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Essay by Fumihiko Maki

Globalization has opened up a debate about much more than just the economy. In the wake of the 2008 economic crisis that originated in the US and the global recession that followed, we have been forced to broaden our outlook and to ask ourselves questions about the nature of government and the state. In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun three years ago, Harvard University Professor Amartya Sen was asked whether a civic movement that transcends national borders and unites people was possible. “Everyone has a global identity,” he remarked. “It is a basic sympathy for others. If you see someone on the street stumble, you unthinkingly reach out and steady that person, not knowing what that person’s nationality or religion or language is.” It is interesting that a man of such learning, a Nobel Prize recipient, declares that ultimately the issue is one of basic humanity.

STORY BY Fumihiko Maki PHOTO BY Maki and Associates