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Summary: Triumphalism or inconvenient truths for righteous lefties?
Review: Thomas Friedman's book about globalization, The Lexus and The Olive Tree (2nd. ed, 2000), is a fascinating explanation of the forces - the pre-eminence of market capitalism, the information and telecommunications revolutions, the rise of an "Electronic Herd" of capital, and countries' adoption of "operating systems" to attract capital - that make up the system of globalization that is sweeping the globe. He writes about how more and more countries have accepted what he calls a "Golden Straightjacket" of policy prescriptions - open markets, balanced budgets, deregulation and privatisation, free trade, elimination of corruption, subsidies and kickbacks, etc., - in order to be part of the developing global system.Globalization brings promises and threats, and has evoked strong responses. I feel like a new convert, who urgently wants others to share revelations offered by the Book. When I told a close relative and a good friend about the book, both were deeply suspicious. Neither has read it. One has read reviews in the left-wing journal The Nation and elsewhere, that refer to Friedman's line as "triumphalism." That means an arrogant view that US-driven market capitalism has decisively repudiated communism and socialism, and the tide of globalization, with McDonalds, Taco Bells, cellphones and so on, is a rising tide that will raise all boats. The other of my critics is angry about the gap between rich and poor, Reaganism and the dismantling of the social safety net. He angrily rejects the notion that market capitalism really proved its superiority to communist regimes that were able to provide universal literacy and healthcare for poor populations in Russia, China and Cuba. To him, a book that purports to depict globalization as a seemingly inexorable tide of progress, and fails to focus on the immorality of capitalism and disparities of wealth, is deeply immoral. These critics want explanations that are consistent with their sympathies, and that repudiate what they consider to be evils: for indigenous cultures; against McDonalds; against the hegemony of American English and American culture; for trade unions; for Third World debt relief; for micro-lending; against SUVs; against attaching structural conditions to development loans; against American power; against pressures to reduce taxes, balance budgets and eliminate tarriffs and trade barriers. And so on. Can you see where I'm headed? Its my arrogant conceit: I'm the rational, sensible, informed one, seeking truth with an open mind. I read the book to learn about globalization. I am eager to read other books that put in question Friedman's assumptions and conclusions; until I'm persuaded to the contrary, I accept his book as a contribution to knowledge. I do not favour global cultural homogenization and Americanization, and I would like to see markets help to create wealth and distribute wealth more broadly. However, I am not inclined to shoot the messenger who says that free market capitalism is the preeminent system for creating and distributing wealth, and that in spite of the disparities, it may do more for poor people than alternative systems could. Some people prefer moral righteousness. It is no doubt more satisfying to be angry and morally righteous, than to have pious assumptions put in question by inconvenient facts.
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Summary: Wise and Witty
Review: The impossibility of restricting information in the Internet age, the impracticality of slowing down innovation in the computer age, and the futility of forbidding foreign investment in the international-banking age are the main themes that run through this wise and witty study of globalization and its consequences for our increasingly fast-paced, increasingly smaller planet. Journalist Thomas L. Friedman's "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" uses a host of metaphors to housebreak international business, finance, culture, technology and the environment for his readers. Flows of capital are controlled by an "Electronic Herd" of investors who flow into lucrative markets (and slosh out just as quickly if they sense trouble, as several southeast Asian countries found to their chagrin in the 1990s). Friedman opines that a country has to have an advanced "operating system" (a predilection to capitalism) to increase its standard of living. The USA and Britian are at the top, followed closely by France and Germany. Korea is just below. These societies can put on the "Golden Straitjacket" of capitalist restraint and watch their economies zoom. But not, say, Russia. They've spend too long under a system by which the success of a bedframe factory is not profit, consumer satisfaction, quality or good shipped but amount of steel consumed, the most absurd, downside-up measure of success possible. But any society--even one as free-market oriented as the USA's--can't leave tradition behind in the dust. Hence the tension between the "Lexus" (high-tech innovation) and the "olive tree" (tradition, pride, tribalism). Note well the current opposition to the WTO. Our go-go technological climate even finds living application in this very book. In between the hardcover issue of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" (1999) and the new paperback (spring 2000), computer maker Compaq lost its innovative edge to upstart Dell--Friedman explains why in the paperback. This is fun, lively reading. It gives wonk subject matter like business & finance a good name. The amount of research is astonishing, most of it collected on-site, and surely generated enough frequent-flier mileage to get the author a free trip to Mars when the time comes. Friedman is a bit of a true believer--he is SURE that the American way is the right way--but he offers good arguments for his opinions. Time spend on this book will be time well spent.
