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Global California: Rising to the Cosmopolitan Challenge

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Engagingly written and persuasively argued, Global California is a fascinating read for the specialist and the general reader alike. Lowenthal's approach is highly original; he explores California's ties to the rest of the world as if the state were a country unto itself, a free-standing actor on the global stage. While he certainly isn't calling for secession, he is pushing for a revolution in the way Californians see their place in the world.

As opening chapters make abundantly clear, what's needed, however, is not so much a revolution as a reality check. California has an economy larger than that of Brazil, Russia, or India. It's not so far off being the "C" in BRIC. The state's population is greater than Canada's and contains the highest number of Mexicans anywhere outside of Mexico. Its interests are inseparable from a whole range of international issues ranging from trade to immigration to intellectual property rights.

Yet California continues to lack a serious vision for its role as an international actor. While Californians are all too eager to be seen at the cutting edge of the Union, they are all too slow to get serious about their position as a major hub in an increasingly interconnected world. Lowenthal pulls no punches; such parochialism is dangerously anachronistic.

That said, Lowenthal is ultimately and firmly an optimist. He lays out concrete steps that politicians, businesspeople, and engaged citizens can all take to meet the challenges of an increasingly globalized world. Global California highlights how each of these groups can work to harness some of the most powerful forces shaping the 21st century. For anyone with a personal, political, or financial investment in the future of California, reading this book is the intellectual equivalent of coming across a $100 bill on the sidewalk.

Performing a kind of 'canary in the coal mine' function, the state of California has often been a forerunner of cultural and economic developments that have gone on to influence and shape the cultural , political, and economic conditions of the nation (and even the world) as a whole -- and vice versa. "Global California: Rising To The Cosmopolitan Challenge" by Abraham F. Lowenthal (Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California) surveys the many ways in which California (a state with the demographics and economics that rival a great many countries) has been affected by international trends and how Californians can 'identify and promote' their own collective interests is a world that is in constant cultural, political, and economic flux. As the world grows ever more complex and intertwined, Professor Lowenthal advances ideas for how the residents, corporate and political authorities of California can emancipate themselves from leaving decision on how they relate to the broader world to such authorities as the federal government or East Coast Think Tank 'experts' for whom the best interest of California might be secondary to some other agenda. Deftly written , "Global California" is as informed and informative as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking.

"Global California" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Lowenthal's book interview ran here as cover feature on June 8, 2009.