World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The rate of change in the world has accelerated far beyond anything imagined 30 years ago.  The McKinsey Global Institute has published a book entitled No Ordinary Disruption which analyzes these changes and is reviewed by John Yunker.  Its four major trends according to Yunker are:

1. The age of urbanization, creating massive new cities in emerging economies. By 2025, 48 of the largest 200 cities will be in China. This is resulting in a shift in the earth’s economic “center of gravity” back towards Asia. The center of gravity used to be centered over India and China and now it’s headed back again.
2. Accelerating technological change. It used to take a very long time for a technology to reach “scale” — but now, driven in large part by mobile penetration of smartphones, an application can go from one to 500 million users in less than a year.
3. Aging populations, placing a greater economic burden on fewer workers. China is a lot like the US in facing a future with fewer workers relative to the number of elderly.
4. Greater (and more complex) interconnectedness. We’re all more tightly connected than ever before, which is nice if you want to sell your product anywhere in the world, but uncomfortable when you realize anyone else in the world is now a potential competitor.

The rate of change can be demonstrated graphically by looking at the world’s economic center of activity.  Look at how fast it has moved in the last few years:

The US has finally removed Cuba from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.  Cuba has been on the list since 1982 when the US accused Cuba of supporting rebels in El Salvador.  Whatever Cuba did in supporting guerrilla groups in the world, those activities pale in comparison to the US efforts to overthrow Fidel Castro (including hiring the Mafia to assassinate Castro).  That the US supported terrorism in a series of activities called “Operation Mongoose” is beyond question.    Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General at the time, wrote these words in the White House in November, 1961:

“My idea is to stir things up on the island with espionage, sabotage, general disorder, run and operated by Cubans themselves with every group but Batistaites and Communists. Do not know if we will be successful in overthrowing Castro but we have nothing to lose in my estimate.”