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Summary: THE ESKIMO AND THE OLIVE TREE
Review: In opening this book I felt like the Eskimo being confronted by the British flag presented to him by that famous English explorer of Arctica: the flag had the olive tree branch depicted on it, as a symbol of peace and friendship. Unfortunately the Eskimo had never seen an olive tree, let alone an actual tree! There ain't any in Arctica. So, in understanding concepts of globalization, I do feel like an Eskimo and Friedman, thanks heaven, is not like the British explorer. On the contrary, he expounds the subject in a clear and exemplified manner, presenting the reader with facts and notions that indeed form a general idea of the matter at hand, without scaring us off a very scary future. Globally well done.
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Summary: Tom Friedman was born to write
Review: Like his earlier book, "From Beirut to Jerusalem," Tom Friedman displays a mastery over his subject like few authors. In "The Lexus and the Olive Tree," the conquered subject material is economic globalization. What makes Mr. Friedman such a unique voice on this topic is his career as a foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times. Over the past few years, Mr. Friedman has traveled the world many times over, collecting first-hand accounts of how globalization works, who benefits from it, and its multiple consequences. His understanding of this issue radiates through scores of personal narratives and anecdotes which not only raise the reader's awareness but seriously educate him on a subject of immense importance. At the beginning and conclusion of his book, Mr. Friedman claims that he is no an advocate of globalization, per se. I do not doubt the author's sincerity when stating this belief. The balance of information, however, tilts heavily in favor of globalization. That is because, in sum, globalization has been a largely positive development. In the last two decades, many Third World governments have relaxed the grip they possessed on their nations' economies and opened themselves to the ideas and industry of the West. As a result, these nations have enjoyed an unprecedented explosion of wealth. Many of them are experimenting with political democracy for the first time as well. That is not a coincidence. But the impact of globalization extends far beyond Seoul, Bangkok, and Mexico City. The United States has also been a prime beneficiary of globalization. The growth of world trade, combined with the adaption of information technologies, has been responsible for America's economic resurgence in the last decade. Near the end of the book, however, the author starts to wax sentimental. He expresses his fear that in this burst of affluence we will lose our "olive trees" - our communities, our traditions, our values. Mr. Friedman need not worry. What makes capitalism so revolutionary is not that it destroys "olive trees." Rather, it creates new "olive trees" of our own free choice. We choose our community; we choose our faith. It is no coincidence that the while the United States is the greatest engine of capitalism, it is also one of the world's most religious countries. And it is not just a diverse faith - Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims - but an intensely personal faith where people choose to make God a central part of their daily life. I also have to disagree with Mr. Friedman on one final point. I do not share his view that the globalization process is inevitable. In the early 1960s, the twin pillars of democracy and free-market capitalism had reached an incredible level of success and popular acceptance. Within a few years, however, national leaders managed to undermine both systems. Welfare crippled the national economy while affirmative action created needless animosity between the races. As we enter the twenty-first century - and as the challenges to globalization mount - we must not go back to the past. We must not reverse the process that gave us this burst of wealth and freedom out of some misplaced guilt. Our sympathy for the poor can not delude us into stripping them of their sole opportunity for advancement. The recent anarchist demonstrations in Seattle and Washington should give us pause. Hopefully those protestors will read Tom Friedman's fine book and take a more informed perspective.
