A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization [Hardcover]

John Micklethwait (Author), Adrian Wooldridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2000

A Future Perfect is the first comprehensive examination of the most important revolution of our time--globalization--and how it will continue to change our lives. The authors, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, correspondents for The Economist, won the Financial Times/Booz Allen Hamilton Global Business Book Award on Strategy and Leadership for their previous collaboration, The Witch Doctors. In A Future Perfect, Micklethwait and Wooldridge expand their field of vision in order to analyze, demystify, and expose the global forces reshaping our world, and they detail both the challenge and the hidden promise those forces hold for individuals, businesses, and governments.

Do businesses benefit from going global? Are we creating winner-take-all societies? Will globalization seal the triumph of junk culture? What will happen to individual careers? Gathering evidence from the shantytowns of São Paolo to the boardroom of General Electric, from the troubled Russia-Estonia border to the booming San Fernando Valley sex industry, Micklethwait and Wooldridge mount a powerful, witty, levelheaded defense of globalization.

Along the way, the authors introduce us to the cosmocrats--the members of the elite business, information, and diplomatic class who are creating the new world order. They also identify the three engines of globalization and describe how people are managing and governing in an increasingly global era. As they did in The Witch Doctors, the authors also brilliantly puncture myths and conventional wisdom, separating false hopes from emerging realities.

Incisive, expansive, and optimistic, A Future Perfect is an illuminating tour of the global economy and a fascinating assessment of its potential impact.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Globalization is the single most important force in the world today, write journalists John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, both of The Economist (and coauthors of The Witch Doctors):

The integration of the world economy is not only reshaping business but also reordering the lives of individuals, creating new social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth, and, occasionally, wretched poverty. From Washington to Beijing, politicians are increasingly defined in terms of their attitudes toward globalization. The key political arguments of the next few years--between Islam and the West, Euroskeptics and Europhiles, the new left and the old--will all be variations arising from one underlying conflict: the one between globalizers who want to see the world reshaped in their own image and traditionalists who want to preserve fragments of traditional culture and local independence.

Micklethwait and Wooldridge are advocates of the former, not the latter. In A Future Perfect--a rich synthesis of anecdote, analysis, and argument--they make a strong case both for globalization's economic benefits and its classically liberal underpinnings. They acknowledge frustration with public debates over globalization that "always seem to involve a shuttered textile factory in South Carolina, never a young African child sitting at a computer; always a burning Amazonian forest, never a young Brazilian investment banker; always The Lion King or the Spice Girls, never the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao." A Future Perfect relentlessly reports the upside of globalization--the book is full of stories--and makes the vital point that more than economics is at stake. At bottom, write Micklethwait and Wooldridge, the issue is freedom. They bemoan "restrictions on where people can go, what they can buy, where they can invest, and what they can read, hear, or see. Globalization by its nature brings down these barriers, and it helps to hand the power to choose to the individual." Like a good article in The Economist, A Future Perfect is well written and concise. It also renders complicated subjects understandable, and has the welcome effect of making readers feel smarter for having cracked its spine. Much has been written about globalization; this book may be the best of the bunch thus far. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the virtual blizzard of political rhetoric, statistics and rumors surrounding the topic of globalization, Micklethwait and Wooldridge (The Witch Doctors) wade into the fray and emerge with an accessible, up-to-the-minute report. In the tradition of classical laissez-faire economic philosophers Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill, they portray globalization as a savage but beneficial process that has already led to greater economic efficiency and individual freedom of choice. "Business people are the most obvious beneficiaries," Micklethwait and Wooldridge acknowledge, but they also argue that consumers profit from variety, innovation and lower prices. With a vast array of anecdotal evidence, they point out that the cheaper materials and labor and faster distribution now available in the global marketplace mean that innovative goods and services can come from an entrepreneur like Charlie Woo of Los Angeles (who created a niche in the highly lucrative toy market), from the startups of Silicon Valley and from Hollywood, which they praise for its flexibility, innovation and hyper competition. Yet in their impassioned advocacy of globalization, Micklethwait and Wooldridge do not allow themselves sufficient space to systematically address the extent of its destabilizing economic effects or the havoc it has wreaked on many countries--a significant flaw in what is otherwise an estimable effort. Agent, Sarah Chalfant, Andrew Wylie Literary Agency. Major ad/promo; 7-city author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Crown Business; 1st edition (May 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812930967
• ISBN-13: 978-0812930962
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Toward a Global Community for the 21st Century?, July 1, 2000

By 

Steven S. Berizzi - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization (Hardcover)

I approached reading this book with the assumption that I would viscerally dislike it: I hate popular culture; I consider myself, at best, to be a technological agnostic; and my impression was the "globalization" is being generated by international-business buccaneers. However, I discovered that John Micklethwait and Adrian Woolridge, correspondents for The Economist, are adept popularizers of complicated contemporary concepts; they share a certain sense of humor; and, while championing globalization's purported benefits, they are willing to acknowledge some of its more serious problems. This book is, therefore, a solid, if not compelling, introduction to the subject.

