ABSTRACT
If we are to believe Thomas L. Friedman’s 1999 bestseller, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, countries that attempt to avoid globalization are doomed to poverty. This is because, ‘‘the more you let market forces rule and the more you open your economy to free trade and competition, the more efficient and flourishing your economy will be’’ (Friedman, 1999, pp. 8-9). Using World Bank statistics, Friedman goes on to point out that between 1975 and 1997, the number of countries with liberal economic regimes had expanded from 8 percent of countries (amounting to $23 billion of direct foreign investment) to 28 percent of countries ($644 billion of direct foreign investment). According to Friedman, what has made globalization, ‘‘inexorable,’’ has been a combination of international developments (the end of the Cold War and, with it, the triumph of capitalism, urbanization, international finance, and American culture) and technological developments (computerization, miniaturization, fiber optics, the Internet, cable and satellite television, automation, much faster and cheaper forms of transportation, and the handling of goods and services).
