2. 
THE WORLD-SYSTEM &
THE INDIVIDUALV.
S. Naipaul's A Way in the World and
The Cultures of Globalization (eds.
Jameson and Miyoshi) choreograph a planetary dance of
opposites. (13 November 2000) I then sought
a more critical formulation of globalization in the
imaginative work of V. S. Naipaul.
3. Reading
notes: HEGELIAN OPPOSITIONS HELP
EXPLAIN GLOBALIZATION. Fredric
Jameson. "Notes on Globalization as a
Philosophical Issue." Fredric Jameson and Masao
Miyoshi, Eds. THE CULTURES OF GLOBALIZATION. Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 1999, pp. 54-77.
(19 November 2000) I found links from Naipaul
to the thinking of Fredric Jameson and others, who
approached the topic as a manifestation of postmodern
culture.
4. That exercise
opened my eyes to the historical roots of
contemporary globalization, especially in the work of Enrique Dussel. It clarified
for me the essential cultural tension in
globalization, evoked by the countless variations on
Identity versus Difference in national and regional
venues.
5. "GLOBAL
LITERACIES" EMPOWER CORPORATE LEADERS Lessons
on business leadership show that the globalized
postmodern marketplace is here, but globalization
still lacks a theoretical explanation. (25 November
2000) Along the way, I found
advice to corporate leaders from Robert Rosen and
colleagues on the way to work in the global
environment.
6. THE JOURNALIST & THE
ANTHROPOLOGIST GIVE CONTRASTING MODELS OF THE WORLD
WE'RE MAKING Where
Thomas L. Friedman sees a "globalization
system" in operation, Clifford Geertz sees the
world in pieces. (18 March 2001) Those opening
moves in my search for an understanding of
globalization prepared the way for a reading of
Thomas L. Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree.
Friedman provided what so far was lacking in my
reading--a well-rounded argument that tried to
identify the essential cause of what has been
happening in the world during the past decade.
7.
But the superficialities of
Friedman's journalistic foray left me ready for the
reflective subtleties of anthropologist Clifford
Geertz. He gave me a
useful foil against which to measure the limitations
of Friedman's model in AVAILABLE LIGHT: Anthropological
Reflections on Philosophical Topics. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2000.
8.
An essay review: GLOBALIZATION BRINGS OUT
THE HUMAN GENIUS FOR CONFLICT
Many want goods and capital
to flow freely around the globe; a growing number of
opponents, including these authors, think there is a
better way to pursue the happiness of humankind. (30
April 2001) I thought that Field
Guide to the Global Economy by Sarah
Anderson and John Cavanagh with Thea Lee would be an
objective overview but it turned out to be a polemic
against free trade, the cornerstone of the
globalization system.
9.
An essay: THE WORLD WAITS FOR A
RE-VISIONING OF A NEW PERIOD
A messy oil deal in
Kazakhstan helps frame the question: Whither
globalization from here? (15 July 2001) An article by
Seymour M. Hersh in The New Yorker (9
July 2001) triggered me to try to identify the
conceptual limitation of the globalization system and
point toward the conversation needed to correct it.
10. At this point,
on 15 July 2001, I reorganized the
"globalization" homepage, aiming to equip
the site for a somewhat deeper exploration of
scholarly analysis and evaluation of the globalizing
process. The working list included works by Martin
Feldstein, Anthony Giddens, John Gray, Felix
Guattari, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge,
and James H. Mittleman. The "globalization"
bibliography lists all the works by author. I will
post reviews and comments on them as they come out of
the workshop.
11.
VIOLENCE
IS A WEAK PROTEST WEAPON Opponents
of free trade might learn a lesson from Hannah
Arendt's analysis of the violence of the late 1960s.
(8 August 2001) The most dramatic
anti-globalization expressions have been in the form
of violence at international summits of the world's
economic powers. Philosopher Hannah Arendt's 1969
essay on the limits to violence in the political
process dealt with the violence of student protests
at that time. On re-reading it, I felt that today's
anti-globalization protesters might profitably cock
an ear to her thought from another time.
12. GLOBALIZATION &
POSTMODERNISM COMPLEMENT AND CONTRADICT ONE ANOTHER Late
capitalism is the common ground for globalization as
well as postmodernism. Yet they generate
contradictory visions of world culture. What will
come of that? (19 August 2001) I was
finished reading the books by John Gray,
John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, and James H.
Mittelman. But before I could notate
them in the "globalization" homepage, they
stimulated this attempt to integrate my old study of
postmodernism with my new interest in globalization.
13. A working opinion on
the current scene: MARXIST
THEORY TAKES AN INVENTIVE TURN IN CHINA (19 August
2001) And then Jiang Zemin came up with
a strategy that will give nationalism continued
prominence in the globalization process.
