Globalisation: before and after the crisis

So-called »free« markets are becoming the new organising principle for the global order. The idea that governments should protect citizens against the excesses of free enterprise has been replaced with the idea that government should protect business activities against the excesses of democratic regulation. What business leaders seek, and to a large extent have achieved, are »business-managed democracies«, that is, democracies where the politics and cultural life of nations are managed in the interests of business.