A Global Political Realignment: Winners and Losers of Globalization

In recent years, a seismic shift has been occurring in the political landscapes across the globe. This realignment isn't just a superficial change in party dominance or a cyclical political swing; it's a deeper, more profound transformation influenced by the winners and losers of globalization. As economies have become more interconnected, the disparities between those who benefit and those who do not have grown starker, leading to the emergence of a new political cleavage that transcends traditional left-right distinctions.

The New Political Cleavage

This emerging divide can be broadly categorized into two camps: Globalists and Nationalists. These groups represent fundamentally different responses to the challenges and opportunities presented by globalization.

Globalists advocate for a technocratic approach to governance. They focus on maximizing GDP through international trade and a transnational rule-based order. Their political style is managerial, prioritizing efficiency and expertise over populist engagement, which often results in a democratic deficit. Globalists seek social harmony within multicultural societies and favor rational, bureaucratic methods of welfare provision. They are generally indifferent to religion, secretive in their operations, and highly regulative.

Nationalists, on the other hand, focus on GDP per capita, emphasizing the welfare of citizens over global economic metrics. They advocate for a strong welfare state for their nationals, with an emphasis on preserving national culture and promoting the growth of the indigenous population. Nationalists prefer a populist style of governance that emphasizes national sovereignty and isolationist tendencies. They seek a dominant national culture, accept other cultures only as secondary, and are generally pro-religion. They favor social controls over bureaucratic regulations and display intolerance to differing views. Nationalists are often hostile to the global elite and are cynical of large-scale government or transnational schemes.

Drivers of the Divide

The underlying driver of this political realignment is the unequal distribution of globalization’s benefits.

1. Economic Disparities: Globalization has lifted millions out of poverty worldwide but has also led to significant economic disparities within countries. While urban centers and those with skills suited to the global economy have thrived, rural areas and less skilled workers have often been left behind.

2. Cultural Homogenization: As global cultures intermingle, traditional and local cultures feel threatened. This has sparked a nationalist backlash, with calls to preserve indigenous ways of life against what is perceived as cultural dilution.

3. Sovereignty vs. Global Governance: The rise of transnational governing bodies and international regulations has eroded national sovereignty. Nationalists argue that these entities are often unaccountable and undermine local governance, fueling resentment among those who feel disenfranchised.

4. Technocratic Governance: The shift towards technocratic governance has led to efficient, yet often opaque decision-making processes. This has caused a democratic deficit, where citizens feel disconnected from the decision-makers, leading to a populist backlash.

The Globalist Vision

Globalists see a world where international cooperation and trade drive prosperity. They argue that:

• A technocratic, managerial style of governance can effectively manage complex modern economies.
• Multicultural societies are more dynamic and innovative.
• A rule-based international order ensures stability and predictability.
• Technocratic welfare provision can efficiently address social issues without the messiness of populist politics.

The Nationalist Vision

Nationalists envision a world where national sovereignty and culture are paramount. They believe that:

• GDP per capita is a more meaningful measure of prosperity than aggregate GDP.
• The welfare state should prioritize citizens, not global metrics.
• National culture must be preserved against the encroachment of globalization.
• Sovereign nations should have the ultimate authority over their own affairs.
• Populist governance is more in tune with the will of the people than technocratic management.

Conclusion

This realignment signifies a profound shift in global politics, moving beyond traditional left-right ideologies to a new cleavage based on responses to globalization. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for navigating the political landscape of the future. As we move forward, the tension between globalists and nationalists will shape the policies and direction of countries worldwide, influencing everything from trade agreements to immigration policies and cultural norms.

Why Hope

 Why Hope:

 

Why am I cursed with the hope that will not start?

With a heart formed of 2^nd hand pre-broken parts

Why am I not good enough?

Why is this discount life so endless and tough?

