The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Chapter One
Tourist with an Attitude
When I speak of the "the Cold War system" and "the globalization
system," what do I mean?
I mean that, as an international system, the Cold War had its own
structure of power: the balance between the United States and the
U.S.S.R. The Cold War had its own rules: in foreign affairs, neither
superpower would encroach on the other's sphere of influence; in
economics, less developed countries would focus on nurturing their
own national industries, developing countries on export-led growth,
communist countries on autarky, and Western economies on regulated
trade. The Cold War had its own dominant ideas: the clash between
communism and capitalism, as well as detente, nonalignment, and
perestroika. The Cold War had its own demographic trends: the
movement of peoples from east to west was largely frozen by the Iron
Curtain, but the movement from south to north was a more steady
flow. The Cold War had its own perspective on the globe: the world
was a space divided into the communist camp, the Western camp, and
the neutral camp, and everyone's country was in one of th ... read full excerpt from: Lexus and the Olive Tree ebook
