioned in South Africa during its period of racist governance(although there are also some important differences).This inflammatorycontention of global apartheid also pertains to the flows of refugees, migrants,drugs, nuclear and other ultrahazardous wastes, and weapons, with the whiteGlobal North acting as ever more vigilant gatekeepers while the darker portionsof the Global South are increasingly considered dumping grounds for whatever isunwanted by or dangerous for those who are prospering.It should also be notedthat the affluence of the Euro-American North has not succeeded in diminishingeither absolute or relative poverty.22 Given the rates of economic growthexperienced on a global level for several decades, it is shocking to realize thatmore than half of the world population earns less than $2 per day and lacksaccess to safe drinking water and basic health care.Neglect of human suffering: This dynamic of polarization, even if separatedfrom its racial and civilizational implications, is also destructive of an ethos ofhuman solidarity and community, as it rationalizes the distinction betweenwinners and losers, treating the range of outcomes as justifiable results of marketoperations and not occasions for remedial action.To the extent that the statebecomes implicated in this outlook, there is a shift in stages from thecompassionate to the cruel state, a social circumstance that recalls the earliestphases of the Industrial Revolution, when market logic reigned supreme andworker abuse was rampant These conditions from the early nineteenth centurywere influentially depicted in Marx s critique of capitalism and in the novels ofsuch writers as Charles Dickens and Emile Zola.By neglecting vulnerablesectors of national, regional, and global society, globalization has the unintendedside effect of creating forms of governance that are minimally motivated to actfor the relief of human suffering.Of course, this trend should not beexaggerated.Government spending on social services, especially in WesternEurope, remains close to historic highs.Actually, it is a change of mood andoutlook that is, of ideas rather than a shift of resources that best captures theessence of the link between government and social well-being.23Decline of the global public good: Globalization, as accompanied byneoliberal economic outlooks, relies on private sector initiatives to uphold theclaims of the public good
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