A crisis of global capitalism has thrown up a crisis of global politics. Or perhaps it has been the other way round. In truth, the direction of causality scarcely matters. The important point is that only good politics has the capacity to clear up the mess left by bad economics.
The future could look brighter. From Washington to Beijing, Berlin to Buenos Aires, everyone signs up to the fact of economic interdependence. But even as the synchronised slump has underlined the implications of this integration, it has turned politics inwards. Voters want shelter from the global storms. Talk of a new architecture for the international system does not quell the anger of the dispossessed and unemployed.
For two decades the prosperity that flowed from globalisation, albeit often unevenly distributed, seemed to assure its forward momentum. The world has fallen off the bicycle. The financial crash has exposed the failures and fragilities of globalisation. The unanswered question is whether governments can build a framework to restore its political legitimacy.