 

Why is hope setting on me

Why does not one hear my silent plea

I am lost and abandoned

Almost now at darkness’s deathly command

 

Yet, tomorrow, break through the gloom

Hope still dimmer in the oppressive doom

Hope flies like a dove, it springs forth like the flower

For now, is hopes birthing Hour

 

Stand up, stand up and join this war

Abandoned the lost, sad, and depressed no more

Stand beside me, hear me and be my friend

And this darkness shall one day be at an end 

Conservative manifesto - 2019

Budget:

·        Not borrow to fund day-to-day spending

·        public sector net investment will not average more than 3 per cent of GDP

·        National debt will be lower at the end of the Parliament

·        No raise in rates of income tax

·        No raise in rates of National insurance

·        No raise in rates of VAT

·        raise the National Insurance threshold to £9,500 next year

·        keep the triple lock, the winter fuel payment, the older person’s bus pass

·        We will cut taxes for small retail businesses and for local music venues, pubs and cinemas

·        250 million for a cultural capital fund

·        Invest £100 billion in additional infrastructure spending – on roads, rail and other responsible, productive investment

·        flood defenses will receive £4 billion in new funding

·        stamp duty surcharge on non-UK resident buyers

·        new £3 billion National Skills Fund

·        increase the Employment Allowance for small businesses

·        Expand start up loans via the British business bank

·        We will increase the tax credit rate to 13 per cent and review the definition of R&D

·        Bring in a  Digital Services Tax

·        £1 billion Ayrton Fund to develop affordable and accessible clean energy

·        £640 million new Nature for Climate fund

·        Spend 0.7 GNI on international development

Health & Social care:

·        Recruit 50,000 more nurses

·        £34 billion per year by the end of the Parliament in additional funding for the NHS

·        building 40 new hospitals across the country

·        boost early cancer diagnosis across 78 hospital trusts

·        20 hospital upgrades announced in the summer

·        Students Nurses receiving a £5,000-£8,000 annual maintenance grant every year during their course

·        6,000 more doctors in general practice

·        6,000 more primary care professionals

·        7,500 extra nurse associates

·        20,000 primary care professionals

·        £25 million cash additional fund to hospices

·        End hospital parking

·        increase the NHS surcharge paid by those from overseas

·        nobody needing care should be forced to sell their home to pay for it

·        1 billion for social care

·        extend the entitlement to leave for unpaid careers

·        doubling research funding into dementia

·        provide £74 million over three years for additional capacity in community care settings for those with learning disabilities and autism

·        Employment & Welfare:

·        Increased national wage to 10.50

·        create a single enforcement body and crack down on any employer abusing employment law

·        abolished employers’ National Insurance Contributions for under-21s

·        allow parents to take extended leave for neonatal care

·        We will establish a new £1 billion fund to help create more high quality, affordable childcare

·        keep our existing energy cap

·        continue the roll-out of Universal Credit

·        end the benefit freeze

·        maintaining our commitment to free school meals

·        reduce the number of reassessments a disabled person must go through

·        no longer allow people to claim child benefit for children living overseas

·        end the blight of rough sleeping by the end of the next Parliament

·        our target of 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020

·        Crime:

·        20,000 more police

·        Equip police with Tasers and body cameras

·        put the Police Covenant into law

·        easier for officers to stop and search those convicted of knife crime

·        end automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes

·        For child murderers, there will be life imprisonment without parole

·        cut the number of foreign nationals in our prisons

·        trialing Secure School

·        job coach in each prison

·        doubling the maximum sentence for assaulting workers in emergency services

·        add 10,000 more prison places

·        make intentional trespass a criminal offence

·        Double the maximum prison term to 14 years for tax evasion

·        Create a single, beefed-up AntiTax Evasion unit in HMRC

·        increase penalties for fly-tipping

·         

·        Brexit & Immigration:

·        Points-based immigration system

·        Leave the European union by January 2020

·        End the role of the European Court of Justice

·        NHS Visa for qualifies foreign doctors

·        ending freedom of movement

·        Actively recruiting leaders in their field to come to the UK.

·        We will treat EU and non-EU citizens equally

·        student visa allow those students to stay on to apply for work here after they graduate

·        start-up visa, for entrepreneurs

·        boost English language teaching

·        People coming into the country from the EU will only be able to access unemployment, housing, and child benefit after five years

·        £500 million of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

·        Increase the annual quota for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme we are piloting from 2,500 to 10,000.

Education:

·        Investing £14 billion over three years to increase funding for every primary and every secondary school pupil in the country.

