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The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (by Thomas L. Friedman)
This book has long been on my list of things to read, and it was probably a little too long. Friedman's "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" takes the reader onto a whirlwind journey through globalization covering a matrix of political, national security-related, environmental, technological, cultural, and financial-economical issues in all corners of the world.
The following quote best summarizes the book's approach:
Because I am a "globalist". That is the school of thought to which I belong. That means I am not a realist, who thinks everything in foreign affairs can be explained by the quest for power and geopolitical advantage -- and markets don't matter. I am not an environmentalist, who looks at the fate of the world only through the prism of the environment and what must be done to save it -- and development doesn't matter. I am not a technologist -- one of those Silicon Valley techno-nerds who believe that history began with the invention of the microprocessor and that the Internet will determine the future of international relations -- and geopolitics doesn't matter. I am not an essentialist who believes that people's behavior can be explained by some essential cultural or DNA trait -- and technology doesn't matter. And I am not an economist who believes that you can explain the world with reference only to markets -- and power politics and culture don't matter.I believe that this new system of globalization constitutes a fundamentally new state of affairs, and the only way to see it, understand it and explain it is by arbitraging all six dimensions I have laid out above -- assigning different weights to different perspectives at different times in different situations, but always understanding that it is the interaction of all of them together that is really the defining feature of international relations today. And therefore being a globalist is the only way to systematically connect the dots, see the system of globalization and thereby order the chaos.
Throughout the book Friedman draws on his extensive experience as a foreign issues reporter for the New York Times. Every point Friemdan makes is illustrated by a selection of small stories. Structure-wise, the book consists of four parts:
- Part one "Seeing the System" explains the background of the new system of the world with democracy as the clear political winner, capitalism as the dominating economical system, and global financial markets uniting the world at a faster pace than ever before.
- Part two "Plugging into the System" covers how all countries have to deal with being connected into the global system. This chapter details the effects of globalization on all the dimensions introduced before.
- Part three "The Backlash Against the System" explains that many individuals all across the world are having problems dealing with globalization and the uprooting effect it has on their lives. Yet, the pull of globalization especially on the individual level is inevitable because individuals profit the most from it.
- Part four "America and the System" deals with how the United States should behave in this age of globalization. It also features a chapter where Friedman gives his political views as kind of a program.
I guess that how much you will like the book will very much depend on your previous experience and knowledge regarding globalization issues. The less you know, the more you will like the book.
The positives about the book for me were its eclectic point of view combining a multitude of perspectives and making sure that each one is represented. It very clearly shows how complicated the world has become, and how optimization as per one dimension can hardly do justice to the challenges. I am probably guilty of overly focussing on economical issues when I think about globalization, so that was a valuable thing to become aware of. Furthermore, the book is very well written drawing upon Friedman's journalistic experience.
What I did not like was mostly its immense reliance on analogies and metaphors to make its points. Whereas I generally love good analogies to clarify complicated issues, Friedman went overboard in my opinion. There is the fast world vs. the slow world, there is the golden straitjacket, there is the software vs. hardware of a nation's system, and so on, and so forth. While all these analogies are being brought up, the small stories from all over the world are interspersed as well -- and this oftentimes left me without a point of reference inside the structure of the book. Thus, the reading experience was oftentimes spoiled by me trying to understand where Friedman aims to go. Additionally, I found Friedman's view slightly too left-leaning in its political bias. He only admits his bias in the final chapter, but in such a book, he cannot avoid taking sides in all the preceding chapters.
Altogether, this is an interesting book, especially if you want to learn about the complexities of globalization coming from a point where you have not yet spent much time thinking about it. I enjoyed the book overall, but it could have been more analytical, shorter, and more dense for my taste.
- Book Title: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization
- Book Authors: Thomas L. Friedman
- Year of Publication: 1999
- Buy the book at Amazon.com.
- My rating:
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