Jihad vs. McWorld:

How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World

by Benjamin R. Barber

This book would appear to be timely, and indeed has been selling well recently, even though it was originally published in 1995. It's an interesting read, one which certainly caused me to think. What I think, however, is that I disagree with the author's thesis and the arguments he presents to support it.

Barber asserts that “the epoch on whose threshold we stand -- post communist, postindustrial, postnational, yet sectarian, fearful, and bigoted -- is likely also to be terminally postdemocratic.” This is a bold and startling prediction. He foresees the imminent and permanent end of democracy. If he is right, then we have every reason to be alarmed.

But, happily, he fails the test. He makes some wildly bizarre statements, such as “the world has been sent spinning out of control.” Really? It sure doesn’t look that way to me. I see a world of increasing peace, harmony, cooperation, prosperity, and good will. Even the cataclysmic events of September 11 did not plunge us into despair and disintegration as their perpetrators had hoped.

Barber challenges “the belief that markets ultimately defeat ideology”, but the evidence he provides is anecdotal and based on transitory conditions. He derides “rhetoric that assumes capitalist interests are not only compatible with but actively advance democratic ideals”. I agree that it may not always be in the short-term interests of business and markets to promote democratic ideals; but I would assert that in the larger scheme of things, influential capitalists recognize not only the pragmatic benefits of freedom and self-determination, they also cherish the inherent goodness of such values independent of their narrow personal economic concerns. Mr. Potter makes a great villain and serves as the perfect foil for George Bailey (in “It‘s a Wonderful Life“), but he is only a character in the movies, and that’s not real life. Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Rupert Murdoch, and other business leaders are not evil, nor are they amoral. They are human beings, just like us. They have strengths and weaknesses, good points and bad points. We may not always like what they do, but to suggest that they are indifferent to the advancement of the human condition is ridiculous.

Perhaps the most laughable statement in the book is “the collapse of state communism has not delivered people to a safe democratic haven.” Tell that to the people of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany or even Russia. Would they prefer to exchange their lives today for the way they lived 15 years ago? I doubt it. More to the point, let’s see how those former communist states are faring in 2025, and then ask them if they would like to go back to 1975. Even the former Soviet states that today are struggling will be significantly better off after another two or three decades of development.

It is ironic that Barber challenges the reader to look beyond the apparent realities of the present, but he himself is guilty of interpreting the apparent realities of the mid 1990’s as an end. He begins the book by stating “History is not over”, then spends the next 300 pages unwittingly proving that he believes precisely the opposite. He views the landscape of world events not from the 30,000 foot level, but from the 30 inch level, unable to see past even the most transient phases of development. I find his outlook myopic, not to mention reactionary and conservative.

Throughout history, there has always been -- and probably always will be -- a ready market for authors who cry doom. The evidence, however, shows that in the largest sense these pessimistic alarmists are ever wrong. The relatively steady progress of culture, civilization, ideology, religion, science, and technology has produced more freedom, better health, higher living standards, more education, greater prosperity, and better hope for the future.

I choose not to fear the future, but to welcome it; not to decry humanity’s accomplishments, but to celebrate them. The all but certain continuation of present trends will take us into a time of greater freedom, equality, health, prosperity, longevity, and well-being than we have ever known. Democracy is not on the verge of extinction, as Barber suggests, but is poised for sustained expansion. This, in fact, is what history teaches us: that our best is always yet to come.