Every now and then we are reminded that the onward march of globalisation is not preordained. Today’s world is more interdependent than it has ever been. As frontiers have fallen, nation states have been weakened. Yet globalisation is rekindling nationalism. The two may yet collide.

Thus far the process of change has belonged to the west. It has been shaped by the economic strength and liberal market philosophy of the US and, albeit some way behind, the other industrial economies. Open markets and free capital flows have been synonymous with the advance of western business into new markets. Cross-border takeovers and mergers have been about western companies buying other western companies. The benefits have seemed self-evident.