 |
The Lexus and the Olive Tree
By Thomas L. Friedman
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999, 416 pp.
Reviewed by Anne McCuen-Bouchenoir
If you have time to read just one book on globalization, this
is it. In highly readable fashion, Friedman explores the complex
subject of globalization, using the Lexus auto-mobile and the olive
tree of the Middle East as symbols, and a wealth of international
stories from his background as a foreign affairs columnist to support
and advance his subject. He quickly engages the reader with well-articulated
definition, explaining globalization in terms of how it is reshaping
the world's relationships and how it affects each of us.
Friedman looks at the world through a six-dimensional perspective:
politics, culture, national security, financial markets, technology,
and environment. He assigns different weights to different perspectives
at different times in different situations, but always to the point
that it is the inter-action of all of them that is really the defining
feature of international relations today. An avowed "globalist,"
he sees the system of globalization and, with it, the possibility
to order this chaos.
Today, we have a global integration of technology, finance, trade,
and information that is influencing wages, interest rates, living
standards, culture, job opportunities, wars, and weather pat-terns
all over the world. The democratization of technology, finance,
and information has changed how we communicate, how we invest, and
how we look at the world. It is forcing people to change from thinking
first locally and then globally, to thinking first globally and
then locally. Friedman's book of stories gives the reader understanding,
perspective, and the pointed admonition to keep the balance between
the Lexus and the olive tree.
|
