Did de Tocqueville consider globalization?
The keen French observer of America in the 1830s undoubtedly was correct in realizing we are different, unique as things go and egalitarian in emphasis. De Tocqueville called it “American Exceptionalism.” Indeed, there was not one event or influence that made America the way it is, but rather thousands of currents and forces-political, social, historical, scientific, religious, cultural and so on-in concert. It is the American experience. Does it explain America today-good, bad and otherwise?
In a thoughtful article, John Parker of The Economist said “American Exceptionalism” has intensified in the post-9/11 world and proven divisive across the board. There’s strong support for fighting terrorism, but President Bush drove a wedge between the U.S. and its allies by going to war against Iraq. Now the issue is polarizing U.S. opinion.
But while “American Exceptionalism” may contribute to our understanding of current American behavior -our reaction to terrorism on U.S. soil-the phrase does not explain everything. For no matter how many fighter jets, tanks or smart bombs we have, it does not guarantee we can make a better widget.
Last Monday, our sister publication, Automotive News, reported Toyota surpassed Ford as the No. 2 automobile manufacturer on the planet. The next day Gartner Dataquest said Samsung Electronics overtook Motorola Inc. for second place in Asia-Pacific mobile-phone sales during the second quarter. The Avis effect is not inconsequential. One might argue that as Asia-Pacific goes, so goes the world in the wireless space.
Are we really so different? Increasingly we are in each other’s business and-thanks to high-speed travel and communication-in each other’s lives. So globalization is the real story here. It’s happening even as we kill each other. The trend of late is to protect developing countries from wholesale exploitation by Western economic powers. But even if another one or two World Trade Organization meetings collapse over the rich-vs.-poor-country issue, globalization will go on.
Globalization-fostered by technology advances, trade liberalization and varying democratic reform-is not only about commerce. It is about new rules. While U.S. antitrust officials have washed their hands of Microsoft Corp., European Union bureaucrats have not. In addition, the EU is growing tired of waiting for Congress to repeal a tax loophole beneficial to Microsoft, Motorola and others doing business abroad.
Then there are U.S. steel tariffs ruled by the WTO last week to be illegal. That’ll go over like a lead balloon in battleground states. But maybe globalization is self-correcting.
With the rise of multinational corporations and lowering of trade barriers, perhaps trade wars will one day become an anachronism because a country will not be able to hurt another without unduly damaging itself. Then what will the U.S. and EU have to talk about? Iraq and GSM vs. CDMA come to mind.
