Sedanja evrska kriza dokazuje to, o čemer je pisal Dani Rodrik s Harvarda že leta 2007. In sicer, da obstaja “trilema, ki se ji ni mogoče izogniti” (inescapable trilemma): ni mogoče hkrati imeti demokracije, nacionalne suverenosti ter biti močno mednarodno integriran. Naenkrat je mogoče imeti samo dve, eni pa se je treba odpovedati. V času zlatega standarda so se države odpovedale demokraciji in zunanja neravnotežja reševala na plečih državljanov. V brettonwoodskem sistemu po 2. svetovni vojni so se države z uvedbo kapitalskih kontrol in omejitvami v zunanji trgovini odpovedale integraciji.

V razmerah evrskega območja pa ta trilema pomeni, da se je treba odpovedati bodisi demokraciji bodisi nacionalni suverenosti. Posledično to pomeni postopno vendar dosledno poenotenje socialnih in davčnih sistemov ter inštitucij na trgu dela.  Grki zdaj poskušajo uveljavljati demokracijo, vendar jim ostale države partnerice te pravice ne priznavajo (ker trči na pravice davkoplačevalcev drugih držav).

So what do we do?

One option is to go for global federalism, where we align the scope of (democratic) politics with the scope of global markets. Realistically, though, this is something that cannot be done at a global scale. It is pretty difficult to achieve even among a relatively like-minded and similar countries, as the experience of the EU demonstrates.

Another option is maintain the nation state, but to make it responsive only to the needs of the international economy. This would be a state that would pursue global economic integration at the expense of other domestic objectives. The nineteenth century gold standard provides a historical example of this kind of a state. The collapse of the Argentine convertibility experiment of the 1990s provides a contemporary illustration of its inherent incompatibility with democracy.

Finally, we can downgrade our ambitions with respect to how much international economic integration we can (or should) achieve. So we go for a limited version of globalization, which is what the post-war Bretton Woods regime was about (with its capital controls and limited trade liberalization). It has unfortunately become a victim of its own success. We have forgotten the compromise embedded in that system, and which was the source of its success.

So I maintain that any reform of the international economic system must face up to this trilemma. If we want more globalization, we must either give up some democracy or some national sovereignty. Pretending that we can have all three simultaneously leaves us in an unstable no-man’s land.

Vir: Dani Rodrik