George Soros on Globalization

Over the past decade, "globalization" has become a buzzword for everything that is happening in the world economy or even in international relations generally. But as even a cursory glance at recent headlines reveals, not everyone is happy with globalization. Violent protests are now a regular feature of international summit meetings, and many young people have expressed their strong opposition to policies that they see as enriching the rich at the expense of workers, the environment, and traditional culture.

As the world economy has transformed in the 1990s and early 2000s, no individual has grappled with the social and political implications of globalization more than George Soros. George Soros on Globalization seeks to assess not merely how well the world's financial institutions have fulfilled their larger mission of helping the entire world strive for prosperity, but also to point the way toward fixing the problems that have emerged in the globalization regime as a whole. Unlike other proponents of globalization, Soros does not dismiss the criticisms of the protesters; indeed, he welcomes them and acknowledges that in many ways the protesters have a clearer view of the issues at stake than the bankers and bureaucrats do. We ignore the protesters' message, Soros warns, at our peril.

The book is very much an opinion piece: its like an extended op ed, so don't expect a tutorial or clear explanation of how globalization has done or how it works. In his previous books he has more about his life, experience, and insights into the financial world, and these books are more interesting reads. In reality, this book more of a political treatise with a economic focus, which you may or may not agree with. But he sincerely puts forth a concrete proposal to use the WTO and IMF in an effective manner to create his vision of open societies, a laudable goal, which no doubt will be ignored. He is interested in debate, but its too bad he is not publically accessable, like all rich and famous (I tried and failed), since he needs to be informed of some scientific analogies similar to his concept of reflective processes and that might help him come up with a more realistic proposal (that might work). Moreover, he would understand why his seemly practical proposal is too idealistic, even for a hard-nosed capitalist with significant experience in international finance. Although he cites talking to numerous people on this proposal (a quite impressive list), apparently none of them understand enough science and history to help; this is not surprising since the mainstream (typically established, rich and/or famous) can never see or solve tomorrow's problems. Too bad: he is smart enough, logical enough, and interested in tackling problems that nobody else sees in the almost correct light (open societies) as he does.


Advanced Serious Thinking, But Still Elitist   March 28, 2002
Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States)
39 out of 51 found this review helpful

This is an easy to read common sense book that absorbs and addresses some of the criticisms of the World Trade Organization, speaks to the weakness of the International Labor Organization, and proposes the equivalent of a global Marshall Plan, but as a multi-national initiative. It is essential reading at a time when too many politicians do not yet make the connection between terrorism and what George Soros has called "the other axis of evil: poverty, disease, & ignorance."

At a time when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is treating anti-globalization activists as just one step under terrorists (in one recent case denying a Canadian activist entry to the U.S. to honor an invitation to speak at a U.S. university), George Soros' is easily the most responsible and the wealthiest voice cautioning all of us that the combined forces of globalization (which reduces citizen sovereignty) and consumerism (which reduces citizen prosperity) could be the death knell of capitalism.

I am reminded of how the U.S. Secret Service ran amok against so-called "hackers" (the best of them trained at MIT and now multi-millionaires) because it did not understand that hackers are like astronauts, pushing the edge of the envelope, and it did not understand that it was the U.S. communications and computing industry that was criminally negligent in offering the consumer and the government a national information infrastructure that was incredibly fragile and full of security holes. It was industry that failed to exercise due-diligence, and it was hackers that exposes these flaws well in advance of the Y2K panic. The anti-globalization activists, Lori Wallach among them (and she has clearly influenced Soros in this book) are the 21st Century hackers for world peace and prosperity.

Globalization and consumerism threaten billions of Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Muslims, and Russians around the world--and thus they threaten us as well. Although many brilliant minds foresaw these challenges in the 1970's, among them those speaking to the limits to growth, sustainable growth, and the need for new forms of world governance, it is only after 9-11 that the world appears ready to listen to George Soros and others who understand that we cannot continue to emphasize short term corporate profit over long term citizen survival.

His proposals for Special Drawing Rights are helpful, and merit adoption. It is with a little concern, however, that I see his concession to "elite" management of these remedial resources. I lean toward the view that the people are now both informed and connected, and that we must empower down to the neighborhood level if we are to restore civil society around the world (this includes no longer supporting repressive governments for the convenience of our corporations), so there is still a gap between Soros and the natural leaders down in the ranks with the people.

Thomas Jefferson said that "A Nation's best defense is an educated citizenry." Justice Brandeis said that the greatest threat to a nation's liberty is "an inert citizenship." George Soros may be said to be the first and foremost educator and leader on the critical matter of whether of whether or not this Nation might yet surmount great challenges of its own making.


Ideas of an incentives-based system   June 6, 2002
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

Globalization developments of international institutions have not kept pace with the development of global financial markets and political structure. In Globalization, George Soros maintains markets are amoral but still require distinctions between right and wrong: his insights on the operations of the World Trade Organization and ideas of an incentives-based system for the provision of public goods will intrigue college-level students of social and political history.


The problems and players are defined, but the solution?   March 31, 2002
therosen (New York, NY United States)
22 out of 25 found this review helpful

This book is an interesting take on the problems inherent in globalization. (Think the Argentinean default)

Soros has distinct credentials to write on the subject:
1 - He's made quite a bit of money (Billions) off of currency speculation.
2 - He has financed numerous foundations attempting to resolve the problems described.

The book makes for interesting reading to the non-economist, in that it explains the WTO, World Back, IMF and other international organizations supporting global development. It defends their success against their missions, while highlighting the deficiencies. Soros admits the complexity of the problem, and proposes several solutions.

There were two major weak spots in the book:
1 - His concept of Special Drawing Rights could use more explanation. Identical descriptions occur 3 times, but none are accessible to the lay reader.
2 - He makes blanket accusations against "market fundamentalism" without defining it, or explaining why it continues to be the dominant view.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a high level explanation of the issues with globalization and the key international organizations involved, this is the book for you. If you're looking for clear resolutions, this may prove elusive.


A Step In The Right Direction   August 21, 2002
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This book was written by one who knows, and who has profited, greatly, from the defects of the global financial/capitalist system. But what sets Mr. Soros apart from the other 'sheep' who would guard the hen-house is his courage to expose the existing faults of the system, and to propose a credible solution by which to arrest the accelerating spiral downward of our dysfunctional world economy. That Mr. Soros has placed substantial personal wealth in defense of his cause bears witness to his laudable commitment in this regard. The 'good of the few' is indeed preserved by the 'good of the all'.

This book presumes familiarity with concepts developed by Mr. Soros in 'The Crisis of Global Capitalism' (Little Brown & Co., 1998), and one would wish that Mr. Soros would delve more deeply into the root cause of our current economic/financial malaises: greed, corruption and the lack of moral - let alone religious - precepts.

All in all a positive step forward.