Product Description

Globalization is one of the most controversial issues in the world today. While protestors take to the streets at international summits, it is becoming conventional wisdom that companies are taking over the world, that governments' ability to tax, spend and regulate is under threat from global competition, that globalization harms the poor and that democracy is at risk. The author of this text argues that this is not so. Aiming to demolish some of these myths, Legrain shows how, without globalization, the poor are never going to get richer. It is simply the only way, he argues, to give governments the means to combat poverty: money for schools, hospitals and welfare. Focusing on the history of world trade as well as topical issues such as the power of corporations, whether globalization is bad for poor countries, whether it threatens the environment and Americanizes indigenous cultures, Philippe Legrain shows why elected governments are still very much in control and why a more open world offers greater opportunity for everyone, rich and poor, to better their lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #217315 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Philip Legrain's ambitiously titled Open World: The Truth about Globalisation adds a new dimension to the debate on globalisation: a new defender of the benefits of the global village. Having worked for both the World Trade Organisation and The Economist, Legrain's credentials seem impeccable, and he quickly launches into an impassioned defence of the benefits of economic globalisation, enthusiastically attacking Naomi Klein's No Logo, arguing that "the beauty of globalisation is that it can free people from the tyranny of geography" in offering new possibilities for international and global cooperation and cultural intermingling.

Legrain rejects the anti-globalisation argument that governments are losing control to multinational companies, and that branding is taking over our lives, offering a powerful critique of the recent TRIPS agreement. He is also good on the extent to which "many of the worries about globalisation echo age-old fears about decline". In arguing for a much more interventionist model for the future of globalisation, Legrain follows the work of Anthony Giddens and Will Hutton, but he lacks scope and authority of their economic and political analysis to really add anything new to their radical democratic positions. His cultural analysis is so weak that he repeatedly idealises the new possibilities that globalisation provides; the claim that "we increasingly define ourselves rather than let others define us" is true for a privileged, but impossible to sustain for millions of people in the developing world. Open World still has one eye closed to the downside of globalisation. --Jerry Brotton

Review
THE ECONOMIST 'The world did need another book about globalisation; OPEN WORLD is it' FINANCIAL TIMES 'At last a good book on globalisation ... lucid and persuasive' SUNDAY TIMES '[Legrain] engages with the big issues much more convincingly than Klein' NEW STATESMAN 'If you have been convinced by Naomi Klein or Noreena Hertz, you owe it to yourself to hear Legrain's persuasive defence' INDEPENDENT 'a rapid rebuttal of the flimsy critique of anti- globalisation activists'

FINANCIAL TIMES
'At last a good book on globalisation . . . lucid and persuasive'

Customer Reviews

Challenge your prejudices
It is very easy to be cynical and go along with the doom-mongers who say that globalisation only has negative consequences. Mr Legrain makes a compelling case that the reality is much more complicated. Insyead of falling into the usual media hype - inspired by protest groups and authors like Naomi Klein - that globalisation is de facto a bad thing Philippe presents a more insightful and deeper analysis which suggests the argument is not nearly so clear cut. Read this book to have your prejudices challenged.

Wasted opportunity
Firstly, Philippe Legrain is to be applauded for taking on the challenge posited by countless texts from Klein, Hertz et al and trying to redress the balance of thought in this area. Not least since this is likely to raise a few hackles. However, in trying to tackle a full sweep of the issues raised by globalisation (economic, political, social and cultural) he produces a very basic and weak analysis of the subject.

Whilst he raises interesting issues (e.g. the real extent of US cultural impact globally), on a macro level, the book contains none of the thoughtfulness or insightfulness of analyses by commentators such as Hutton, Chomsky or Friedman and reads rather like a university thesis, rooted in traditional theories of economics rather than realpolitik. Surprisingly, for example, in this sort of book, there is no real discussion of US economic and political hegemony which is pretty remiss to say the least.

On a micro level, there is a plethora of texts on each each of subjects he raises ranging from the popular (Eric Schlosser, Fran Abrams) to the academic (e.g. on global standards for human rights) which provide much more thorough, detailed and on-the-ground analysis and which often contradict Legrain's theories. There are many, many examples of this through the book, but to pick one at random, in his review of whether major corporations are in a position to take unfair advantage of their size (whether financial, environmentally or vis-a-vis consumers and employees) one of his four mitigating items is that these companies have to comply with many government regulations and therefore are prevented from doing so. To support this, he notes that "the Federal Register, which lists US government regulations is 70,000 pages long"... and that's it for your analysis. No consideration as to the extent of compliance, what constitutes compliance, whether companies can successfully breach regulations etc. This is a crucial failing of book given that if the majority of theories and principles are not necessarily applied or adhered to properly in practice, then his analysis of the actual impact of globalisation is seriously flawed.

In short, buy this book if you want a quick snapshot of alternative thinking to traditional globalisation but do not buy it for any thoughtful analysis of the subject.

Sound and clear-sighted
Legrain's book is intended explicitly as a counter to the anti-globalisation tracts of Naomi Klein, Noreena Hertz et al. He combines a travelogue from developing countries such as Vietnam with an impassioned argument in favour of the liberalisation of trade as a necessary tool for third-world development.

Although an economist, Legrain's argument is as clear and understandable to the layman as to the expert. Free trade, he points out, enables countries to concentrate their resources on industries in which they can specialise, increasing productivity and, with it, directly contributing to the removal of poverty. Not only is it beneficial to the third world, it also aids Western growth by shifting jobs towards higher-value industries. Protectionism, he argues, is no defender of jobs; in fact, it imposes a regressive charge on the taxpayer in keeping prices high while closing markets to the countries which desperately need access to them. He also directly attacks the misconceptions and inaccuracies promoted by the likes of Klein, for instance her bizarre assertion that the financial crisis of 1998 wiped out the Asian tiger economies and rendered their achievements worthless.

Unlike some pro-globalisation books, Legrain's viewpoint is emphatically that of the liberal-left; he believes globalisation can be used as a positive tool to work towards common goals to the benefit of all. He harbours no illusions that the current constitution of globalisation is perfect; in particular, he criticises the WTO's TRIPS agreement for enforcing rich-world drugs patents in countries which desperately need, but cannot afford, medicine. He also censures the IMF for its universalist strictures on the opening of capital flows, the case for which, he argues, must be kept separate from that for free trade.

As an argument, this book is highly convincing. It has been noted by others that Legrain's writing is of an easy tabloid style. This is true, but this book deserves to be popular and reads punchily and effectively. A purely structural problem is sometimes that the 'travelogue' parts of the book are somewhat uneasily fitted around the informational and polemical sections, but they do not lessen its overall impact on the reader.

I highly recommend Open World for anyone of internationalist principles who wish to read a lucid argument in favour of the role of trade in enriching rich and developing worlds alike.