Micklethwait and Woolridge do not offer dispassionate analysis of globalization and its impact on international business, politics, and culture. Indeed, the authors are advocates, and they are candid about their biases, declaring: "[T]he underlying message of this book is that globalization needs not merely to be understood but to be defended." The reason, according to Micklethwait and Woolridge, is: "Globalization has become, quite simply, the most important economic, political, and cultural phenomenon of our time." That's probably hyperbole, but, without debating that point, the first issue is: What is globalization? In its most basic terms, globalization is the trend toward integration of the world economy into a single market. And what drives globalization? Micklethwait and Woolridge answer: Technology, the capital markets, and management. They might have added: International financial institutions. According to Micklethwait and Woolridge, "it is certainly true that many important decisions about the world economy have been made by a small cabal of technocrats at four institutions in Washington, D.C.: the World Bank, the IMF, the U.S. Treasury, and the Federal Reserve Board." Nevertheless, the process of globalization still has a long way to go. According to Micklethwait and Woolridge: "Consultants at McKinsey reckon that only a fifth of world outputs, or $6 trillion out of $28 trillion, is open to global competition in products, service, or ownership." The issue is whether this is a good thing. Micklethwait and Woolridge seek to dispel the following "myths" about globalization: (1) it is leading to the triumph of big companies; (2) it is ushering in an age of global products; (3) it has ended the traditional business cycle; (4) it is a zero-sum game (some people have to lose in order for others to win); and (5) geography does not matter in the new global economy. The authors also reject various criticisms of globalization, including the allegations that it contributes to "the rise of homogenized airport culture;" that it involves the "loss of democratic accountability;" that "countries ruin themselves by reducing taxes, benefits, and environmental controls in order to woo rootless companies;" and that it is epitomized by the "weakness of global institutions such as the United Nations." The book is full of anecdotes, some of which are quite revealing. However, anecdote is not argument, and some of the authors' anecdotes in defense of globalization are simply exceptions to accurate generalizations. Micklethwait and Woolridge also tend to make profound statements of the obvious. For example: "The full impact of events that took place roughly a decade ago, such as the collapse of the iron curtain and the introduction of Europe's single market, is only just beginning to be felt." On the other hand, Micklethwait and Woolridge occasionally display genuine insight. According to Micklethwait and Woolridge: "Much of the globalizing drive and energy of multinationals is provided by the management industry: the business schools, consultancies, and gurus." Are we certain we want these people and institutions creating the dominant ideology of the post-Cold War world? The authors give us further reason to pause and ponder when they write at some length about "cosmocrats," whom they define as the class of people "who have benefitted from globalization." Their description of this class includes the observations that they are "[c]osmopolitan in taste," "usually Anglo-American in outlook," and preach a "gospel of wealth." The authors then declare: "These people constitute perhaps the most meritocratic ruling class the world has seen." In my opinion, the cosmocrats sound like just another elite. The fact that they have mastered the international economy - which is the basis for their self-interested conclusion that their ascendancy is based on meritocracy - does not give them a moral right to rule. Micklethwait and Woolridge observe that the "cosmocrats are increasingly cut off from the rest of society," and the authors express this concern: "One of the great risks of globalization is that it fosters anomie - the normalness that comes from having your ties with the rest of society weakened...The most common complaint among Internet addicts" is that they are "isolated, lonely, and depressed." I was not persuaded by the concluding chapter, entitled "The Hidden Promise: Liberty Renewed." According to Micklethwait and Woolridge, the "belief in individualism, which was at the heart of both the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, was actually a fairly global movement." According to Micklethwait and Woolridge, "the recent history of globalization can be written as a story...of spreading a political culture that is based on individual liberty" Even if that is an accurate statement of the cosmocrats' ideology, there is no guarantee that they will prove to be good global citizens. In fact, the cosmocrats may already have failed their first test: Micklethwait and Woolridge acknowledge that "globalization has certainly been a mixed blessing for the environment."

