《The Lexus and the Olive Tree》

The Lexus and the Olive Tress by Thomas Friedman, the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times, was a best seller book of the year, and no doubt with the nature of his job and given an economic background this book provided very good explanation of the globalization. It is a very interesting book; I think he did great job on keep the balance between intellectual level and in a popular style. Thomas Friedman is a global traveler and with his numerous experiences in the developing county as grounds for argument, his argument was very strong and convincing.

Actually last year when he came to our school I went for that very provocative speech. I would say he is a very good public speaker, not only providing unique information but also really persuasive and evocative. After read this book and no surprise why he support the war. In The Lexus and the Olive Tress, he always talks the United States as a superpower country, and as the only remaining superpower countries which is most people also think that way, but not all. For instance, my land-lady who is an American but really feels disgusting with this word. Her argument is that the USA as the one of developed country has some advantages than others but there are also a lot of domestic issues to be solved. For instance, the health and the pension for elderly people are not well established, so in that sense, the United States is far way from being a superpower country.

I see Thomas Friedman is a typical person who really got full benefit from the globalization. He know the role of game, so he really emphasis the power of nation as well as an individual’s power. But I think this kind of ideology is very dangers, and it may cause more conflicts as well. I remember he also said after Nazism and Communisms the Iraq War as the third great challenge to the world. And this is actually the structure of this book and how he understands the globalization.

As he said the globalization is already a part of our life, whether we love it or hate it.

Globalization is here to stay and no one can avoid taking part in it. But I will say even though he gives lots of examples from Asia or elsewhere but still he is just simply talking the globalization from an American perspective. As he cited the globalization was happening a long time ago, and its affects every corner of the world. Most people see it from the date the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism. In fact, we can trace back the history little bit earlier. We could consider early migration and exploration as one type of globalization before the Cold War. But since at that time governments and institutions were not well establish as it is right now, and information technology and communications were not advanced as it is now, there was less trade between nations, so its affected sector and population were small.

I agree with him that the information and technology is playing very critical role in this era of globalization. This is also the reason some countries like China have changed lots in terms of openness and control of media. As a fact of globalization, free trade is part of this business, but the role of WTO, IMF etc. is very weird and he also didn’t convince me to say those international organizations and treaties are important under the free trade condition, In case of African countries and Latino countries with those organizations play key role in terms of development, for instances, Washington Consensuses which pushed by IMF and the US government instead of bring economic growth the social economic structure became much more mass than before. Therefore, I think if Thomas Friedman can also bring some cases from those countries it will definitely benefit readers as well as it can support his argument.

I really appreciate that he strongly proposed the Lexus and the Olive Tree should keep balance. In other word, we should keep the balance between development and culture. Is the culture really matter in the development process? I think he gives very good answers.

I also agree that there are some down sides of the globalization, which we may call it, tread-off. Take Tibet as an example, through the economic structure in Tibet is rather simple because of the geographical, the historical and the life style the most part of Tibet were depending on agriculture and livestock. However, Tibetans are also getting big share from Chinese economic growth but the traditional culture and beliefs also under threaten of the simulations from Chinese. So the fact is that all cultural values cannot be preserved in this era of globalization. And the question is how to be your own and also be a part of global changes?

Given the current economic and political circumstance, challenge for the globalization is the gap between poor and rich. I cannot see how poor people and poor countries can benefit from this globalization? Can all global citizens enjoy Sushi or maybe a Big-Mac in every corner of the world? The challenge for the development is how to keep a balance between the economic development on one hand, and preserve traditional culture on the other. And this is also The Lexus and the Olive Tress trying to answers. I am highly recommending this book to people who interested in the international affairs.