World on Fire

Author: (USA) Cai Aimei / Liu Huaizhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The World on Fire is a landmark work. It challenges the superficial and dangerous assumptions behind U.S. foreign policy in an era where a nation's social conditions or cultural traditions should provide a foundation for its integration with democracy. When this is ignored—as the U.S. attempts to force its allies and other countries to adopt free-market economies and democracy through foreign policy—the insights revealed by Cai Aimei are particularly significant. Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution, facing the common political and economic dilemmas of developing countries, speaks out against the Western mainstream discourse that equates political democratization and economic liberalization with peace and prosperity. The World on Fire strikes an discordant and unsettling note in this ocean of Western rhetoric. The authors—Professor Cai Aimei, a Chinese-American scholar at Yale University—have reviewed numerous cases from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, sharply pointing out the pains, dangers, and even tragedies caused by the blind and hasty introduction of democratic politics and market economies in many of these nations. Particularly striking and a central focus of the book is the intense conflict that arises between minority groups, who rapidly lose out in the free economies, and the majority groups, who remain poor but are beginning to engage in democratic politics. Often, racial tensions become the immediate spark that ignites social fires. The accelerating process of globalization only fuels these flames. Of course, the authors are not anti-democracy, anti-market economy, or anti-globalization. However, they sharply and painfully highlight the complexity of these issues: there is no magic cure. It is essential to acknowledge the unique historical and real-world contexts of each country and region, while those who have grown wealthier must take on greater social responsibility. At the very least, the U.S. and the entire Western world should not, in today's era, aggressively push for unbridled laissez-faire capitalism or unrestricted, overnight majoritarian politics in the non-Western world. The book is well-researched, rich in content, logically clear, and written in an engaging style, making it highly readable.