Speak Global Act Local
LPG seems to be the panacea for the new world disorder. Please don’t quit for I am certainly not discussing the housewives’ nightmare over soaring gas prices but the matters at hand are the new principles of doing business in the era of liberalization, privatization and globalization. It is important to note that these principles apply essentially to the developing and underdeveloped countries; the developed ones have already perfected privatization of public policy as a fine art.
LPG has certainly dazzled economy and society but as the smoke clears one could easily say that it’s not all about oh so cute philosophy of equal or fair treatment instead the whole show is about who negotiates better. The entire stuff could be roughly summarized into five general principles and they turn out to be fairly crude.
The first principle could be called as definition alteration. The brave new world is one where if one doesn’t cave into the illegal demands of big firang industry he is condemned for not creating the “Right Investment Climate”. MOU’s are heavily biased toward private companies and a hint of pro-public interest modification is termed as “Red Tapism”. Bailing out badly managed major industrial corporations using technical-legal jargon and unscrupulous means is called “Debt Restructuring” and sale of public equity in profitable enterprises to dress up lousy budget proposals is termed as “corporatisation”.

The second principle that propels this fools’ paradise is Outright Hypocrisy. It is OK for Uncle Sam to cut oil production and raise prices world over but it’s not OK for so called hardliners to subsidize artificially inflated prices to ease the burden on a vastly impoverished, helpless and unassuming population. It’s OK for big daddy to grant patents on Basmati and Turmeric but it’s not OK for lesser mortals to demand waiving of similarly assured royalty payments on vital life saving drugs. It’s OK for them to discard Kyoto and act savagely at Abu Ghraib but it’s not OK for us to develop our industries per se.
The third principle is Stealth Bombing. By offering facilities for free initially and once consumer gets hooked they are milked dry. International funding agencies do this regularly via low interest “Development” loans and the biggest GM seeds companies are doing this now at grassroots levels. They get in uninvited, unnoticed and before one realizes, the indigenous varieties get wiped off and it is where things start getting dictated. Their deep pockets and shallow conscience make it even deadlier.
The penultimate principle could be called as Downright Terrorism. It is to keep a nation on gun, drag it to UNSC, threat its allies and seduce the neutrals. This is followed by imposition of economic sanctions, investment blackout and harassment in the international arena. Obviously UN, WTO and other world organizations may go to hell if they wish so.
The final principle or say tactical blow is Regime Change. If the nation has enough gut to sustain pressure and does not succumb to threats it is attacked, annihilated and a puppet regime installed citing various unbelievable reasons. James Bond has the license to kill and so he will.
The principles are simple enough, at times orated with the misnomers like human rights and democracy. History is replete with the use of saam, daam, dand, bhed; they are very much used now only the language is more technical and print is finer. The potion for success is also simple enough; become the stronger side and negotiate better.