Right Wing Populists and Left Wing Liberals: Listening to the Best Version of the "Other Side"

Right Wing Populists
and Left Wing Liberals

Listening to the Best Version of the "Other Side"

“As in the proverbial story of five blind men trying to make sense of an elephant, globalization presents itself in different forms to its proponents and opponents. This immensely useful book clarifies the debates around globalization by developing six narratives rooted in contending values and perceptions of reality. It helps us not only understand the best version of other sides’ narratives, but also move beyond our own conceptual straitjackets.”—Dani Rodrik, Harvard University

'An essential guide to the intractable public debates about the virtues and vices of economic globalization, cutting through the complexity to reveal the fault lines that divide us and the points of agreement that might bring us together.

Globalization has lifted millions out of poverty. Globalization is a weapon the rich use to exploit the poor. Globalization builds bridges across national boundaries. Globalization fuels the populism and great-power competition that is tearing the world apart.
When it comes to the politics of free trade and open borders, the camps are dug in, producing a kaleidoscope of claims and counterclaims, unlikely alliances, and unexpected foes. But what exactly are we fighting about? And how might we approach these issues more productively?

Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp cut through the confusion with an indispensable survey of the interests, logics, and ideologies driving these intractable debates, which lie at the heart of so much political dispute and decision making.

The authors expertly guide us through six competing narratives about the virtues and vices of globalization: the old establishment view that globalization benefits everyone (win-win), the pessimistic belief that it threatens us all with pandemics and climate change (lose-lose), along with various rival accounts that focus on specific winners and losers, from China to America’s rust belt.

Instead of picking sides, Six Faces of Globalization provides a holistic framework for understanding current debates. In doing so, the authors showcase a more integrative way of thinking about complex problems.'

The Politics of Listening

What might it mean to understand "the best version" of other side? And which other sides are worth listening to? How about MAGA right wingers and left-wing Liberals? Are they worth listening to?

Six Faces of Globalization by Anthea Roberts and Nicholas Lamp speaks of six faces of globalization, two of which are right wing populism and left-wing populism. Both are critical of traditional globalization (rising tide lifts all boats) and corporate globalization (let corporations rule). Neither seems able to understand the best version of the other side. And how many "other sides" have "best versions"?

The process perspective emphasizes listening to each and all, as best we can, with sympathetic ears. We do our best to listen to the "best versions" of alternative points of view and to understand the motivations that lead people to embrace them.

There is an onto-psychology to this. From a process perspective, the fundamental building blocks are moments of experience and each experience "begins," moment by moment, not with ideology but with "feeling the feelings" of others. For most of us, the others whose "feelings we feel" are our own personal pasts and those of like minds. But the possibility emerges that we might feel the feelings (including understanding the perspectives) of those with whom we disagree.

The failure of education and religion in the US and around the world is that it has not cultivated such capacities. We all think in polarizing terms: "us" versus "them."

To some extent this is unavoidable. And we must be honest. Not all perspectives and people can be sympathized with. Evil is real; hatred is real; greed is real; injustice is real. Still, there are perspectives worth hearing and, more than that, people worth listening to. These include right wing populists, left wing populists, establishment globalists, ecologically despairing globalists, geopolitical globalists, and maybe even corporate globalists.

Process philosophy can help us reduce this tendency by emphasizing practices of deep listening - capacities for which left wing populists and right wing populists so often lack, as do many others. The more someone listens, the less strident, he or she becomes. Even the Holy One, says Whitehead, is a fellow sufferer who understands. It's hard to hate someone you understand, Disagree with them? Yes. But hate them? No.

The problem is that the understanding that comes from listening can be incapacitating. Process philosophy points to a politics of listening that can hear and love people for their own sakes, listen to the "best version" of their points of view, and be creatively transformed by them. It simultaneously points to a politics of transformation that critiques evil (domination), opposes injustice, protects animals and the earth, and acts in service to the good of people, animals, and the earth. It embraces a politics of listening and a politics of social change. Can they be combined? Yes, say process philosophers, if we are loving and mindful.

-Jay McDaniel

Considering the Six Faces
of Globalization

"When it comes to the politics of free trade and open borders, the camps are dug in, producing a kaleidoscope of claims and counterclaims, unlikely alliances, and unexpected foes. But what exactly are we fighting about? And how might we approach these issues more productively?

Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp cut through the confusion with an indispensable survey of the interests, logics, and ideologies driving these intractable debates, which lie at the heart of so much political dispute and decision making.

The authors expertly guide us through six competing narratives about the virtues and vices of globalization: the old establishment view that globalization benefits everyone (win–win), the pessimistic belief that it threatens us all with pandemics and climate change (lose–lose), along with various rival accounts that focus on specific winners and losers, from China to America’s Rust Belt.

Instead of picking sides, Six Faces of Globalization gives all these positions their due, showing how each deploys sophisticated arguments and compelling evidence. Both globalization’s boosters and detractors will come away with their eyes opened. By isolating the fundamental value conflicts—growth versus sustainability, efficiency versus social stability—driving disagreement and showing where rival narratives converge, Roberts and Lamp provide a holistic framework for understanding current debates. In doing so, they showcase a more integrative way of thinking about complex problems."

- Harvard University Press

Read a Substantial Excerpt: Click Here.

Endorsements

“Six Faces of Globalization is a very smart book, and not just for people interested in globalization. The authors manage to help readers understand the many faces of globalization by identifying multiple narratives that fuel different political movements and perspectives of the punditocracy. Ultimately, however, this is a book not just about globalization, but also about the power and importance of narrative: how it is constructed and how it can contribute to a far more nuanced and complex understanding of the forces of change. Highly recommended.”—Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America

“At a time when many of us have only one view of the world, so much so that we only read the books and watch the media that support our vision, Roberts and Lamp present us with a real challenge: they lay out convincingly and comprehensively many different narratives of globalization and its political and economic effects. The book thus implicitly challenges the narrative that each of us finds most compelling. Like in a movie by Kurosawa, our view of events depends on our position. This book compels us to change our position, move out of our comfort zone, and see the world differently and more broadly.”—Branko Milanovic, author of Capitalism, Alone

“Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp have written a brilliant and extremely valuable book. They process an enormous amount of information but also, crucially, narratives and storylines about economic globalization and offer us a new way to sort and evaluate the various claims that circulate. The debates about ‘winners and losers’ explored in Six Faces of Globalization will be with us for years and will be the stuff of headlines for the foreseeable future.”—Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism

“As in the proverbial story of five blind men trying to make sense of an elephant, globalization presents itself in different forms to its proponents and opponents. This immensely useful book clarifies the debates around globalization by developing six narratives rooted in contending values and perceptions of reality. It helps us not only understand the best version of other sides’ narratives, but also move beyond our own conceptual straitjackets.”—Dani Rodrik, Harvard University