There was a time after graduating college that I contemplated on taking up foreign service to make better use of my language skills and also because many friends think I am most apt for the job not only because I know many things about people and different cultures aside from their languages as a result of frequent traveling (now ruined by Covid-19 ) and because above all, I handle issues in a very diplomatic way. On the other hand, I know in myself that I know very little about world history and especially about the Balkans, Central Asia, and other not so prominent geographic spaces but which contribute to the unfolding of world history. There were some points in my life that I would buy books on globalization to better understand the concept as a process, a system, and a phenomenon, and supplement it with books on related topics. Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat was very much talked about then and it was this reason that I probably bought every book of his that I could find in Booksale.
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I started reading this book only last year and finished it last month, but I was reading stuff in between (not to mention doing a mountain of chores and income-generating activities coz a girl's gotta earn her own money and doesn't live off others). I instantly liked Friedman because of his accessible writing style which betrays his playful and witty mind, but then it changed toward the end when it became more apparent that he is a proud American who, although aware of globalization's negative consequences, would rather insist on this US-led system because of the "benefits" that the world will reap from it. As an advocate of free market capitalism, he voices out the importance of competition and the ability to be agile in today's rapidly changing environment. To give him credit, he does raises interesting and some valid points but I still have my reservations.
The book is comprised of 20 chapters, each detailing our journalist's experiences with the globalizing world as he moves around and talks to the rich and powerful shapers of world events, in one way or the other, directly or indirectly since we are all connected more than we realize. So below are some key takeaways/ insights:
1. Globalization is THE new international system, characterized by both clashes and homogenization of civilizations, environmental disasters and rescues, triumphs of liberal free market system and the backlash against it, the durability of nation-states and the rise of enormously powerful non-state actors. And an important thing to remember is the role of CYBERSPACE/INTERNET.
2. The Lexus here is a symbol for modernization, prosperity, privatization of economies; in more concrete terms, the lexus represents material improvements in the form of global markets, financial institutions, computer technologies. Olive trees refer to the abstract things that root us--- sense of belonging, individuality, personal rituals, relationships, sense of confidence and security.
3. Golden Arches Theory banks on the global popularity of the famous fast food franchise and influenced by liberal IR tradition. It states that no two countries that both have McDonald's have ever fought a war against each other ever since they each got their McDonald's. It's funny how shortly after the first edition was published, NATO bombed Yugoslavia. (Mine is the 2000 edition.) Then again closer to home and considering recent events, we see that GAT is a very weak theory with China being aggressive (or for some scholars, assertive... But maybe its assertiveness is read by outsiders who do not have to contend with direct conflicts with this gluttonous panda) to its southern neighbors with which it shared centuries of relations. I also remember when I was still an employee of a multinational food company around 2014 or 15 and suddenly Russia and Ukraine had a fight over Crimea. I remember that time well because we had a Ukrainian visitor with whom I spoke Russian, realizing later on that Russian and Ukrainian are actually very different. The awkward thing is, at that time, Ukrainian nationalism was seen to be very fierce despite their small size compared to a giant Russia so the visitor would remind me that the two are different languages and indeed they are. I have to add that US played a role in this crisis because as usual it keeps on interfering with others' internal affairs and as usual it succeeded in throwing away then Ukrainian President out of the country. (*rolls eyes)
4. Friedman does acknowledge the ill effects of globalization, the thing he absolutely supports. So in this book he points out the things required to survive and compete and still emerge as successful. His core suggestion is by INTERNET DOCTORING which is essentially helping companies be e-ready. And since we also cannot leave out the nation-states, there is a need that a country has excellent infrastructures, the hardware as Friedman calls it, as well as robust regulations and law enforcement. He emphasizes the role of the Electronic Herd (i.e. technocrats) as primary source of capital. And despite having being the US's ally in this part of the world to contain China, the US has made little to help build this hardware that we need. So now that our President breaks off ties (partially) with US and pivots to China, I sure am more content. Because as Friedman himself says there are freemarket democrats and there are also freemarket kleptocrats and the latter are far more in number in my poor country.
5. Aside from world politics, I also pick up some useful insights for personal development:
- Beat the system at its own game
- The fast eats the slow
- Openness can lead to rapid growth (just look at China since 1979)
- You don't earn a living, you learn a living (page 447 talks about constant upskilling)
- When you are at the top, be generous and benign to keep your position
The last quotes from Paul Schroeder: "If you look at history, the periods of relative peace are those in which there is a durable, stable and tolerant hegemon who does the adjusting and preserves the minimal necessary norms and rules of the game. And that hegemon always pays a disproportionate share of the collective costs, even foregoes opportunities for conquest or restrains itself in other ways, so as not to build up resentments and to make sure the system stays tolerable for others." (That hegemon is without a question the US. But these days it should also apply to China and China knows it, that's why it is focusing on its soft power's "peaceful rise" alongside hard power, in a move to tap into smart power.)
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