1) The ascendance of Donald Trump to the White House is in consonance with the broader trend of political discourse in many countries across the world. There is a new stress on political discourse based on ‘identity’, ‘security’ and ‘nationalism’ in the foreground of political process. The political discourse based on universal normative framework and ideological conviction (liberty, fraternity, equality, human rights, and universal human responsibility) were pushed back to the background of the political arguments and discourse (for a detailed analysis of this refer to annex I).
2) The neo-liberal economic framework and policies that dominated the political and policy discourse ever since the 1990s got saturated in the last few years. Those who preached and pushed ‘free market global capitalism’ are increasingly worried about ‘keeping jobs and money’ within their ‘national confines’. With the rise of political hyper-nationalism, there are more ‘protectionist’ economic trends and also more restrictions even for international travel and migration.
3) There is a rise of right-wing and new populist authoritarian politics emerging all over the world. In Asia, except few countries (such as Mongolia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and to some extent Nepal), all countries are witnessing different shades of new populist authoritarian politics. Even in the countries that provided support for human rights and democracy, there is a rise of neo-conservative right wing politics. Hence, there is a decreasing trend of the international aid by the traditional donors posing grate challenges for the available bilateral and multilateral funds for development, democracy and human rights. This context is posing great challenges to the national, regional and international organizations depended fully on ‘foreign funding’ or international development cooperation.
4) With the rise of China and India as economic power blocks within the larger Asia-Pacific region, there is a consequent shift in the geo-politics within Asia and also the larger political economy with in Asia, in relation to the regional formations, institutions and dynamics international relations within the world. The stagnation of European Economy and the increasingly inward looking American economic policy approach will have immense implications for the international development cooperation based on the old ‘global marshal plan’ framework.
5) All these means immense challenges for civil society organisations working on human rights, democratic governance and sustainable development at the national and international level. Most of the existing Foundations and new CSR oriented foundations will begin to focus more on service delivery ‘tangible’ results and without questioning injustice or inequality or authoritarianism.
2) The neo-liberal economic framework and policies that dominated the political and policy discourse ever since the 1990s got saturated in the last few years. Those who preached and pushed ‘free market global capitalism’ are increasingly worried about ‘keeping jobs and money’ within their ‘national confines’. With the rise of political hyper-nationalism, there are more ‘protectionist’ economic trends and also more restrictions even for international travel and migration.
3) There is a rise of right-wing and new populist authoritarian politics emerging all over the world. In Asia, except few countries (such as Mongolia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and to some extent Nepal), all countries are witnessing different shades of new populist authoritarian politics. Even in the countries that provided support for human rights and democracy, there is a rise of neo-conservative right wing politics. Hence, there is a decreasing trend of the international aid by the traditional donors posing grate challenges for the available bilateral and multilateral funds for development, democracy and human rights. This context is posing great challenges to the national, regional and international organizations depended fully on ‘foreign funding’ or international development cooperation.
4) With the rise of China and India as economic power blocks within the larger Asia-Pacific region, there is a consequent shift in the geo-politics within Asia and also the larger political economy with in Asia, in relation to the regional formations, institutions and dynamics international relations within the world. The stagnation of European Economy and the increasingly inward looking American economic policy approach will have immense implications for the international development cooperation based on the old ‘global marshal plan’ framework.
5) All these means immense challenges for civil society organisations working on human rights, democratic governance and sustainable development at the national and international level. Most of the existing Foundations and new CSR oriented foundations will begin to focus more on service delivery ‘tangible’ results and without questioning injustice or inequality or authoritarianism.
World is moving into a deeper flux, in to an era of new protectionism, neo-conservative nationalism and a politics based on fear, insecurity and hate.
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