[Discussion] A glance at the autumn issue of The Wilson Quarterly: The pros an d cons of globalization

[Paksoy, Hb]

A glance at the autumn issue of The Wilson Quarterly: The pros and cons of
globalization 
Two articles in the issue examine the effects of globalization. In "A World
on the Edge," Amy Chua, a Yale University law professor, writes that the
push for free markets and democracy in some developing countries is fueling
ethnic violence because the markets concentrate "wealth in the hands of the
market-dominant minority, while democracy increases the political power of
the impoverished majority." 
Americans, she says, have traditionally viewed globalization and free-market
democracy as cures for the "multiple ills of underdevelopment." But the
spread of capitalism and democracy is worsening the situation in countries
like the Philippines, where Chinese Filipinos, who make up only 1 percent of
the population, dominate 60 percent of the private economy, she writes.
Introducing democracy in countries where free markets and democracy benefit
different ethnic groups may lead to a backlash against Americans and
American ideals and give rise to demagogues "who scapegoat the resented
minority and foment active ethnonationalist movements," Ms. Chua writes. 
In "The Fate of Culture," Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George
Mason University, argues that globalization is fostering, not destroying,
cultural diversity. Globalization may promote the "rise of mass culture and
entertainment pitched to the least common denominator," but it has "brought
one of the most significant increases in freedom and diversity in human
history" by liberating people from the "tyranny of place," he
writes."Growing up on an isolated farm or in a remote village, whether in
the Canadian Rockies or Bangladesh, is less a limit than ever before on an
individual's access to the world's cultural treasures and opportunities,"
Mr. Cowen writes. Some countries "may look more similar than they once did,"
but the people in those countries have "greater leeway to pursue different
paths and to make their own cultural choices," Mr. Cowen concludes. 
The article is not available online, but information about the issue can be
found at <http://www.wilsonquarterly.com>