Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

2007

Publication Citation

81 Tulane Law Review 923 (2007)

Abstract

In his best-selling book, The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman assesses how globalization has affected the political, economic, and social landscapes of both the developed and developing world. For Friedman, globalization is emboldening people in countries, like in India, to make societal and governmental demands that are similar to those made by Americans in the United States.

This Essay seeks to add a new layer to the debate over Friedman’s flattening-world thesis. Focusing on India, in particular, I shall argue that as the trajectory of India’s economic development appears on the rise, the sad reality is that too many observers, like Friedman, have ignored how the functioning of the country’s legal system is spiraling downward Furthermore, as I shall also suggest, Freidman’s thesis that globalization has indelibly altered human behavior, unfortunately short shrifts how preexisting institutional and cultural factors still remain relevant in shaping decision-making processes.

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