Seeing the Elephant: Understanding Globalization from Trunk to Tail

by Peter Marber

Thanks to globalization, more countries depend on each other for trade, capital, and ideas than ever before. Yet politically, these countries are drifting further apart. In Seeing the Elephant , author and emerging markets expert Peter Marber describes how increasing economic integration and the rise of new actors is drastically altering the geopolitical landscape, and offers insights on how the US can maintain a leading role in the 21st century and beyond. While America remains the single most important economy today, rising economic powerhouses — China, Russia, India, Brazil and others — bring a diverse set of interests to the table that the US cannot afford to ignore, Marber explains. Moreover, globalization has created thousands of non-state actors – corporations, banks, hedge funds, activists and even terrorists – who bring their own concerns to bear on the world system. In the era of globalization, America's success hinges on the success of its neighbors, too. Yet from its invasion of Iraq to its disregard of major treaties — some recent US choices have shown little regard for these new players. As the lines between economic, defense, environmental, immigration, and energy policy become increasingly blurred, having a holistic and coherent approach to cross-border challenges is essential. Yet the forums and institutions that once coordinated these relationships – the UN, World Bank and the G7— are losing relevance and no longer adequately represent the world's expanded power roster. To remain vital, Marber believes all our multilateral institutions will require fresh ideas and revamping. Seeing the Elephant demystifies globalization, and analyzes the megatrends and interconnections of the 21st century. With bold suggestions on how America reassert its historic leadership in the new global arena, Seeing the Elephant should be required reading for policy makers, businessmen and informed citizens alike.

Genres: Economics, Business, Nonfiction, Social, Science, Politics, International

420 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2009

Reviews

[Steve Barrera · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book's title comes from the story of the blind men and the elephant, and the book itself means to describe the many parts of "globalization" to give the reader a holistic view for better understanding. The author covers the following topics, devoting a chapter to each: Trade/Finance, Energy, Defense/Security, Immigration, Healthcare, Environment, and Poverty. To me the book seemed more like a snapshot of the state of the world in the late 2000s, rather than arguing any kind of of theoretical framework or grand strategy perspective to justify the idea of "globalization" - other than acknowledging that the world is complex and that the various topics interrelate. The gist of it is that the world's nations are more economically connected, and the Third World has risen from its impoverished state, since the U.S. won the Cold War. The author is optimistic about globalization, and extols its benefits, though he is disappointed in the foreign policy of the Bush administration. This was an opinion that was easy to hold in this time period; I have encountered it in other works like this that come across as apologies for globalization or neoliberalism. The Global Financial Crisis was just happening as this book was published, and it is mentioned, though its full implications obviously could not be understood at the time. The author explains that he chose his title both to evoke the story of the blind men and the elephant, and also the saying "the elephant in the room" to denote something everyone is aware of but no one wants to talk about. There is a third application of the word that is relevant to the subject of globalization: look up "The Elephant Curve." It is a curve which illustrates the hollowing out of the middle class, that trend of the globalization era which explains the backlash against it by U.S. voters, and which makes books like this one so out of date a decade after their publication. But read it anyway if you want a reminder of the heady thinking of the early 21st century, when it was possible to be bullish on globalization.

[Russell Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but poorly written. A lot of reiterating, perhaps to add more volume. Anyways, if you’re already informed about these sort of real-world-problems I suggest finding a book with a different author.

[Andrew Canfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part it's boilerplate stuff, a globalization book which isn't at the level of a Friedman or even Greider work. The edition I read was riddled with typographical errors and poor sentence structure; it looked like it could have used another edit or two. Overall it was average fare with occasionally illuminating insights.

[sarefo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing new in it for the most part, for somebody who already has some moderate knowledge of globalization; but some good ideas on reform spread throughout the book.

[Marius Croeser · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK..