ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses several different meanings and contexts of the word 'transparency'. He then focuses on one context: transparency in the system of political economy or political and corporate governance. The author looks at the issue through the lens of Benjamin Barber's analysis of globalization in his prophetic 1995 book, Jihad vs McWorld. He then outlines the conflict in a more prosaic manner by identifying two broad systems, the shareholder and stakeholder systems, and suggests that the shareholder system is superior in terms of transparency. The author presents a simple rational choice explanation of Barber's most obscure proposition - how McWorld actually stimulates jihad. He moves to the solidarity system, and also looks at economic growth and corruption, particularly with respect to the Korean and Chinese systems, where there appears to have been both spectacular growth and a great deal of corruption.
