9.3   Inclusivity: Leaving Nobody Behind

(This is an archived page, from the Patterns of Power Edition 3 book.  Current versions are at book contents).

Globalisation has accelerated since the second half of the 20th century, facilitated by digital communications and faster transport.  Although it has cut prices and increased prosperity for most people, it has displaced jobs in the West.  Technology has also resulted in lost jobs, lower prices and greater prosperity.  But those in the West who have lost their jobs feel left behind – creating resentment against governments (6.7.8).

Increased prosperity in the West has also led to a rise in immigration. Economic growth has created a demand for specialist skills, and has tempted people in poorer countries to become economic migrants, as illustrated below:


The immigration has created some hostility in wealthy societies, aggravating existing the existing challenges of ethnic diversity.

Governments need to pursue policies of inclusivity, to avoid resentment from those who have been left behind economically and to avoid friction between people who are ethnically different.

Although the economic pressures and the resulting migration flows are intimately connected, they require different types of policy response:

·      economic inclusivity, to help people ‘left behind’ (9.3.1);

·      and ethnic inclusivity to avoid friction (9.3.2).