14. WHO AM I? CHINESE
QUESTION, GLOBALIZED ANSWER
Nobel Laureate Gao Xinjian
writes of his homeland in Soul Mountain but
his work matters on a worldwide stage. (28 August
2001) Talk about the globalizing process
and you can't help thinking how important China is to
it. Soul Mountain
moved my thinking beyond China's economic and
geo-political importance. Gao Xingjian made me wonder
how a Chinese person--or a person from any
nation--identifies himself in an emerging globalized
culture. This made me realize that the issue of
cultural and individual identity is finally more
compelling for me than the economic foundations of
globalization--essential though it is to get those
foundations right.
15. Reading
notes and a reflection: AFTER THE ATTACK ON
AMERICA, WE NEED A MORE DEFINITIVE VIEW OF
GLOBALIZATION
Three differing books on
globalization, read in light of 11 September 2001,
lead to a reflection on the future of the world. (9
October 2001) By the time I collected my
reading notes on John Gray, James Mittelman, and John
Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge, the terrorists
attacked, altering every perception of globalization
in an instant. My reflection on the three books tries
to flesh out my understanding of globalization up to
this point. And it indulges in some future-gazing in
the heat of our response to the terrorist attacks.
16. The
attack on America on 11 September 2001 began a new
engagement between the US and the West on one hand
and Islam on the other. This opened an unexpected
line of inquiry for my reading on globalization. I
pursued it initially in some "working
opinions." (20 September 2001, 16 October 2001,
and 3 November 2001).
17. EMPIRE:
BEYOND STRIKES: Michael
Hardt & Antonio Negri parody Marx and romanticize
the post-proletariat, only to write a non-program for
revolution in a non-place. (4 December 2001) Hardt
& Negri deserve credit for trying to invent a
vocabulary to deal with the conditions of postmodern
globalization. But the limits to their effort also
need to be documented.
18. ISLAM & THE WEST:
WILL THEY LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER?
Why do resurgent Islamists
want to destroy us? Is there hope for an Islam-West
accommodation in a future world order? An exploration
by one who wasn't thinking about Islam before 11 Sep
01. (7 January 2002) This is "Islam
100." It represents my belated attempt to get a
grip on the Islamist thinking that led to 9-11. The
war on terrorists "with global reach" will
have profound effects on whatever globalization is
now becoming. Here I presume to look beyond the war
and wonder about the world order that might emerge.
19.
Then in February 2002 a couple of visitors reacted to
the "globalization" homepage. The
references they passed along enriched my
understanding of the concept. One showed the link
between global
publishing patterns and hegemonic power
in the global arena. Another considered the meaning
of globalization in the
context of "postcolonial" studies.
20. CAN ISLAMIC LANDS END THE
BLAME GAME AND MAKE A FUTURE THEMSELVES?
Bernard Lewis examines what
happened and what Muslims could do to make it right.
(10 February 2002) This is "Islam
200." Bernard Lewis's inquiry into "what
went wrong" with Islam after it encountered the
West focuses on the dilemma more broadly discovered
in my essay, ISLAM
& THE WEST: WILL THEY LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER? (7
January 2002)
21. WEST & ISLAM:
PROSPECTS FOR LIVING TOGETHER LOOK DIM
V. S. Naipaul's Beyond
Belief makes it hard to see how
Muslims ever will adjust to us. (26 March 2002) This
book destroyed my remaining optimism about finding a
way to live with Islam. It made me so pessimistic
that I decided to take a break from the search for
grand answers to the cultural impasse between Islam
and the West.
22. THE ENLIGHTENMENT RAN
WILD & WE CALLED IT GLOBALIZATION
Anthony Giddens examines the
result and searches for remedies (27 May 2002) Giddens
usefully analyzes structural components of
globalization and less usefully attempts to derive
from his analysis some insights that would bring
globalization under control. I value his analysis of risk
and the new function of tradition
under conditions of
globalization. But he offers us nothing for dealing
with the dim prospects for our engagement with Islam
post 9-11.
23. THE ULTIMATE WEAPON
AGAINST TERRORISTS: CREATING A
GLOBAL OPEN SOCIETY Financier-philanthropist
George Soros proposes a moral agenda for a better
world. (18 June 2002) Soros, unlike
Giddens, has a vision of what to about the world
since 9-11. He brilliantly analyzes the hegemonic
position of the US. He urges an idealistic
alternative to our continuing pursuit of self-serving
geopolitical realism. Mounting a moral agenda for the
world is the only strategy that will win against
terrorists, in his view. This powerful message from a
practitioner in the global market deserves President
Bush's attention.
