Thomas Friedman's Olive Branch Towards Theorists of the Past - on the Negative and Positive Effects of Globalization
Political scientists often like to be prophets of doom, predicting the end of history or foreseeing an endless series of clashes of civilization and culture in the coming decades. However Thomas Friedman's thesis, advanced in the Lexus and the Olive Tree, about the interconnected nature of the new world, and the positive benefits of globalization, although idealistic, presents a positive vision of the world that peacemakers, politicians, and people all over the world can aspire to in the future. Although Friedman may give insufficient weight to cultural, class, and religious tensions, he also points out how improved communications technology and interconnected economic systems have created a new, global culture that forces even residents of more traditional societies to see themselves in a new light. Ultimately, Friedman provides the best model of current international security environment. He suggests that change is possible, and there is a common ground for negotiation. Other theorists merely suggest that rogue regimes, class, and cultural differences make dialogue impossible, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophesy of defeat.
While conflicts between social classes and cultures may be endemic to all societies, as is, sadly terrorism (do not forget that World War I began with a terrorist attack) what is new today is the ability of an ordinary individual from China or Iran to sample what it is like to live abroad, simply by surfing the Internet, and for two people on rival sides of cultural and class divides to communicate with one another, and reach a personal truce that before could only be negotiated between nations. [where] government[s have] no writ after dark" (Kaplan 2001: 1). This resonates with Samuel Huntington's earlier theory advanced in The Clash of Civilizations. If culture and class divide the world so inexorably that dialogue is impossible, what is the point of seeking peace at all?. Friedman suggests that the difference between the class and cultural clashes of the past, is that today the world is not only more interconnected by transportation, but also communication has improved due to the democratization of technology (Friedman 2000: 49). While this may pose a challenge to the idea of the Lexus creating an olive branch for the future, it is also worthy of note that, despite these foreign symbols of affluence, it is also the corruption that these cars embody, not their foreignness, that is the object of the boy's hatred. Hardy predicts the "revenge of the poor, of the social failures, of the people least able to bring up children in a modern society. Communication offers the ability to present people with self-images beyond older, tribal ways of perceiving themselves. According to Barnett, globalization has divided the world, even as it has brought some nations together in symbiosis. Still, both theories stand in stark contrast this with what Friedman calls the "new, very greased, interconnected system called globalization" (Friedman 2000: xvi).
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