The Lexus and the Olive Tree

Amazonのエディトリアルレビューより

Amazon.co.jp

1992年某日、トマス・フリードマンは日本にあるトヨタ・レクサスの工場を見学し、ロボットが高級車を組み立てる光景に目を見張った。そしてその晩、新幹線の中で寿司をつまみながら、中東パレスチナ・イスラエル間で新たな戦闘の火花散る、という記事を読み、がく然とするのだった。世界の半分がレクサスのような高級車に向かって、少なくともレクサスを完成させるほど輝かしい技術に向かって邁進（まいしん）する一方、もう半分の世界では、どちらがオリーブの木の所有者かを巡って争っているとは…。
フリードマンは、ニューヨーク・タイムズ紙で外交問題を扱う、旅の経験も豊かなコラムニスト。本書ではスパイスのきいた語り口で、メインテーマを例証する話をつづっていく。多くの個人や国家が昔から大切にしてきたもの（オリーブの木）を手離すまいと抵抗しても、実はグローバリゼーション（レクサス）こそが冷戦後の世界をつかさどる主原則である、というのがこの作品のテーマである。
問題はこのグローバリゼーションの真の意味を理解している者がほとんどいないことだ。フリードマンが言うように、一見するとその概念は、アメリカへの覇権集中化、つまり、世界を隅々までディズニー化すること、に尽きるようだ。だがありがたいことに、国際関係やグローバル・マーケット、それに国家権力に関わりをもつビル・ゲイツやオサマ・ビン・ラデンといった個人の力の台頭が絡み、それほどすんなりとはいかないのが現実である。
グローバリゼーションによって世界がこれからどのように変わっていくのかを知る者などいない。だが本書は、ときには雄々しく、ときにはしかつめらしく見える新しい世界の全体像をつかむには、申し分のない1冊である。

Product Description

A powerful and accessible account of globalization -- the new world order that has replaced the cold war -- by the award-winning author of From Beirut to Jerusalem. More than anything else, globalization is shaping world affairs today. We cannot interpret the day's news, or know where to invest our money, unless we understand this new system -- the defining force in international relations and domestic policies worldwide. The unprecedented integration of finance, markets, nation states and technology is driving change accross the globe at an ever-increasing speed. And while much of the world is intent on building a better Lexus, on streamlining their societies and economies for the global marketplace, many people feel their traditional identities threatened and are reverting to elemental struggles over who owns which olive tree, which strip of land. Thomas Friedman has a unique vantage point on this worldwide phenomenon. The New York Times foreign affairs columnist has travelled the globe, interviewing everyone from Brazilian peasants to new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, to Islamic students, to the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, to find out what globalization means for them, and for all of us. This ground-breaking book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how the world really works today.

Amazon.com Review

One day in 1992, Thomas Friedman toured a Lexus factory in Japan and marveled at the robots that put the luxury cars together. That evening, as he ate sushi on a Japanese bullet train, he read a story about yet another Middle East squabble between Palestinians and Israelis. And it hit him: Half the world was lusting after those Lexuses, or at least the brilliant technology that made them possible, and the other half was fighting over who owned which olive tree.

Friedman, the well-traveled New York Times foreign-affairs columnist, peppers The Lexus and the Olive Tree with stories that illustrate his central theme: that globalization--the Lexus--is the central organizing principle of the post-cold war world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding onto what has traditionally mattered to them--the olive tree.

Problem is, few of us understand what exactly globalization means. As Friedman sees it, the concept, at first glance, is all about American hegemony, about Disneyfication of all corners of the earth. But the reality, thank goodness, is far more complex than that, involving international relations, global markets, and the rise of the power of individuals (Bill Gates, Osama Bin Laden) relative to the power of nations.

No one knows how all this will shake out, but The Lexus and the Olive Tree is as good an overview of this sometimes brave, sometimes fearful new world as you'll find. --Lou Schuler