The author of Risk and Other Four Letter Words examines instant global electronic information and its impact on humanity, showing that the marriage of global TV, mobile telephones, satellites, and faxes with computers comprises a new geopolitical revolution.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In a thoughtful essay, the chairman emeritus of Citibank offers shrewd observations of how the information revolution has affected the U.S. economy, manufacturing, international trade, corporate management styles and the global financial system. Wriston identifies the "new electronic superhighway" comprised of satellite and broadcast technologies and computers as a driving force behind an integrated world economy. He underscores the importance of intellectual capital, which, he claims, is often overlooked by managers and economists. However, his McLuhanesque central thesis paints a rosy picture unsupported by the evidence. The information age, he argues, is empowering ordinary citizens, driving nations toward cooperation with one another and diminishing the power of governments and corporations even as the "global conversation" advances civil and democratic rights. Wriston overstates his case, calling the fax machine "the pamphleteer of the late twentieth century."
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Wriston, chairman emeritus of Citibank and the author of Risk and Other Four-Letter Words ( LJ 3/1/86. o.p.), provides convincing evidence of a threat to national sovereignty resulting from rapid advances in information technology. He describes the marriage of computing and telecommunications as having created an electronic network that unifies the world into one global market of ideas, data, and capital, all capable of moving with lightning speed to any part of the planet. This influence of technology on international financial markets has outpaced the ability of governments to control national economies and old political borders. Such a global market threatens the very concept of sovereign nations. Wriston warns that leaders must face squarely the magnitude of technological change or risk falling into oblivion. A provocative work for informed lay readers.
- Joe Accardi, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Joe Accardi, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I wish I would have read this 18 years ago,
By
This review is from: The Twilight of Sovereignty : How the Information Revolution Is Transforming Our World (Hardcover)
The basic premise of this sophisticated book is that you can't hold back progress and in the author's mind, progress is information. I was extremely impressed with how many of his predictions of the future have actually come true. A visionary is good way to describe him. I was not aware of his work with Citicorp but it would be interesting to hear what he would have predicted for the financial services world. He barely talks about it in the book. Too many predictions to mention but you will be impressed at his track record. In summary, because of the age of this book many of his predictions have already happened so you really can't capitalize on many of the ideas. However, it's a short read and a very interesting one at that.
8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Prescient,
By
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This review is from: The Twilight of Sovereignty : How the Information Revolution Is Transforming Our World (Hardcover)
In "The Twilight Of Sovereignty", the late Walter Wriston, former Chairman of Citicorp spoke to the positive transformative effects of information technology and the subsequent rise of transparency and democracy through globalization. Although this book was written in 1992, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, his commentary about the spread of modern communications and how better communications will enable the forces of globalism to erode the power of local tyrannies, empower individuals and promote democracy was prescient. His comments predate those of Walter Russell Mead in "Power Terror War And Peace" by several years, but are clearly in agreement. In `Twilight" Wriston's view that the so-called managerial class has outlived its usefulness as a communications hierarchy and is now superfluous or even destructive to operational efficiency is a clear example of what Mead calls the Millennial Capitalist replacement of the Fordist managerial state. Wriston also set the stage for Thomas Barnett's call for transparency and globalism as a means to fight terrorism in Barnett's recent book, "The Pentagon's New Map". In Wriston's view "the law of technology is the law of convergence" and "as information technology brings the news of how others live, the pressure for freedom will be irresistible". This is a more eloquent if a less detailed discussion than Barnett's chapter entitled `Mind the Gap', but the train of thought is essentially the same. This book is more a survey than the intensive development of the ideas that Wriston proposed, but it may be that he just assumed a degree of literacy that is no longer general. His historical references include Max Weber, whose theory of state has sovereignty emerging from the exclusive use of legitimate violence, and Frederick Hayek, whose individual choice based market solutions establish him as the intellectual heir of Adam Smith. Wriston also included modern commentators like Carver Mead and George Gilder who rejoice in the ever- accelerating pace of technological change. Wriston said that change is a constant in the global marketplace and that "change is what Americans deal with best." Although somewhat dated, I recommend this book as a concise general preview of the technological globalist argument from one of its original proponents.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dated Corporatist Trash,
By Coyote Lightning (The West) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Twilight of Sovereignty : How the Information Revolution Is Transforming Our World (Hardcover)
This book is not worth half the postage rate. Written by an elite banker out of touch with most of humanity, this book amounts to an early version of Tom Friendman's work on globalization, written for 3rd graders. His grasp of history is juvenile, based on naive (or mendacious) Cold War political assumptions, and white-washes the role of the U.S. government and elites in building our new global reality. The goal of the book is basically to erode the public's "faith" in a sovereign nation-state, because information technology passes easily across borders. He uses such examples, "The fax machine has become, in effect, the pamphleteer of the late twentieth century." What would be more interesting, instead of predictable attempts at U.S. triumphalism over the Soviet menace, would be more insight into how big bankers like himself rushed into Russia during the 1990's and helped destroy any semblance of an emergent democratic system and brought thugs like Putin into power. This book offers nothing, other than an insight into the intellectual poverty (or deceitfulness) of the elite central banker class and seems to be written for a quasi-literate audience. I'd like my time and money back...very, very disappointing. A real dud.
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