·        an extra £14 billion in funding for schools

·        £5,000 a year for each secondary school pupil

·        £4,000 for each primary school pupil

·        £780 million in new funding to support children with Special Educational Needs

·        raising teachers’ starting salaries to £30,000

·        investing £500 million in youth services for young people

·        create a prisoner education service focused on work-based training and skills

·        Youth Futures Foundation will invest at least £90 million to improve employment outcomes for young people

·        have 20 Institutes of Technology

Government reform & agriculture:

·        We will ban public bodies from imposing their own direct or indirect boycotts

·        Our ambition is for full devolution across England

·        Festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2022

·        public money for public goods agricultural policy

·        creating a Great Northumberland Forest

·        guarantee the current annual budget to farmers

·        an additional 75,000 acres of trees a year

·        create new National Parks

·        UK Shared Prosperity Fund to replace EU structural funds

·        get rid of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act

·        equal Parliamentary boundaries

·        identification to vote at polling stations

·        Bring the ivory ban into force

·        We will ban keeping primates as pets

Housing and community:

·        ensure that new GP and school places are delivered ahead of people moving into new housing development

·        We will establish a £150 million Community Ownership Fund to encourage local takeovers of civic organizations or community assets that are under threat

·        Business rates relief for local newspapers

·        We intend to bring full fiber and gigabit capable broadband to every home and business across the UK by 2025

·        . Local people will continue to have the final say on council tax

·        We will encourage a new market in long-term fixed rate mortgages which slash the cost of deposits

·        enabling councils to use developers’ contributions via the planning process to discount homes in perpetuity

·        Maintain right to buy and extend to housing association

·        extended the Help to Buy scheme from 2021 to 2023

·        implementing our ban on the sale of new leasehold homes

·        Ending no fault evictions

·        requiring one ‘lifetime’ deposit which moves with the tenant

·        Introduce a new levy to increase the proportion of recyclable plastics in packaging.

Transport and environment:

·        We will build Northern Powerhouse Rail between Leeds and Manchester

·        We will extend contactless pay-as you go ticketing to almost 200 more stations in the South East

·        We will make a £28.8 billion investment in strategic and local roads

·        We will invest £1 billion in completing a fast-charging network

·        biggest ever pothole-filling program

·        create a new £350 million Cycling Infrastructure Fund

·        Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

·        establish a new £500 million Blue Planet Fund to help protect our oceans from plastic pollution

·        Offshore wind industry will reach 40Gw by 2030

·        l invest £800 million to build the first fully deployed carbon capture storage cluster

·        invest £500 million to help energy-intensive industries move to low-carbon techniques

·        investing £9.2 billion in the energy efficiency buildings

Defense and international relations

·        introduce new legislation to tackle the vexatious legal claims that undermine our Armed Forces

·        We will reduce National Insurance contributions for employers if they employ ex-Service personnel

·        spending 2 per cent of GDP on defense

·        increase defense budget by at least 0.5 per cent above inflation every year

·        Maintain trident

·        building the new Type 31 frigates in British shipyards

·        We aim to have 80 per cent of UK trade covered by free trade agreements within the next three years

·        create up to ten Freeport’s around the UK,

Labours abriged manifesto 2019

Economy:

·         Green Industry [Scheme] will create 1 million jobs

·         Create a Sustainable Investment Board

·         Ask the Office for Budget Responsibility to incorporate climate and environmental impacts into its forecasts

·         launch a National Transformation Fund of £400 billion

·         Rewrite the Treasury’s investment rules to ensure investment our compatible with [green] targets

·         Out of the 400 billion £250 billion will directly fund a Green Transformation Fund dedicated to renewable and low-carbon energy and transport and environmental restoration

·         will create a National Investment Bank, backed up by a network of Regional Development Banks, to provide £250 billion of lending for enterprise, infrastructure

·         Smaller loans will be available through our new Post Bank based in Post Office

·         A Local Transformation Fund in each English region will be used to fund [Local] infrastructure projects decided at a local level

·         We will introduce a windfall tax on oil companies

·         3% of GDP to be spent on research and development (R&D) by 2030

·         no increases in VAT

·         a £150 billion Social Transformation Fund to replace, upgrade and expand our schools, hospitals, care homes and council houses

·         Reverse cuts to corporation tax while keeping rates lower than in 2010.

