human folly. Since they have low expectations regarding domestic
as well as international politics, they are more easily contented with
the circumstances in which they find themselves. For the left, on the
contrary, the levels of global inequality and injustice make it simply
impossible to draw a favorable portrait of the world situation.
Progressives, who lay stress on the altruistic aspect of human nature,
have higher ambitions, and they are repeatedly disappointed by the
slowness of social change. In short, the worldview of the “satisfied” is
systematically different from that of the “critics.” As E. H. Carr sug-
gested in his classic study of international relations, radicals tend to
be “utopian” and conservatives like to appear “realist.”^1
Reducing the political dynamic to a binary opposition cannot, of
course, fully account for all aspects of global debates. Anyone observing
the political scene, even at a distance, is well aware that neither the
right nor the left is monolithic. The alignment of views becomes
increasingly blurred the closer one gets to the center of the left–right
spectrum. Yet, notwithstanding the many nuances that may be fac-
tored in and the many counter-examples that one could cite, there is
no doubt that conservative elites have developed a more positive
vision of the world than their progressive counterparts. Although the
narratives examined in this chapter do not exist in a pure form, they
do in point of fact represent what Max Weber called ideal types:
intellectual constructions that make it possible to identify “the primary
lines of argument and...the fundamental points of disagreement” in a
discussion.^2 And, as we shall see, while the right and the left do not
share the same outlook on global politics, experts from both camps
are able to marshall an arsenal of facts and figures to support their
point of view.
The world of the satisfied
Built upon considerations that are at once technological, economic,
political, social, and cultural, the right’s interpretation strives to
demonstrate that “globalization works,”^3 that development is heading
(^1) E. H. Carr,The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919–1939: An Introduction to the Study
of International Relations, New York, Palgrave, 2001 (first edition 1939), p. 18.
(^2) David Held and Anthony McGrew,Globalization/Anti-Globalization,
Cambridge, Polity Press, 2002, p. 3.
(^3) Martin Wolf,Why Globalization Works, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2004.
Two tales of globalization 57