Open World: The Truth About Globalisation [Paperback]

Philip Legrain's ambitiously titled Open World: The Truth about Globalisation adds a new dimension to the debate on globalisation: a new defender of the benefits of the global village. Having worked for both the World Trade Organisation and The Economist, Legrain's credentials seem impeccable, and he quickly launches into an impassioned defence of the benefits of economic globalisation, enthusiastically attacking Naomi Klein's No Logo, arguing that "the beauty of globalisation is that it can free people from the tyranny of geography" in offering new possibilities for international and global cooperation and cultural intermingling.

Legrain rejects the anti-globalisation argument that governments are losing control to multinational companies, and that branding is taking over our lives, offering a powerful critique of the recent TRIPS agreement. He is also good on the extent to which "many of the worries about globalisation echo age-old fears about decline". In arguing for a much more interventionist model for the future of globalisation, Legrain follows the work of Anthony Giddens and Will Hutton, but he lacks scope and authority of their economic and political analysis to really add anything new to their radical democratic positions. His cultural analysis is so weak that he repeatedly idealises the new possibilities that globalisation provides; the claim that "we increasingly define ourselves rather than let others define us" is true for a privileged, but impossible to sustain for millions of people in the developing world. Open World still has one eye closed to the downside of globalisation. --Jerry Brotton

'The world did need another book about globalisation; OPEN WORLD is it'

'At last a good book on globalisation . . . lucid and persuasive'

'[Legrain] engages with the big issues much more convincingly than Klein . . . Not enough people will read this book'

'If you have been convinced by Naomi Klein or Noreena Hertz, you owe it to yourself to hear Legrain's persuasive defence'

'a rapid rebuttal of the flimsy critique of anti-globalisation activists'

Globalization is one of the most controversial issues in the world today. While protestors take to the streets at international summits, it is becoming conventional wisdom that companies are taking over the world, that governments' ability to tax, spend and regulate is under threat from global competition, that globalization harms the poor and that democracy is at risk. The author of this text argues that this is not so. Aiming to demolish some of these myths, Legrain shows how, without globalization, the poor are never going to get richer. It is simply the only way, he argues, to give governments the means to combat poverty: money for schools, hospitals and welfare. Focusing on the history of world trade as well as topical issues such as the power of corporations, whether globalization is bad for poor countries, whether it threatens the environment and Americanizes indigenous cultures, Philippe Legrain shows why elected governments are still very much in control and why a more open world offers greater opportunity for everyone, rich and poor, to better their lives.

Philippe Legrain studied econonmics & int'l politics at LSE. Until recently he was special adviser to the D.G. of the WTO. He has also been trade & economics correspondent for THE ECONOMIST & written the FT, Guardian, New Statesman,Prospect, Foreign Policy & Ecologist