Decade of reinvention

Every decade has a particular image.We associate the 1920s with jazz and the great depression, the 1950s with greyconformity, the 1960s with hedonistic individualism and counter-cultural revolt.What will the decade that's passing be remembered for?It began withthe Y2K scare, and soon 9/11 triggered a geo-political cataclysm. By the end ofthe decade it looks like 'the world's only superpower' after the Cold War hasfeet of clay. The two chief inspirers of 9/11 are still safely out of its reach,while China could surpass it as an economic power before another decade haspassed. The global financial crisis, which has left China relativelyunscathed, appears to have brought the date when it will become the world'sbiggest economy forward - so that what could have been put off till 2030 orlater now looks imminent around 2020. The defining note of the 1990s had beenunabashed triumphalism in the West, with America turning inward followingcapitalist democracy's victory over communism in the Cold War. By contrast, thetalk in America now is of the Ottoman empire.Virginia Woolf wrote: "On or about December 1910, human character changed." It may be too dramatic to ascribe a similar change in human character to December 2010. But the dawning of the 21st century - like that of the 20th - has brought with it the sense that something has fundamentally changed, and old institutions are no longer sufficient to deal with new realities.The passing decade has beenone of flux, but also of reinvention. It's also the one when the internet wentmainstream. Global telecommunications and the internet made globalisation prettymuch irreversible, rising protectionist sentiment in response to the currenteconomic downturn notwithstanding. There is a great meshing as well as a greatgnashing of teeth, as we find ourselves neighbours with the rest of the worldwhether we like it or not. And that becomes a crucible for change.It's a moot question, for example, whether China can sustain its mesmerisingrise or succumb to a political crisis as its citizens are exposed more and moreto external sources of information through the internet. China has its feet ofclay as well, and they may be revealed soon.The economic turmoil ofthe decade had also to do with the disruptive impact of the internet, as wholeoccupations vanished and new ones were created. Piggybacking on digitalcommunication infrastructure that linked the world India, a largely agriculturalnation where the industrial revolution remains hobbled, emerged as a servicessuperpower, with over 50% of the global outsourcing market.Theacceleration in growth rates that India has seen this decade, the fruit of theeconomic reforms of the last one, indicates what's missed by those writingepitaphs for capitalism after the global financial crisis. Rather than today'seconomic gales being an indication that free-market capitalism is in its deaththroes, what we are witnessing is the democratisation of capitalism, and with itthe democratisation of hope. This is a process pulling millions out of poverty.Developing countries are creating workforces that can deliver goodsand services at lower cost than developed nations, enabling them to grow faster.That's why India, China, Brazil and other developing nations haven't suffered asbadly from the financial crisis as rich western nations. According to the PewResearch Centre's survey of global attitudes 91% of Chinese, 57% of Indians and62% of Brazilians thought their national economies were doing well, as opposedto 24% of Americans, 20% in the UK and 13% in France. What's going for emergingeconomies is that they are hungry to grow, when rich nations have already becomeused to comfortable lifestyles and therefore less liable to make the wrenchingchanges that are needed to adapt to global competition.The Pewsurvey also reveals that while 57% of Indians think the economy is doing well,only 45% think that overall their country is headed in the right direction. Thelatter figure is still much higher than the comparable number of Americans,Britons or French (30%, 31% and 26% respectively); nevertheless, it is less thanthe former. Successive corruption scams, of course, have done their bit to sourthe political mood in the country. But there is a silver lining here as well.The media has done its bit to expose corruption, which pressures politicians tochange their ways.With the proliferation of sources of information,it can no longer be controlled in the manner it used to be in the 20th century.Witness the astonishing case of WikiLeaks, through which secret US diplomaticcables were bared before the world. YouTube came in the middle of the decade,then came Facebook and Twitter. Pushing aside unreal scenarios playing out onwhat used to be known as the 'idiot box', reality TV and talent searches amongamateurs became big this decade. These are tools that allow us toplay out our voyeurism, our narcissism, our social selves and political desires.Alongside the democratisation of hope, there has been a democratisation of themedia as well. These trends augur well for the coming decade.