In the article “Two Years Later, a Thousand Years Ago,” Robert Wright describes globalization as the spreading of America’s economic and moral values to countries around the world. Wright believes that globalization can have adverse effects on countries that do not benefit from the economic outcomes and thus lead to hatred and terrorism. Also, new technologies that aid in globalizing the market economy can be used against the United States and other superpowers. The attacks on the World Trade Center are an example of how terrorists may take advantage of the new technologies that globalization has brought. Because of this, countries like America feel the need to police and inspect other countries that might be a risk for the safety of the U.S. Wright suggests that in order to continue globalization, we need to help the people who hate us and make them happy; globalization only works if both sides are happy. Wright believes that the U.S. is going about globalization the wrong way but doesn’t give any suggestions for how to make the situation better. His views on the correlation between terrorism and globalization are radical and not backed by evidence or proof.
Robert Samuelson also discusses globalization in his article “Globalization Goes to War.” Samuelson declares that the potential war in Iraq could do one of two things: 1) increase globalization and prosperity, or 2) cause the whole system to unravel. Unlike Wright, Samuelson provides evidence for both outcomes using examples from history. Since the war had not yet commenced at the publishing of this article, Samuelson is very optimistic about the outcomes. While Samuelson doesn’t go into as much detail or make outlandish claims the way that Wright does, he does want to modernize the Middle East and warns about how technology can favor both terrorism and globalization.