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Summary: Brilliant Analysis
Review: Globalization of economy is in fact Americanization of world culture - and both these processes are the reality of our times. Whether you like it or hate it - it is what is actually happening. The advantage of Friedman's unique approach to this problem is the fact that he, while intensively traveling as a journalist, has seen innumerous examples of this Globalization-Americanization by his own eyes. One could hate the inevitability of such processes and would love to dismiss his economical conclusions, but it is impossible not to believe those bright sketches the author constantly draws in our imagination - pictures of real people from all over the world, who just like everything American from McDonalds to Hollywood movies. Finally here is a book which does not just praise the American "presents" to the world: pop-culture, fast-food, and everything else usually being criticized, but shows, using economical patterns, that transformation of the whole world towards this culture is unavoidable. One thing that this book lacks is discussing spiritual side of this transformation. Where does God fit in? How can God allow other cultures to be engulfed so easily by the American values? May be this is happening exactly because God helps America more than other countries and cultures? May be in surrendering to those external characteristics of American culture people of the world in fact surrender to overwhelmingly powerful spirituality of the America? May be God allows to impose American cultural values on other countries through the superpower of Hollywood entertaining machine exactly because that is how he wants to see the world in the future?
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Summary: The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Review: Thomas Friedman's tour of globalization in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree was a interesting examintion of perils and successes of the global village. His evolution of a free market economy is easy to understand and accept. Late in the book his discribes the pit falls of instant communicaton, anywhere in the world. How as our civilization developes,will regions around the gobe keep their independent culture.
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Summary: Globalization: Central Feature of the Post-Cold War World
Review: Readers familiar with Thomas Friedman's consistently superb work for The New York Times - first reporting from the Middle East and now writing a column on foreign affairs - know him to be exceptionally bright and articulate. Since 1994, Friedman has specialized in covering the intersection between foreign policy and international finance, so he is an ideal interpreter of globalization - the trend toward international economic integration through free-market capitalism. This book is a fine introduction to events profoundly impacting on our world, written in Friedman's characteristically clear and crisp prose. The "Lexus" in Friedman's title stands for "the drive for sustenance, improvement, prosperity and modernization," whereas the "olive tree" "represents everything that roots us, anchors us, identifies us and locates us in the world - whether it be belonging to a family, a community, a tribe, a nation, a religion or, most of all, a place called home." Much of Friedman's book is devoted to the theme of the Lexus and olive tree wrestling with each other in order to find a healthy balance. According to Friedman: "The challenge in this era of globalization - for countries and for individuals - is to find a healthy balance between preserving a sense of identity, home and community and doing what it takes to survive within the globalization system." In Friedman's view, the "slow, fixed, divided Cold War system" is readily distinguishable from the "new, very greased, interconnected" world of globalization, in which free-market capitalism is spreading throughout the world. According to Friedman: "While the defining measurement of the Cold War was weight - particularly the throw weight of missiles - the defining measurement of the globalization system is speed - speed of commerce, travel, communication and innovation." In contrast to the Cold War's "overly regulated, walled up system," Friedman explains that globalization's three "democratization" - the democratization of information, the democratization of technology, and the democratization of finance - are changing the way business and everything else is done. In Friedman's view, "what is new...is the sheer number of people and countries able to partake of today's globalized economy and information networks, and to be affected by them." According to Friedman, "the Internet offers the closest thing to a perfectly competitive market in the world today." Friedman explains: "In the 1980s the Internet was a novelty. By the 1990s it was a useful technology. By the time the new millennium rolled around it was an indispensable tool for doing business." Friedman writes at some length about what he cleverly calls "the Electronic Herd," which is "made up of all the faceless stock, bond and currency traders sitting behind computer screens all over the globe, moving their money around from mutual funds to pension funds to emerging markets, or trading on the Internet from their basements." According to Friedman: "Countries cannot thrive in today's world without plugging into the Electronic Herd." Friedman explains that, with "the end of the Cold War system and the fall of walls everywhere, there suddenly emerged a vast global plain where investor herds from many different countries could roam freely." Friedman