Since the end of the Cold War, new technologies have evolved a new international system known as globalization. In his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas L. Friedman (1999) defines globalization as the ôintegration of capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.ö Even if this is a best scenario definition of the emerging global system of democratic institutions and free-market capitalism referred to as globalization, Friedman acknowledges the animosity of those ôbrutalizedö by the process. The animosity stems from those countries whose traditional culture, economics, government, and community resist the forces of globalization.
In his book, Friedman (1999) maintains globalization is a positive and efficient international system whose balance between progress and tradition can be maintained. This book is designed as a means of spelling out how that balance can be achieved. In explaining the balance that can be had between the Lexus and the olive tree, Friedman (1999) compares and contrasts the old international system (the Cold War) with the new international system (Globalization). He divides his book into four parts. In the first part he explains the new international system, including the influence of technology and the individual in influencing the global arena. In the second part, ôPlugging into the System,ö he discusses the economic, political, cultural, and technological changes and aims of the new international system. He provides interesting theories like DOScapital 6.0 and the Golden Arches theory of conflict prevention as a means of defining and illustrating how the new system operates. Part three discusses those countries and individuals who remain unwilling to adapt to the inevitability of the new international system. The fourth part of the book addresses the role of the U.S. in the new system...