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." (Jan.)
