Page 307 - Cultures and Organizations

276 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

The report on the Asian-Nordic study takes issue with the ongoing
process of globalization, perceived by the Asians as “Westernization” and
by the Nordic Europeans as “Americanization.” It signals a values dis-
crepancy between all six countries and what the authors see as the values
behind this kind of globalization. 92
In our interpretation, the main value-based objections of these Asians
and Northern Europeans were directed against the short-term focus of
this kind of globalization. In Table 7.4 the countries participating in this
research project all scored more long-term than the United States. Their
respondents saw good government as future directed, while the ongoing

U.S.- and IMF-led globalization stressed quick fixes. In fact, according to
economist Joseph Stiglitz, it was based on a market fundamentalism that as
much as other fundamentalisms was predicated on maintaining or return-
ing to past positions rather than guided by a view of a common future for
humankind as a whole.
Responsible thinking about the long term cannot avoid the conclusion

that in a finite world, any growth has its limits. The human population
cannot continue growing forever, nor can the economy of a state, unless
its growth comes at the expense of other states. Few politicians have been
prepared to face this reality. The most evident area where this applies is
the environment. Climate changes through global warming, water short-
ages, and radioactive waste deposits are examples of environmental costs
of unbridled growth, with which good government should take issue.
Religious, political, and economic fundamentalisms are aggressive
enemies of long-term thinking. They are based on the past and tend to
escape their share of responsibility for the future, putting it in the hands
of God or the market. For example, in many parts of the world an immedi-
ate threat to peace, health, and justice is human overpopulation. Adequate

methods of family planning exist, but religious and economic fundamental-
ists in a remarkable consensus try to resist making it widely accessible.
The economic importance of East Asia in this twenty-fi rst century
is likely to increase. One precious gift the wise men and women from the
East can carry to the others would be a shift toward global long-term
thinking.