Club Lunch: Grave New World: The End of Globalisation, the Return of History

As the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War came to an end, it seemed to many that the West had ‘won’.  Western values – most obviously, free market capitalism and liberal democracy – would apparently spread around the world.  Decades later, that view now appears to have been overly complacent.  With the Cold War ‘victors’ falling out of love with globalisation, the world economy is in danger of fragmenting.  Nationalism and isolationism are on the rise.  Economic success and liberal democracy no longer march hand-in-hand.  New fault lines – linked to technology and demographics – are opening up.  Stephen King offers his views on the coming world disorder.

Mr. King’s latest book, “Grave New World”, was published in May 2017. In 2014, he became a member of the Financial Times “Exchange” which, in the Financial Times’ words, offers “agenda-setting commentary from leading policymakers, academics and writers around the world”. The speaker’s career began at H.M.Treasury, where he was an economic adviser within the civil service. Following 17 years as HSBC’s Chief Global Economist, he was appointed HSBC’s Senior Economic Adviser in 2015.  In the same year, he became a Special Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee.