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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Globalization is not some faceless bogeyman bent on destroying democracy and controlling the world, argues Legrain. That misunderstanding, he says, arises from the bad rap it gets from opponents of its current manifestation, like Naomi Klein, or even from proponents like Thomas Friedman, who characterizes globalization as inevitable. In fact, says Legrain, who is "chief economist of Britain in Europe" and a former trade correspondent with the Economist, globalization is "a political choice," and generally a beneficial one. Focusing his analysis on the historical benefits of international trade, Legrain readily criticizes what he sees as globalization's primary flaws. International patent law and financial markets each receive a scathing rebuke for the (sometimes lethal) harm they wreak on the developing world. Nevertheless, "No country has escaped poverty without trading with the rest of the world," and Legrain spends much of the book refuting depictions of globalism as a "race to the bottom," loading the book with examples of globalization's positive effects on global labor and environmental standards and its role as a lubricant for democracy. He is less persuasive and less rigorous when downplaying America's predominance in the global culture, and he too often deals with popular culture and European examples, such as fashion or opera, paying little or no attention to smaller, local cultures in developing countries. Likewise, his glib assertion that the most dominant mass media companies are a global hodgepodge, rather than rigorously calibrated and competitive organizations centered on profit, is unlikely to assuage the fears of their many opponents. Legrain's attempts at reconciling opposing arguments might not render the "truth," but they paradoxically mirror adjustments that have recently been made by activists, who have moved from "antiglobalization" actions to demands for "global justice."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
This book offers what might be called the sweetness-and-light view of globalization, written by a former correspondent for The Economist. The author has no time for the protestors who congregate at every summit meeting of the World Trade Organization, stating that they have misrepresented the idea and practice of globalization. Those who clamor that globalization is a stealthy euphemism for global Americanization, along with corporate domination, come in for the bulk of Legrain's wrath. Rather, he argues that globalization has created a polemical paradox--while the world community fears Americanization of their cultures, Americans are suspicious that a global perspective will result in the loss of jobs, freedom, and their way of life. Arguing that the "Kathy Gifford" syndrome actually results in a win-win situation (Americans get cheaper shoes, say, while poor workers in poor countries get jobs that improve their lot), he perhaps misses the point that although workers make those shoes for 25 cents an hour, Americans still have to pay $100 for them. Nevertheless, a well-argued book that should serve as balance to current negative accounts. Allen Weakland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Open World, South Korea, Third World, Brief History of Globalisation, World Bank, South Africa, New York, Culture Clash, The Poor Profit, New Zealand, Endangered Earth, Sparrows Point, Latin America, Financial Failings, The Phantom Menace, United States, Clay Feet, Worried Workers, World Trade Organisation, Patently Wrong, Second World War, Bethlehem Steel, Hong Kong, Different World, Marco Polo Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
global government, poor profit Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Open World, South Korea, Third World, Brief History of Globalisation, World Bank, South Africa, New York, Culture Clash, The Poor Profit, New Zealand, Endangered Earth, Sparrows Point, Latin America, Financial Failings, The Phantom Menace, United States, Clay Feet, Worried Workers, World Trade Organisation, Patently Wrong, Second World War, Bethlehem Steel, Hong Kong, Different World, Marco Polo Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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21
books
cite this book:
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- A Brief History of Globalization: The Untold Story of our Incredible Shrinking Planet by Alex MacGillivray on 6 pages
- A World Without Walls: Freedom, Development, Free Trade and Global Governance by Mike Moore on 4 pages
- France in Crisis: Welfare, Inequality, and Globalization since 1980 by Timothy B. Smith in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Direct Action and Democracy Today by April Carter on page 118, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- East Asia Modern: Shaping the Contemporary City by Peter Rowe in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 21 books citing this book
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