·         Those who earn 80,000 or over will pay more national insurance and income tax

·         extend the sugar tax to milk drinks

·         £1 billion Cultural Capital Fund to transform libraries, museums and galleries across the country

·         introduce a broader ‘public interest test’ to prevent hostile takeover

·         New 45p rate for those earning over 80,000*

·         New 50P rate for those earning over 125,000*

·         Increase corporation tax to reach 21% (Small Profits Rate) and 26% (main rate)*

·         Tax capital gains at income tax rates*

·         Tax dividends at income tax rate*

·         Extend stamp duty reserve duty – paid on shares *

·         Bank Levy*

·         Increase inheritance tax*

·         introduce a second homes tax*

·         scrap Married Persons Allowance*

Regulation / State action:

·         Change the criteria a company must meet to be listed on the London Stock Exchange so that any company that fails to contribute to tackling the climate and environmental emergency is delisted.

·         We will introduce a zero-carbon homes standard for all new homes

·         Nationalize Water

·         Nationalize energy

·         14 new Regional Energy Agencies will replace the existing district network

·         establish a Foundation Industries Sector Council

·         building three new steel recycling plants

·         upgrading existing steel production sites

·         require all companies bidding for public contracts to recognize trade unions, pay suppliers on time and demonstrate equalities best practice

·         investing in three new gigafactories for electric cars

·         investing in a new plastics remanufacturing industry creating thousands of jobs

·         Labour will end the current presumption in favor of outsourcing public services and introduce a presumption in favor of insourcing

·         taking back all PFI contracts over time

·         We will provide free personal care over £100,000 - a lifetime cap on personal contributions to care costs

·         end 15-minute care visits

·         We will recruit nearly 150,000 additional early years staff

·         We will constrain the right of the Prime Minister to suppress publication of committee reports

·         Bring Rubbish collection back to local council control

·         Bring management of local leisure centers back under local council control

·         Royal Mail back into public ownership

·         creating a publicly owned Post Bank

·         Create a Co-operative Development Agency a mission to double the size of the co-operative sector.

·         clearer rules on who is fit and proper to own or run TV and radio stations

·         We will take action to address the monopolistic hold the tech giants have on advertising revenues

·         We will review the ‘fit and proper person test’ for club owners and director

·         Establish accredited football supporters’ trusts to be able to appoint and remove at least two club directors and purchase shares when clubs change hands

·         introduce a new, unified Workers’ Protection Agency to enforce workplace rights

·         amend the Companies Act, requiring companies to priorities long-term growth

·         We will require one-third of boards to be reserved for elected worker-directors

·         new Department for Women and Equalities

·         Labour will deliver free full-fiber broadband to all by 2030

·         new Department for Housing

·         set up a new English Sovereign Land Trust, with powers to buy land more cheaply for low-cost housing

·         Nationalize buses

·         Nationalize railways

Energy & Housing:

·         We will deliver nearly 90% of electricity and 50% of heat from renewable and low-carbon sources by 2030.

·         build:  7,000 new offshore wind turbines

·         Build 2,000 new onshore wind turbines

·         Enough solar panels to cover 22,000 football pitches

·         Some (?) nuclear power stations

·         We will upgrade most homes to the highest energy-efficiency standards

·         Permanently ban fracking

·         introduce a Climate and Environment Emergency Bill setting out in law robust, binding new [environmental] standards

·         We will ban fast-food restaurants near schools

·         We will introduce a £1 billion Fire Safety Fund to fit sprinklers and other fire safety measures in all high-rise buildings

·         We will use public land to build this housing

·         ‘use it or lose it’ taxes on stalled housing developments

·         By the end of the Parliament we will be building at an annual rate of at least 150,000 council and social homes

·         with 100,000 of these built by councils for social rent

·         We will end the conversion of office blocks to homes that sidestep planning permission

·         ending the right to buy

Employment & Childcare

·         Support energy workers guarantee them retraining and a new, unionised job on equivalent terms and conditions.

·         launch a Climate Apprenticeship program

·         employers will be expected to allocate 25% of the funds in their Apprenticeship Levy accounts to training Climate

·         In the public sector, we will enforce maximum pay ratios of 20:1.

