the marshalling of all available military, police, financial, and diplo-
matic resources, at both the national and international level. But it
also requires the realization that security depends on the vigilance of
every citizen.
The world of the critics
Experts on the left share a reading of the situation that is quite dif-
ferent from the one presented above. Though divided on issues such
as the effects of globalization or the role of the state, progressives
are united in their dissatisfaction with the prevailing world order.
Grounded in a critical approach that applies to both the national and
international arena, the view from the left is one of inadequately
distributed wealth, over-concentrated political power, and the repeated
flouting of the rule of law. The main arguments underpinning the left’s
critical outlook can be summarized as follows.
What characterizes global politics is, above all, the growing
inequality of economic power. Over recent decades, the gulf between
the richest and the poorest has become grotesque. Whereas in 1960–62,
the average income of the twenty wealthiest countries was fifty-three
times greater than that of the twenty poorest countries, forty years
later, the ratio was 121:1 (Figure3.3). A battery of additional statistics
demonstrates the egregious level of the concentration of wealth. For
example, the countries of the North, with 15 percent of the world’s
population, control 80 percent of global wealth, while nearly three
billion people live on less than two dollars a day.^43 The richest
1 percent of the world’s population has an income equal to that of
the poorest 57 percent.^44 Forbesmagazine has furthermore estimated
that in 2004 there were 587 billionaires in the world, a super-elite
whose combined assets of some $1.9 trillion was comparable to the
collective GDP of the 170 poorest states.^45
(^43) World Bank, “Poverty Reduction: The Future of Global Development and
Peace,” keynote address delivered by the President of the World Bank, James D.
Wolfensohn, at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, March 27, 2003,
44 pp. 1–2.
UNDP,Human Development Report 2002: Deepening Democracy in a
Fragmented World, New York, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 19.
(^45) Jamie Chapman, “Forbes Report: Billionaires’ Wealth Grew by 36 percent
in Last Year,” International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI),
March 9, 2004 (www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/forb-m09.shtml).
Two tales of globalization 69