Geographical Borders

For decades, the world has been on a trajectory of rising globalisation with cross-border flows of trade, investment, data, ideas, technology and people. 

But recent global events point to a trend that’s at odds with that narrative. The election of nationalist leaders in many powerful countries; Brexit and the subsequent weakening of the EU; and COVID-induced territorialism have all contributed to a sense of ‘us vs them’. 

David is joined by Curtin University academics Dr Donna Butorac and Dr Ben Rich to discuss whether we’re witnessing a ‘de-globalisation’ that could impact our ability to solve global problems like climate change and food security.

• Are we retreating behind borders, and if so, how did we get here? [00:54]
• Has the pandemic affected the trust we place on international organisations? [06:48]
• How does our geographical location influence our sense of indentity? [13:26]
• How can we solve global problems if we’re looking inward? [17:10]
• Has the pandemic revealed the fragility of our international supply chains? [24:50]
• It’s become easier to move capital and goods across borders, what about moving ourselves across borders? [27:35]

Learn more

• The pandemic adds momentum to the deglobalisation trend
• The deglobalisation virus
• Pandemic has killed globalisation
• Deglobalisation and its discontents
• Coronavirus will reverse globalization and create regional supply chains, economists predict

Got any questions, or suggestions for future topics?

Email [email protected].

Curtin University supports academic freedom of speech. The views expressed in The Future Of podcast may not reflect those of the university.

Music: OKAY by 13ounce Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Music promoted by Audio Library.

View the transcript of this episode