In the 1930s and again in the 1950s, has proved wanting,and the economies the Soviet Union's economic growth of the European Union suffer from high rates were among the world's highest,so unemployment and low growth.One can impressive in the 1950s that America easily add more examples.From these it feared being overtaken and passed by.In is tempting to leap to the conclusion that the 1970s,West European welfare states America has indeed found,or stumbled with managed and directed economies onto,the one best way. were highly regarded.In the late 1970s Obviously,Thomas Friedman thinks through the 1980s,the Japanese brand of so.Tip O'Neill,when he was a congress- neomercantilism was thought to be the man from Massachusetts,declared that wave of the future,and Western Europe all politics are local.Wrong,Friedman and the United States worried about now says,all politics have become global. being able to keep up.Imitate or perish "The electronic herd",he writes,"turns was the counsel of some;pry the the whole world into a parliamentary sys- Japanese economy open and make it tem,in which every government lives compete on our grounds was the mes- under the fear of a no-confidence vote sage of others.America did not do much from the herd.” of either,yet in the 1990s its economy, too,has flourished. UT IT IS hard to believe that Yet it is odd-and intellectually reck- economic processes direct or less-to conclude from a decade's experi- determine a nation's policies, ence that the one best model has at last that spontaneous individual decisions appeared.True globalization,if it were about where to place resources reward or realized,would mean a near uniformity of punish a national economy so strongly conditions across countries.But even in that a government either does what pleas- the 1990s,one finds little evidence of this. es the“herd”or its economy fails to pros- The advanced countries of the world have per or even risks collapse.We all recall enjoyed or suffered distinct fates.Major recent cases,some of them mentioned West European countries were plagued above,that seem to support Friedman's by high and persistent unemployment; thesis.Mentioning them both makes a many Northeast and Southeast Asian point and raises doubts. countries experienced economic stagna- For one thing,even if all politics has tion or collapse,while China continued to become global,economies remain local do quite well;and we know about the to a surprising extent.Countries with United States. large economies continue to do most of Globalizers,to be sure,do not claim their business at home.Sectors of the that globalization is complete,only that American economy that are scarcely the process is irreversible.Some evi- involved in international trade-such as dence supports the conclusion,some government,construction,nonprofit does not.Looking at the big picture, organizations,utilities,and wholesale one notices that nations whose and retail trade-employ 82 percent of economies have faltered or failed have Americans.4 As Paul Krugman observes, been more fully controlled,directed and "The United States is still almost 90 per- supported by the state than has the cent an economy that produces goods American economy.Soviet-style economies failed miserably,in China 4 Robert Z.Lawrence,“Workers and EconomistsⅡ： only the free-market sector flourishes, Resist the Binge",Foreign Affairs (March/April the once much-favored Swedish model 1994). Globalization and American Power 49 Copyright 2000.All rights reserved.Copyright © 2000. All rights reserved