In the final analysis, I am concerned about the prospect of building a global community based on an ideology that exalts exuberant (and sometimes rapacious) individualism. Micklethwait and Woolridge are globalization advocates, and they are at their strongest when they discuss economic matters. They clearly believe that it will be the key organizing principle for 21st-century business, but I remain skeptical about globalization's impact on international politics and culture. Nevertheless, I am glad that I read this book and then spent some time thinking about its powerful thesis. I believe we now need a serious, non-Luddite, left-liberal critique of globalization.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it before you make your own statements on globalization, May 15, 2000

By 

Axel Thoma - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization (Hardcover)

Since globalization is inevitably changing or affecting everyone's life and shaping our future, an open dialogue is crucial on how to ease the painful process of transformation and help people handle their new freedom and responsibility. But a dialogue will only be feasible if people stop to paint black and white and put themselves in the other parties position - on the one hand the cosmocratic elite that has no time left for politics since its members spend their busy lives in worldwide economic networks and, on the other hand, people who live in local communities and don't understand world economics.

By showing both sides, A Future Perfect can help people to understand other involved parties or at least encourage them to cross limited horizons, thereby fostering objective discussions about our mutual future.

The authors cite interesting examples and base their arguments on economic theories without turning to a business language that might be hard to understand for a non-MBA reader. It's not a book that will teach you all you have to know about globalization or offer the magic bullet but it allows you to understand the forces (technology, capital & management) that drive globalization and why the term globalization is a welcome scapegoat for mismanagement, regulation and corrupt politicians.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No Logo for grownups, November 4, 2000

By 

Magnus Lindkvist - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization (Hardcover)

Future Perfect addresses what has become this era's equivalent of the Cold War; the discussion of whether globalisation is working for or against us. Bearing all traits of a classic media-fuelled conflict, i.e. simplification, exaggeration in all directions and, as always, a myriad of people taking a stand for others when they really have nothing to do with the issue at stake (compare the number of times when you've read thoughts on globalization by, for instance, a former child labourer, or an African farmer as opposed to the number of times you've seen well-dressed politicians delivering promises for change in the Third World or masked suburban kids tossing Molotov cocktails at policemen, all in the name of globalization). Refreshing then that John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge has opted for a different, and frankly more sober, view of this complex and politically charged subject matter.

Fans of Micklethwait and Wooldridge will recognize their style of writing from the brilliant "Witch Doctors", a critical analysis of the management thinker-industry, and on a superficial level Future Perfect is as enjoyable to read with a prose that shimmers with intelligence and wit whilst at the same time delivering insights into the many parts and people of the world that globalization has touched in one way or another. But referring to Future Perfect as "an enjoyable read" is as shallow as calling Schindlers List "a scary film". It is necessary to dissect certain parts of this work in order to better understand the argument that the authors present in favour of globalization.

At heart, Micklethwait and Wooldridge, are as arch-conservative as their mother magazine, The Economist (although the magazine would much more prefer the term moderate liberal), which complicates their independence in discussing the subject matter, because just like the Cold War conflict, globalization has also become a war between leftists and rightists; between those who think that the gobalization we are witnessing is dictated by the harsh world of western capitalism and those who think that only capitalism can save the oppressed regimes around the world, trade not aid as they say. The difficulty that arises, and that Mickltethait and Wooldridge unfortunately cannot steer clear of, is the problem of definition; Globalization of what? For whom? One of the reasons that this subject matter has become so politically charged is the fact that the pro's and con's seem to be talking past each other and instead focusing on sensationalist media-frenzy, whether it be poor little infants hammering away in sneaker factories or pot smoking youth blabbering about the world bank when their only excuse to go to Seattle or Prague was that there was no Woodstock or Lollapallooza around at the time. It is easier to react at simplistic and arcane symbols than to do the complex work needed in order to better understand this issue.

It is, however, refreshing that the authors at least attempt a definition of the driving forces behind globalization; technological innovation, management ideas and the free flow of capital since it presents a framework within which the reader can feel more comfortable with what type of perspective the authors are trying to convey. Another uplifting fact is that the authors do not disqualify any area or opinion in the book. Always sensitive for the fact that people and organizations have presented different arguments in the fight for or against globalization, Future Perfect reads almost like a journalistic summary of voices on globalization, not unlike "The Witch Doctors" relationship to the management gurus. What this aspect also adds is something that the other significant book on globalization right now, No Logo by Naomi Klein, failed to do; to allow both sides to have it out so that the ultimate verdict on whether globalization is something that should be favored or fought, will be determined by the only people who should; you, me and all other people who are getting involved in this issue at the moment.