TWO FACES OF GLOBALIZATION

It was said at the time that the era of globalization came to an end on September 11, 2001. But the process seems only to have quickened its pace, as last year’s events spurred a renewed emphasis on the need to promote free markets and democracy around the world. Now, Amy Chua warns here, it’s time to ask whether the current formula for free-market democracy is too volatile for many countries. She sees a worldwide pattern of backlash and ethnic conflict touched off by the simultaneous introduction of "pure" markets and democracy. Yet on the cultural front, Tyler Cowen contends, globalization is yielding unrecognized benefits. Far from homogenizing the world’s cultures, it is energizing and diversifying them.