Terrorism and Globalization

One can argue just how much the world did indeed change in September 2001. But what has surely changed is the way the world looks at terrorism. Conflict in places like the Middle East or even South Asia now means more to people in Western countries. Our new Read My Lips examines how terrorism has affected the process of globalization.

Did 9/11 start a new era?

“We no longer have to search for a name for the post-Cold War era. It will henceforth be known as the age of terrorism.”

(Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post columnist, September 2001)

How did the attacks influence the process of globalization?

“We have defined globalization in the last several years as basically a system of commercial, economic, trade, scientific and financial flows. In my eyes, what hit us in such a brutal fashion on September 11 was the other side of globalization: religion, culture and extremism.”

(Edward P. Djerejan, director of the Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, October 2001)

What does Alan Greenspan worry about?

“If we allow terrorism to undermine our freedom of action, we could reverse at least part of the palpable gains achieved by postwar globalization.”

(Alan Greenspan, U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, October 2001)

In what way did the attacks enhance global integration?

“The formation of a global coalition against terrorism means that we are now moving beyond the globalization of the economy to the globalization of politics.”

(Wolfgang Ischinger, German Ambassador to the United States, September 2001)

How did the image of leading global corporations change?

“Microsoft and Goldman Sachs will not send aircraft carriers and F16s to the Gulf to track down Osama bin Laden. Only the military will.”

(Frank Fukuyama, Professor at George Mason University, September 2001)

Why are some economists anxious about the long-term consequences of terrorism?

"I am worried that the world in general — and America in particular — could well lose its appetite for cross-border connectedness.”

(Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley, September 2001)

And just what part of Western culture may have triggered the terrorists' scorn?

“If we export capitalism without democracy, we breed anarchism and terrorism.”

(Benjamin Barber, author of “Jihad vs. McWorld”, November 2001)

What happened to U.S. isolationism?

“The symbolism of these acts of terrorism is overwhelming. Perhaps, over time, the most important will be the collapse of the last barriers that have separated the United States from its global neighbors.”

(Robert G. Kaiser, associate editor at the Washington Post, September 2001)

How should the war against terrorism be conducted?

“The weapons of this war should be information, law enforcement — and, on rare occasions, active military forces.”

(Wesley K. Clark, former supreme allied commander in Europe, September 2001)

With the United States leading the coalition, what is its special responsibility?

“If the United States is going to have lasting allies in a global war on terrorism, it has to be the best global citizen it can be.”

(Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, March 2002)

But how do experts view the global coalition against terror?

“Coalition-building has run amok. The point about a coalition is: Can it achieve the right purpose? Not can you get a lot of members.”

(Richard Perle, senior Pentagon official in the Reagan Administration, September 2001)

Did terrorism bring the world's nations closer?

“In this globalized world, fewer and fewer problems affect only individual countries — and they certainly cannot be solved by individual countries alone.”

(U.S. President George W. Bush, May 2002)

And finally, a quick word of advice for our every day life?

“Do not allow terrorism to alter our own way of life.”

(Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, September 2001)