A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization, by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge.
Crown Business Publishing, 2000

Who benefits from globalization? You might be surprised by these authors' answer.

For all too many of us, the images of globalization are ones of riots in Seattle, fast food chains in The Forbidden City and children laboring in sweatshops. In their compelling, clearly written book, Micklethwait and Wooldridge, both correspondents for The Economist, set out to present another side of globalization - one in which cellular phones are empowering rural African women and western management models are creating jobs in small towns across China. Relying on a mixture of anecdotes, interviews, economic data and classic neoliberal theory, they argue that not only should globalization be rigorously defended but that it should also be actively celebrated.

History Remembered
Many contemporary proponents of globalization make the case that the growth of international trade, technology and human interaction is an inevitable force that cannot be stopped. Economists and scholars such as John Maynard Keynes made similar arguments at the beginning of the 20th Century. But as Micklethwait and Wooldridge aptly point out, because of protective actions taken by governments and businesses around the world, the global economy was,

The lesson we should take away from the first half of the 20th century, the authors argue, is that globalization is not an inevitability. If its virtues and benefits are not persuasively presented to politicians, business leaders and ordinary citizens its progress, to the detriment of all peoples, could once again be halted.

in fact, less integrated at the end of World War II then it was before the start of World War I.

The lesson we should take away from the first half of the 20th century, the authors argue, is that globalization is not an inevitability. If its virtues and benefits are not persuasively presented to politicians, business leaders and ordinary citizens its progress, to the detriment of all peoples, could once again be halted.

Freedom's Imperative
Micklethwait and Wooldridge maintain that the three engines powering globalization - technology, the capital markets, and management - are the driving force behind globalization's most important contribution to the world, the increased freedom of individuals. It is through the free exchange of ideas, increased access to capital and better management models that individuals become empowered and are able to have more of a say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ultimately, the authors argue, globalization is the only path to a world that resembles Locke and not Hobbes.

The Tip of the Iceberg
It is clear from the case studies and interviews presented in A Future Perfect that individuals around the world are already benefiting from globalization in ways that couldn't have been imagined only a few short years ago. The speed of technological growth is enabling impoverished communities to leap over previously required development stages.

Yet, still more needs to be done, the authors state. Restrictive public policies and inhibited imaginations are preventing globalization from reaching its full scope and in the end are negatively impacting millions of people who could benefit from the freedoms gained through increased knowledge and new technologies.

While decidedly optimistic, A Future Perfect does examine those who have been hurt by the global economy as well as the anti-globalization movement. Micklethwait and Wooldridge stress, placing roadblocks to further global integration only will hurt those who protestors profess to want to protect. These opposition voices further demonstrate that in the end the greatest challenge to the seemingly inevitable triumph of globalization might just be its own fragility.

About the Authors (from Crown)
John Micklethwait oversees coverage of the United States for The Economist, where he was previously New York bureau chief and business editor. He has won a Wincott Award for financial journalism. He has appeared on NPR and the BBC and written for the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times.

Adrian Wooldridge is a Washington correspondent for The The Economist and was its West Coast bureau chief, based in Los Angeles. He is the author of Measuring the Mind: Education and Psychology in England, 1860-1990. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and The Times of London, and has appeared on NPR and the BBC.

Contributed by Robert L. Kellett, Mercy Corps Web Editor.

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