24. Over
the spring and summer of 2002, thanks to reading
Soros and other things, I developed "working
opinions" about the intersecting of America's
commitment to globalization with our inevitable
long-term engagement with Islam, brought on by the
attack on America: FIGHTING
TERRORISTS IS ONLY HALF THE JOB FOR BUSH (22 May 2002); ARAB INTELLECTUALS
AVOID "THE BLAME GAME" (13
July 2002); THE
USA AND THE WORLD NEED "ENLIGHTENMENT II" (1
August 2002)
25. IDEOLOGY OF GLOBALISM
DRIVES THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION
Manfred Steger
critically analyzes the promotion of globalization by
the Western hegemony. (26 September 2002)
Steger's analysis, like that of George Soros,
discloses a need for resistance to the hegemonic
promotion of neoliberal free market ideology. He
arrives at that position by scrutinizing globalist
rhetoric, which he names "globalism."
Globalism is the neoliberal ideology that pushes the
material process of globalization as such. Steger's
analysis parallels John Gray's fault-finding
assessment in False
Dawn. Steger
provokes me into wondering whether Western
anti-globalists will some day ally with non-violent
Islamic anti-globalists as the world probes for a new
order different from the one now being promoted. Such
speculations help to dispel the pessimism that
resulted from my reading of V. S. Naipaul's Beyond
Belief.
26. A POSTINDUSTRIAL
KNIGHT-ERRANT TILTS WITH AMERICA'S ELITES
Michael Moore believes that
political and corporate chiefs have led us astray and
abandoned the ordinary American struggling to deal
with the effects of globalization. (21 October 2002) Moore
speaks in Stupid White Men for
ordinary Americans who have received the short end of
the globalization stick. His bitterly satirical humor
complements domestic anti-globalization activists and
politicians such as Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan.
27.
I worry in a working
opinion that the Bush war whoop will deafen America
to the need for a global vision in our approach to a
future with Islam: CONDITIONS OF
GLOBALIZATION DEMAND A GLOBAL AMERICAN VISION.
(15 November 2002)
28. BIN LADEN MAY BE LIVING, BUT
HIS EXPLOSIVE CAUSE MAY BE DYING Gilles Kepel
offers the optimistic view that Islamist extremism
has failed to fulfill its promise to Muslims and is
on the decline. But is America doing all it can to
support the aspirations of Muslim moderates who want
to replace violent extremists? (25 November 2002)
Manfred Steger made me wonder whether non-violent
Muslims would ever engage with compatible people in
the West. Kepel brings the news that there are
anti-Islamist moderates seeking to create democratic
society in the context of globalization. He gives a
pessimist a small ray of hope for the future.
29. THE BOUNDARIES OF THE GLOBE
BLUR Michael J.
Mazarr's global trends for the decade capture the
tension between the uncertainties of multiplicity and
a holistic approach to global processes. (15 July
2003) I took time out to go to war
in Iraq with Mr. Bush. Mazarr usefully listed
trends in globalization before 9-11. His lists
still capture the complexity of what's
happening. But 9-11 and the Iraq war throw
shadows over his forecast of the years ahead that he
did not anticipate.
30. JIHAD &
DHIMMITUDE: DO TRADITIONAL QUR'ANIC
DOCTRINES PREVENT ISLAM AND THE WEST FROM FINDING
COMMON GROUND? Robert Spencer
argues in Onward Muslim Soldiers that violent
extremists are not marginal Muslims but stand on
central Islamic doctrines. (9 February 2004)
I continued to look for globalization through the fog
of war on terrorists--a murky sight. The war on
terrorists began to look like Huntington's predicted
clash of civilizations between Islam and the
West. Robert Spencer located violent jihad and
the second-class status of Jews and Christians in
central Islamic doctrine. He believed there are
moderate Muslims to work with, but he said little
about how America and the West should do so.
31.
ISLAM & THE
WEST: EDWARD W. SAID SLAMMED V. S.
NAIPAUL AND BERNARD LEWIS. In Reflections on Exile
and Other Essays, the author of Orientalism saw in Naipaul and
Lewis an
intellectual
corruption that paralleled the social corruption of
imperialism itself. (6 May 2004)
Robert Spencer made me fear that pan-Islamic
doctrines would make Islam-West engagement
problematic. Edward Said's assertive sense of
his cultural patrimony suggested that such a fear is
based on too narrow a reading. Mainly, he
cautioned me against using V. S. Naipaul and Bernard
Lewis as my unqualified guides to the Islam-West
conflict.
32.
MILITARY
FUNDAMENTALISM AND FREE-MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM.
George Soros thinks that both
obstruct America’s leadership position in the
world. (11June
2004) In
June 2002, I found George
Soros to be cautious when he considered how
globalization would develop after 9-11 under
Bush. By June 2004, he criticized not only the
market fundamentalism of the administration but also
its military fundamentalism--its belief that
beneficial social and political change in the world
can come primarily through military initiative.
He favored cooperation over competition in our
leadership of the world and vowed to help unseat Bush
and the neoconservatives.
33.
And
so on.
OFFICIAL
ECONOMIC GLOBALIZERS