Robert Wright, author of the article “Two Years Later, a Thousand Years Ago”, shares a similar opinion as Robert J. Samuels, author of “Globalization Goes to War”, in reference to globalization. Both men see the destruction that globalization may cause in the future. However each man also recognizes the dependence the world has on globalization, and while Samuelson struggles to understand why this dependence is so desirable, Wright succeeds in recognizing how globalization can be used not only to spread trade, technology, etc., but morals, understanding of different beliefs, and much more.
Robert Wright views globalization as a vehicle in which terrorism can overpower even the strongest of nations. It is his belief that even those groups that have held little power in the past, will in the future be able to grow strong, stretching their influence and destruction far beyond their state and instead across the globe. These terrorists can now use the technology globalization has spread to overtake their enemies.
Wright believes the only way to prevent such attacks as 9-11 from reoccurring is to create some kind of strict control over such things as trade, technology, etc. so as to foresee any future violence and put a stop to it before it can occur. Wright feels that this challenge should presently be handled by the United States. Wright however warns the country that though the liberation and advancement of other countries may indeed be a positive event, it should not be done to quickly. Though many will be grateful for this aid, it can also cause much bloodshed through the acquisition of power by even small groups wishing for something other than what they presently have.
Robert J. Samuelson is also under the impression that globalization carries with it many negative side-effects. Samuelson compares the past with what is happening today, noticing many similarities between 1913 and now. He sees the growth of globalization as a predecessor to war and devastation of various economies, etc. Samuelson reflects on the affect globalization has had on different nations, forcing some countries into greater debt, making some remain stagnant, and now with the threat of terrorists, etc. many more issues have been erected as kind of barriers between trading nations. Samuelson warns that the unraveling of globalization lies in the future, and the effect of this will be a great war, which in Samuelson’s opinion will allow only one group to prevail, either those who wish to protect themselves against terrorists and violence and those that see the importance in global commerce, no matter what the state of the world.
Though Samuelson mainly sees the negative outcomes of globalization, he also recognizes that its spread is inevitable, unstoppable. The only solution to those divided by their beliefs that the world is either too dangerous for globalization, or the belief that it is necessary, can only be solved through war. Robert Wright, however, is able to take a much more positive stand on globalization. And though he recognizes the dangers that exist within its structure, he also believes that globalization can be more than simply the spread of technology, but is also capable of spreading morals and belief systems. One nation cannot expect another to understand and have apathy for their country and cultural beliefs if they themselves do not attempt to understand those different from themselves. Wright recognizes that the only way to accomplish any sort of peace among nations, and a world empty of terrorists, each nation must “walk a mile in the shoes of another”; they cannot discriminate against differences but must instead embrace, and try to understand them.
Though I too can see the danger in globalization due to the changes that have recently occurred in our world, I too look forward with Wright. And though the challenge for world peace is the hardest ever attempted, and at most times seems simply impossible, unrealistic, it is in fact the only way the people of this earth, as a whole, will be able to survive the passing of time, and advancement of all people’s, no matter if they are good or evil, strong or weak. For with the advancements in technology the individual no longer needs to possess the power, but power instead rests within a computer, or a weapon, things becoming readily available to almost everyone. It is for this reason the world must attempt to focus their attention on the acceptance and true equality all beings rather than merely the advancement of their own people. It is this that will be the hardest idea to spread throughout the world.