Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

THE CONTEXT FOR NON-STRATEGIC
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Globalization.
The term “globalization” has several meanings.
Probably the most well-known in the United States
has been coined by Thomas Friedman, New York Times
columnist, in his well-known books, The Lexus <strong>and</strong> the
Olive Tree <strong>and</strong> The World Is Flat. Basically, Friedman argues
that the falling costs of <strong>and</strong> advances in information
technology have created an international system
that is fundamentally different from the previous one,
since the new communication systems give notice <strong>and</strong>
sometimes power even to small nations <strong>and</strong> groups
that previously could not attain voice, notice, or power.
Friedman defines globalization as “the inexorable
integration of markets, nation-states, <strong>and</strong> technologies
to a degree never witnessed before . . . the spread of
free-market capitalism to virtually every country in
the world.” 1 One could not be blamed for thinking
that globalization in this sense is being equated with
Americanization or, at the very least, westernization,
since Friedman also notes that the United States, as
the “dominant superpower,” is the chief proponent
of this trend <strong>and</strong> maybe even its chief enforcer. While
some writers like Joseph Stiglitz criticize this view of
globalization as “accepting triumphant capitalism,
American style,” they do tend to view it in the context
of U.S. relations with developing nations as almost a
kind of neo-imperialism. 2
The view of globalization as Americanization has
not been well received in Russia. It has been challenged
in a way that has had a strong impact on how Russia
has viewed the context of international relations in
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