Book Review: "World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability" by Amy Chua (2003)

Amy Chua, law prof at Yale, released this book in 2003. It's an analysis of how, in her view, the expansion of free market democracy often gives rise to latent tensions and hatreds between what the author calls ethnic majorities and "market-driven minorities". For example, she looks at Indonesia in the late 90s, where riots against the Chinese minority - ever more economically dominant in the face of increased trade and globalization - caused investors to pull out en masse, leaving the economy of that country an empty shell. In Rwanda, the election of Hutu extremists led to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of the wealthier Tutsi minority in the early 90s. And in Bosnia, the election of Slobodan Milosevic led to war against the more prosperous Croatians as well.

The author's thesis is that while globalization and democracy don't cause hatred, they allow for increased prosperity for those ethnic groups who already dominate in countries around the world, leading to more resentment of them by the majority who sees income inequality rise. Then, as democracy is implemented, the majority takes out its frustrations by opressing the minority, sometimes with violent and deadly results.

The subtitle of the book is therefore, misleading. She doesn't say that free market democracy breeds hatred and instability ... rather, it magnifies and amplifies it. As she says herself, she doesn't assign blame, but just makes the point.

I found the book a little tedious up until the two-thirds point because she ran through example after example without making mention of the role that corruption plays in all this. Often, these "markets" are distorted by criminal activity by the people within them, sometimes between governments dominated by one ethnic group and industry, which is dominated by another. Also, the electoral process in many of these countries is hampered by a state-run press, gerrymandering, non-universal suffrage, etc. Her analysis is good as far as it went, but without bringing these cultural factors into play, I think it is an incomplete one.

The last third of the book, titled "Ethnonationalism and the West", was an improvement. She compared the development of American democracy and markets to the "overnight sensation" type that is being advocated by neo-conservatives in DC now. She also talked about how Israel is seen as a market-dominant minority in the Middle East. Finally, she outlined the common complaints that the anti-globalization crowd has with US corporations like the Gap and Starbucks. Her writing here is very penetrating and led me to conclude that for democracy to truly flourish, there has to be a minimum standard of living established first. To that end, she suggests that America focus on pushing reform of institutions both political, economic and legal before pushing for elections. Otherwise, the whole process of globalization and democracy will fan the flames of deep-seated ethnic hatred.

Rigorous analysis and a hard look at the push for free market democratization, but it didn't convince me that Iraq is a lost cause (she addresses Iraq in the last chapter). Done right, I think that it can work, but I think her critique is a valuable one.

Overall rating: 6.5/10