They are the stepping stones to a true single global economy. When it emerges, these groupings and the sovereign countries of which they are made up will become effectively redundant for the purpose of business.
There is a serious school of thought that believes that, as a consequence of the global economy, industry and commerce will fragment into large numbers of smaller economic centres, or ‘clusters’ as current economic jargon has it, with few ties of traditional sovereignty. Thus, the creation of what we might call world cities, each intensely competitive in a universal free market. They will very likely form the framework of the new global economy.
It is against this broad background that London is preparing for seminal change in the way it is governed; and not least in the way that the London Development Partnership (LDP) has formulated an economic strategy ready for the new Mayor and assembly.
