1/n My @ProSyn is about the complacency of elites in Europe, US and China and how the current crisis might undermine that. A short thread to explain: project-syndicate.org/commentary/cov…
2/n Europe: The sense that integration cannot be reversed is strong. But Europe is creating a permanent underclass of countries (in South, esp. Italy) that neither shares prosperity of North in good times and is abandoned in calamitous ones
3/n USA. Elites adamantly cling to American exceptionalism. But 4 successive shocks to leadership: imperial overreach (Iraq); rigged economic system (fin'l crisis); dysfunctional politics/polarization; & epic incompetence in covid crisis. Diminishing allure of American "model."
4/n. China. Ruling elite thinks post-Deng bargain-citizens give up freedom for order & prosperity-sustainable indefinitely. Bargain increasingly Faustian for citizens because regime looks less competent in delivering both; growth will suffer as external opportunities shrink
5/5. Exhortations to more international cooperation ring hollow in this already G minus 2 world, worsened by enfeebling of these 3 powers. Sadly, there may be no Committee to Save the World:
