Debate: States of Discord

The worldviews of Thomas Friedman and Robert Kaplan are about as different as a modem and a bayonet. No surprise, then, that these two influential commentators diverged sharply over the future of the nation-state at a recent debate in Washington, D.C. Will globalization ultimately strengthen or destroy the state? Will it lead to more democracies or more revolutions? And does transnational terrorism signal the end -- or the triumph -- of global integration? Pick your champion and pull up a chair.

BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN, ROBERT KAPLAN | MARCH 1, 2002

Techno Logic By Thomas Friedman

What is globalization? The short answer is that globalization is the integration of everything with everything else. A more complete definition is that globalization is the integration of markets, finance, and technology in a way that shrinks the world from a size medium to a size small. Globalization enables each of us, wherever we live, to...

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Thomas Friedman is a columnist for the New York Times and author of, most recently, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999). Robert Kaplan is a correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and author of, most recently, Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos (New York: Random House, 2002).

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 SUBJECTS: GLOBALIZATION, TERRORISM