A Future Perfect

by John Micklethwait, Adrian Woolridge

Globalization is the single most important force in the world today, write journalists John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, both of The Economist (and coauthors of The Witch Doctors ): The integration of the world economy is not only reshaping business but also reordering the lives of individuals, creating new social classes, different jobs, unimaginable wealth, and, occasionally, wretched poverty. From Washington to Beijing, politicians are increasingly defined in terms of their attitudes toward globalization. The key political arguments of the next few years--between Islam and the West, Euroskeptics and Europhiles, the new left and the old--will all be variations arising from one underlying the one between globalizers who want to see the world reshaped in their own image and traditionalists who want to preserve fragments of traditional culture and local independence. Micklethwait and Wooldridge are advocates of the former, not the latter. In A Future Perfect --a rich synthesis of anecdote, analysis, and argument--they make a strong case both for globalization's economic benefits and its classically liberal underpinnings. They acknowledge frustration with public debates over globalization that "always seem to involve a shuttered textile factory in South Carolina, never a young African child sitting at a computer; always a burning Amazonian forest, never a young Brazilian investment banker; always The Lion King or the Spice Girls, never the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao." A Future Perfect relentlessly reports the upside of globalization--the book is full of stories--and makes the vital point that more than economics is at stake. At bottom, write Micklethwait and Wooldridge, the issue is freedom. They bemoan "restrictions on where people can go, what they can buy, where they can invest, and what they can read, hear, or see. Globalization by its nature brings down these barriers, and it helps to hand the power to choose to the individual." Like a good article in The Economist , A Future Perfect is well written and concise. It also renders complicated subjects understandable, and has the welcome effect of making readers feel smarter for having cracked its spine. Much has been written about globalization; this book may be the best of the bunch thus far. --John J. Miller

Genres: Economics, Politics, Nonfiction, Business, Society

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Richard John Micklethwait CBE (born 11 August 1962) is editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, a position he has held since February 2015. A British journalist, he was previously the editor-in-chief of The Economist from 2006 to 2015.

Micklethwait was born in 1962, in London, and was educated at Ampleforth College (an independent school) and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied history. He worked for Chase Manhattan Bank for two years and joined The Economist in 1987. Prior to becoming editor-in-chief, he was United States editor of the publication and ran the New York Bureau for two years. Before that, he edited the Business Section of the newspaper for four years. His other roles have included setting up an office in Los Angeles for The Economist, where he worked from 1990 to 1993. He has covered business and politics from the United States, Latin America, Continental Europe, Southern Africa and most of Asia.

Appointed as editor-in-chief on 23 March 2006, the first issue of The Economist published under his editorship was released on 7 April 2006. He was named Editors' Editor by the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2010. Micklethwait has frequently appeared on CNN, ABC News, BBC, C-SPAN, PBS and NPR.

In 2015 he was appointed as a Trustee of the British Museum. He was also a delegate, along with two colleagues, at the 2010 Bilderberg Conference held in Spain. This group consists of an assembly of notable politicians, industrialists and financiers who meet annually to discuss issues on a non-disclosure basis.

Micklethwait was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to journalism and economics.

Reviews

[Jim Sta Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors' main points are sometimes lost in some parts of the book. The first half is better argued, more organized, more consistent and better written than the second half.

[Grant · Rating 2 out of 5]

File under "what were they thinking?" IE a good place to start on sussing out what was regarded as the shining city on the hill for the liars, thieves & creeps who charged off the cliff in 2008, thus launching the longest & most intractable recession since the 30s. Either the authors were completely oblivious to the rottenness and rapidly approaching collapse of the worlds financial crime syndicate operations known laughably as banks, or more likely they were blinded by (right wing) ideology. There's a desperation about it inasmuch as giving the timing of it's writing & publication it seems like a massive denial of all the evidence that so radically & shockingly exploded into focus in 1999 in Seattle. At no point do the authors admit what has been an ongoing mantra through the last decade; that it's not a "There Is No Alternative" world, Neoliberalism has lost its credibility, another world IS possible & on the plane of ideas and values that mentality and practise has already won.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better books which introduces globalization for lay readers (i.e. non-specialist). For those with graduate degrees in political science, economics, or related fields there are perhaps "better" books that get into the weeds of global economics, geopolitics, and a connected world. But A Future Perfect is significantly better than much of the other options and its limitations are manageable.

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to make good arguments in a book so short about a topic so broad. This one is at least very well-written, and the authors do occasionally bring new analysis to the debate, but like most (all?) books about globalization, pro or con, it's unsatisfying, and is little more than propaganda with which you can't help but disagree in part or in whole.

[Gemini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good book that I think really goes though how everything is tied together around the world on many different aspects. Totally liked the beginning portion of this book better then the last. This is not a quick read though since it is pretty long but it does make you think.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read in business school at the same time as Friedman's "Lexus and Olive Tree." This has some of the same ideas, but is far more thoughtful.