·         year-on-year above-inflation public sector pay rises, starting with a 5% increase

·         We will introduce a training bursary for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals

·         provide free education for everyone throughout their lives

·         Build Sure Start Plus, with enough centers to provide a genuinely universal

·         Build 1000 new sure start centers

·         paid maternity leave to 12 months

·         all 2 to 4 year-olds will be entitled to 30 hours of free preschool education per week

·         Subsidies additional hours of 2-4 year old care

·         free training to the childcare workforce to be trained to graduate level

·         Right to accrue paid time off for education and training.

·         Real Living Wage of at least £10 per hour for all workers aged 16 and over

·         requiring large companies to set up Inclusive Ownership Funds

·         collective income protection insurance schemes for the self employed

·         establishing a Ministry for Employment Rights

·         sectoral collective bargaining across the economy

·         full rights from day one on the job\

·         creating a single status of ‘worker’ for everyone apart from those genuinely self-employed in business on their own account

·         legal right to collective consultation on the implementation of new technology in workplaces

·         Banning zero-hour contracts

·         Doubling paternity leave from two weeks to four

·         Introducing four new bank holidays

·         Banning unpaid internships

·         Remove unnecessary restrictions on industrial action

·         Repeal anti-trade union legislation including the Trade Union Act 2016

·         reduce average full-time weekly working hours to 32 across the economy

·         Require all employers with over 250 employees to obtain government certification on gender equality

·         including new discount homes with prices linked to local incomes

·         We will introduce a levy on overseas companies buying housing

·         new powers to tax properties empty for over a year

·         end the sale of new leasehold properties

·         give leaseholders the right to buy their freehold at a price they can afford

·         Introduce rent controls

·         End no fault eviction

·         fund new renters’ unions in every part of the country

Travel & Environment

·         Labour will introduce free bus travel for under-25s

·         reinstating the 3,000 bus routes

·         We will implement a full, rolling program of  rail electrification

·         We will consult with local communities to reopen branch lines

·         End combustion engine sales by 2030

·         setting national minimum standards of safety and accessibility for Taxies

·         Introduce a new Clean Air Act

·         Introduce a vehicle scrappage scheme

·         extra £5.6 billion in funding to improve the standard of flood defenses

·         set legally binding targets to drive the restoration of species and habitats

·         create new National Parks

·         We will set maximum sustainable yields for all shared fish stocks

Welfare & local community:

·         A new right to food – remove the need for food banks within 3 year

·         stopping bank branch closures

·         ,banning ATM charges

·         creating a publicly owned Post Bank

·         We will protect free TV licenses for over-75s

·         new Gambling Act fit for the digital age, establishing gambling limits

·         levy for problem gambling funding and mechanisms for consumer compensations

·         eradicate in-work poverty

·         Including a pilot of Universal Basic Income.

·         annual income assessments for those on Universal Credit

·         £20 million to support the survivors of modern slavery, people trafficking and domestic violence

·         Scrap universal credit

·         Create a welfare system which guarantees a minimum standard of living

·         End sanctions

·         scrapping the benefit cap and the two child limit

·         Labour will end the digital barrier and offer telephone, face-to face and outreach support

·         We will recruit 5,000 additional welfare advisors

·         scrapping the bedroom tax

·         increasing the Local Housing Allowance

·         End PIP assessment

·         Increase Employment and Support Allowance by £30 per week for those in the work-related activity group

·         Raise the basic rate of support for children with disabilities to the level of Child Tax Credits

·         Keep the retirement age at 66

·         We will maintain the ‘triple lock’ and guarantee the Winter Fuel Payment, free TV licenses and free bus passes as universal benefits

·         We will support those who look after others, increasing the Career’s Allowance to the level of the Jobseeker’s Allowance

Health and social care

·         We will increase expenditure across the health sector by an average 4.3% a year

·         end patient charges - abolish prescription charges

·         Labour will end and reverse privatisation in the NHS

·         We will repeal the Health and Social Care Act

·         bring subsidiary companies back in-house

·         free annual NHS dental check-ups

·         end mixed-sex wards

·         NHS Forest of one million trees

·         NHS fleet cars and hybrid ambulances

·         free hospital parking for patients, staff and visitors

·         an additional £1.6 billion a year to ensure new standards for mental health

·         We will invest £2 billion to modernize hospital facilities and end the use of inappropriate, out-of-area placements.

·         £845 million on children and adolescent mental health services

·         We will establish a network of open access mental health hubs

·         recruit almost 3,500 qualified counsellors

·         guarantee every child access to school counsellors

·         invest more than £1 billion in public health and recruit 4,500 more health visitors and school nurses

·         build a comprehensive National Care Service for England

·         Create a National Youth Service

·         guarantee every young person has access to local, high-quality youth work

·         Labour will deliver free full-fiber broadband to all by 2030

·         end rough sleeping within five years

·         We will make available 8,000 additional homes for people with a history of rough sleeping

·         raising the Local Housing Allowance

·         additional £1 billion a year for councils’ homelessness services 

Education

·         Maximum class sizes of 30 for all primary school children.

·         fund more non-contact time for teachers to prepare and plan

·         scrapping Key Stage 1

·         Scrap 2 SATs

·         Arts Pupil Premium to fund arts education for every primary school child

·         bringing free schools and academies back under control

·         We will replace Ofsted

·         A new teacher supply service

·         free school meals for all primary school children

·         Bring back the School Support Staff Negotiating Body and national pay settlements for teachers.

·         close the tax loopholes used by private schools

·         bringing back the Education Maintenance Allowance

·         Six years training at Levels 4-6, with maintenance grants for disadvantaged learners

·         Restore funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages

·         Create a single national system of regulation that functions for education as our NHS does for healthcare provision

·         abolish tuition fees

·         bring back maintenance grants

Crime & Immigration:

·         guarantee young people’s access to youth worker

·         recruit 22,000 more frontline officers

·         Proportionate stop-and-search based on intelligence

·         We will introduce minimum legal standards of service for all victims of crime

·         aim of introducing an emergency alert system

·         restore total prison officer numbers to 2010 levels

·         Introduce a presumption against prison sentences of six months or less for non-violent and non-sexual offences

·         Renationalize probation

·         restore all early legal aid advice

·         recruit hundreds of new community lawyers

·         prohibit ppl accused of domestic violence from cross-examination by their abuser

·         introduce a no-fault divorce procedure

·         Public inquiries into blacklisting

·         Public inquiries into  Orgreave

·         We will require judicial warrants for undercover operations

·         scrap the 2014 Immigration Act

·         end indefinite detention

·         close Yarl’s Wood and Brook House immigration detention center

·         end the minimum income requirements for family and spousal visas

·         resume rescue missions in the Mediterranean

·         establish safe and legal routes for asylum seekers

Constitutional reform & Brexit & International relationship

·         end the hereditary principle in the House of Lords

·         elected Senate of the Nations and Regions

·         repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011

·         We will maintain 650 constituencies

·         Reduce voting age to 16

·         giving full voting rights to all UK residents

·         banning donations from tax avoiders and tax evaders

·         stop MPs from taking paid second jobs

·         extending Freedom of Information rules to cover private providers of public services

·         Negotiate new deal

·         A permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union

·         Outside the single market but maintain Close alignment with the Single Market

·         Continued participation in EU agencies and funding programs

·         legally binding referendum alongside the option of remaining in the EU

·         granting EU nationals the automatic right to continue living and working in the UK

·         All military action will require parliamentary approval

·         Conduct an audit of the impact of Britain’s colonial legacy

·          Invest an additional £400 million in our diplomatic capacity

·         Recognize the rights of the people of Western Sahara.

·         suspend the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and Israel

·         recognize the state of Palestine

·         e renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent

·         Labor’s commitment to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense

·         creating a representative body for the armed forces, akin to the Police Federation

·         We will also ensure that black and Asian soldiers who fought in Britain’s colonial armies receive a full apology and explore ways to compensate them for the discriminatory demob payments they received

·         Spend 0.7% of GDP on International development

·         Provide a top-up of new and additional spending on international climate finance to bring the total to £4 billion a year

Those pledges with an * are taken from Funding real change not the manifesto