acknowledges that the effects of globalization are not entirely positive. For instance, Friedman acknowledges that the Electronic Herd is "potentially more volatile" than previous models, and that makes markets less stable. According to Friedman, "today, in the globalization era, the ability of the herd to transmit instability from bad countries to good countries has vastly increased." In addition, Friedman predicts that the system of globalization will "both environmental disasters and amazing environmental rescues." The prospect of environmental problems in the new world order is especially troubling. Friedman asks: "Can we develop a method of environmentally sustainable globalization?" He answers: "One hope is clearly that technology will evolve in ways that will help us preserve green areas faster than the Electronic Herd can trample them." Friedman adds: "But technological breakthroughs alone will not be enough to neutralize the environmental impact of the herd, because the innovations simply are not happening fast enough - compared to how fast the herd moves, grows and devours." Friedman places his hope in "super-empowered environmentalists" "who, acting on their own, can now fight back effectively against both the Electronic Herd and governments...[M]ore and more multinationals are realizing that to preserve their global reputation and global brands in the face of Internet activism, they need to be environmentally responsible." Friedman also offers this cautionary observation: "[I]n 2000 we understand as much about today's system of globalization is going to work as we understood how the Cold War system was going to work in 1946." Friedman's point, I believe, is that, although we have been able to give a name - globalization - tothe most powerful force changing the world, that does not mean that we are close to fully comprehending it. Some aspects of the globalized world are fully comprehensible and frightening. Notwithstanding the manifest benefits of globalization, there is an ongoing backlash against it. In particular, Friedman warns about "the real, immediate national security threat" from what he calls "the Super-Empowered Angry Man," such as the Aum Shinrikyo sect in Japan, the Unabomber, Osama bin Laden, and the Ramzi Yousef group in New York. Friedman implies, quite correctly I believe, that, the globalized world may be very exciting, but it also remains a very dangerous place. Friedman obviously believes that most of the globalization process is beneficial, and he probably is correct, but he also is not entirely objective. Friedman is not merely a pundit. He is a proponent for globalization. He writes: "You cannot thrive today without plugging into the Electronic Herd." This book is excellent, and, all things considered, I believe it is superior to John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge's A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization, another introduction to globalization which I recently read and reviewed. However, I would recommend either. Whether one is a globalization proponent or opponent or neutral, the system is changing the world, and that behooves all of us to understand it better.
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Summary: SOMEWHAT ANNOYING....
Review: We really need good writers who can get to the bottom of what's happening to us as the world gets unified into a single integrated economy. Unfortunately, Friedman's book does not answer that need. His writing style appears to be one part anecdote, two parts name-dropping and three parts cheerleading for the new globalism without any regard for the human costs (at one point, I think he even calls upon globally competitive countries to 'shoot their wounded' or words to that effect). He uses this over-the-top jargon and sloganeering that is reminiscent of your typical business management book. The book is simply drenched with sentences like "the Electronic Herd loves the Golden Straitjacket." Hunh? What does he mean? I remembered his earlier book "From Beirut to Jerusalem"--a really good read by the way--so this book was a big disappointment. If you are interested in globalization, try William Greider's "One World Ready or Not", James Barber's "Jihad versus McWorld" or any of the books by Paul Krugman.
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Summary: technology comment
Review: This of all books, you would expect to be available on cd
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Summary: Outstanding writer! Flawed analysis:(
Review: "From Beirut to Jerusalem" seemed much more coherent and was just as well written. Friedman is a compelling author and can hold anyone's attention with ease. However, I take exception with his desires. I find the overarching-over reaching Friedman vision of governance "for our own good" to be far too risky and incredibly naiive given the performance of "government" in modern history. I fear the power of government in this dawning digital age. My view is that givernments have murdered far more people than any oither single cause of death. And that view is based on fact. Friedman would do well to descend from the lofty excesses of his facile and erudite imagination and read what some less well known authors have to say about this new age that beckons. Right off the bat I would heartily recommend a slim novel published last year by Jerry Furland, "Transfer-the end of the beginning". In non-fiction I would recommend "The End of Privacy" by Reg Whitaker. It's a shame. I really enjoyed "From Beirut to Jerusalem." Mr. Friedman seems to have evolved from journalist to apologist. Success seems to do that to people.
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