Globalization Backlash in Developing Countries: Broadening the Research Agenda

Abstract

This special issue explores why the globalization backlash is roiling rich industrialized countries. But why is the backlash less salient in developing ones? In this piece, we challenge scholars to consider why the backlash has not diffused widely to the developing world. We argue support for globalization depends on citizens’ expectations of future economic mobility. This is high in the early phases of globalization which encapsulates many developing economies. Since information about globalization’s effects is limited, observed mobility of some sustains optimism that the new economic order will allow everyone to prosper. Over time, unrealized expectations of mobility for less-skilled workers puncture this optimism. Such workers in rich countries are long past the honeymoon phase of globalization and confronting realities of stagnant incomes and job precarity. Barring visionary policies unlikely to emerge from today’s polarized politics, their discontent will soon be shared by their developing country counterparts, dooming future globalization.

Foreign Direct Investment and Political Preferences in Non-Democratic Regimes

“…While we can observe a growing opposition to international market openness in developed countries, popular support for different forms of economic globalization is still relatively high in emerging and developing economies. My findings underscore the hypothesis put forward by Rudra et al (2021) that the highly skilled beneficiaries of FDI are in a honeymoon phase and unlikely to act against international openness, while the widening gap between skill-groups has not yet manifested itself long enough for the low-skilled to oppose globalization at large. To arrive at a full picture of popular support or opposition for globalization across the globe, future research should explicitly expand this analysis and also analyze regime support for and in democracies.…”

Low-Skill Products by High-Skill Workers: The Distributive Effects of Trade in Emerging and Developing Countries

“…First, we focus on the micro-level implications and examine individual trade attitudes. Many studies find that high-skilled individuals in many, if not most, developing countries view trade and investment more positively than low-skilled individuals (Ardanaz et al, 2013;Beaulieu et al, 2005;Jäkel & Smolka, 2013;Margalit, 2012;Mayda & Rodrik, 2005;Pandya, 2010;Rudra et al, 2021;Urbatsch, 2013), which contradicts the predictions of the factoral model. We contribute to this debate by using cross-national survey data from PEW (2002,2007,2014) to examine the effect of relative skill on income and preferences regarding globalization.…”

Global Economic Integration and Nativist Politics in Emerging Economies

“…Finally, this article suggests that identifying how workers strategically react to economic integration can help us better understand the relationship between globalization and politics in emerging economies (Rudra, Nooruddin, and Bonifai 2021). Geographic mobility is just one way in which workers respond to the incentives globalization brings.…”