:: Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Turning towards ‘list journalism’

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Nov.16 : It is said that whenever newspapers run out of good ideas to sell weekend editions of their publications, their editors or proprietors fall back on one of two hoary alternatives. Either they commission a survey about sexual habits or they start drawing up lists — "ten best", "ten worst", "five most beautiful", "six worst-dressed" and so on. A survey (not about sex, but about economic and political ideology) and a list (by a venerable magazine about the powerful) are noted in this column that may surprise some.

We all know by now that two decades have passed since the Berlin Wall collapsed, just before the erstwhile Soviet Union broke up to triumphant cheers about the victory of free market capitalism, the demise of state-controlled Communism and the beginning of a unipolar world led by the United States. It now transpires that dissatisfaction with capitalism is rather widespread across the globe.

If a recent opinion poll conducted by the BBC World Service is to be believed, only 11 per cent of more than 29,000 adults spread across 27 countries, whose opinions were ascertained, were of the view that capitalism works well and that greater regulation was not a good idea.

The poll was conducted by international firm GlobeScan together with the Programme on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, US. The former coordinated the field work between June 19 and October 13 this year.

What is interesting is that in only two out of the 27 countries did more than one out of five persons whose opinions were solicited express a view that capitalism was working well as it stands. One of these two countries was the US (where 25 per cent said capitalism was working well) which is not much of a surprise. The second country was (surprisingly) Pakistan where 21 per cent of the respondents polled said capitalism was working well.

Whereas just over half (51 per cent) those surveyed said the problems of free market capitalism could be addressed through regulation and reform, an average of 23 per cent of the respondents felt that capitalism is fatally flawed and that a new economic system was necessary. Countries where this opinion was significant included France (43 per cent), Mexico (38 per cent), Brazil (35 per cent) and Ukraine (31 per cent).

In 15 out of the 27 countries in which the opinion poll was conducted, a majority of those whose views was solicited said their respective governments should be more active in owning or directly controlling major industries. The proportion was 77 per cent in Russia, 75 per cent in Ukraine, 64 per cent in Brazil, 65 per cent in Indonesia and 57 per cent in France.

In 22 out of the 27 countries, majorities supported governments distributing wealth more evenly — on an average two out of three (67 per cent) respondents across all countries. In 17 out of the 27 countries, most wanted their governments to do more to regulate business — an average of 56 per cent across the sample polled.

Latin Americans were particularly enthusiastic about the government playing a more active role in the economy, with nine in 10 supporting more redistribution of wealth: 92 per cent in Mexico, 91 per cent in Chile and 89 per cent in Brazil.

The opinion poll asked a question as to whether the break-up of the Soviet Union was good or not. An average of 54 per cent said it was a good thing. However, this majority view held in only 15 out of the 27 countries. An average of 22 per cent said the USSR falling apart was mainly a bad thing, while 24 per cent did not know either way.

Outside the West, the consensus on this issue was not strong. Seven out of 10 (69 per cent) Egyptians said the disintegration of the Soviet Union was bad, while views were divided in India, Kenya and Indonesia with many also saying they did not know.

GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller has been quoted as saying: "It appears that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 may not have been the crushing victory for free-market capitalism that it seemed at the time — particularly after the events of the last 12 months".

From the survey, we now come to the list, this one prepared by Forbes magazine that loves calculating the wealth of the world’s richest individuals and is generally a torch-bearer for capitalism. For the first time, the magazine has compiled a list of the most powerful individuals on the planet.

The editors of the publication said they used four parameters to define "power". These were whether the person concerned had influence over many, whether they controlled substantial financial resources, whether they were powerful in multiple spheres and whether they actively used their power.

Predictably, US President Barack Obama tops the list followed by Chinese Premier Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin of Russia. George Bush does not make it to the list while Bill Clinton does (at position number 31) and the Pope is pipped to the raced by Bill Gates (number 10).

The list of Indians on the list would raise a few eyebrows. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is at number 36 (just one notch above Osama bin Laden). Industrialists who are listed include Mukesh Ambani (44), Lakshmi Mittal (55) and Ratan Tata (55). But wait.

Your favourite mafia don Dawood Ibrahim is said to be the 50th most powerful individual on the planet. And yes, Sonia Gandhi is nowhere in the list! The editors of Forbes need to get their heads checked. Or is list journalism just lazy journalism?

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is an educator and commentator