Generally, only the nation enjoying a power monopoly benefits from as unipolar world. At the same time, national alliances between European nations significantly complicated the prospect of exerting national power by military action, made crystal clear by the way a local Balkan conflict culminated in a prolonged world war involving the world's largest military powers costing millions lives for the first time in the history of armed conflict. The degree to which the world of the 20th century developed into uneasy bi-polar balances of power culminated in the dangerous nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union that produced enough thermonuclear weapons to destroy the entire world many times over held in check by a policy of "mutually assured destruction" known by the fitting acronym MADD.

In this respect, one could argue that the rest of the world is better off under even a unipolar environment, simply because it is a more inherently stable situation. The irony is that as the world becomes increasingly flat, cultural and even national boundaries may eventually erode to the extent that the 21st century may once again begin to resemble a unipolar world representing all the formerly individual nations.

4. The imports of Coke ticked-off the French. The imports of nearly everything from China ticks us off. So What? What can we take away from these irritations for your future? In the age of the global economy and the flat world, it is no longer possible to object to foreign imports simply because they compete with local suppliers of goods and services. It is even more unrealistic to resist foreign competition when we simultaneously exploit the economic advantages of exporting American goods and services and of using foreign labor (and labor laws) to our advantage.

In principle, there is a legitimate basis for objection to foreign imports of goods that are harmful to American society or that violate local laws. Columbian coffee,...

exploitation of South American labor laws that are less protective of workers (including children).
Likewise, foreign exporters must meet the same specifications and performance requirements of domestic products and foreign governments who wish to benefit economically from exporting to the U.S. must make a legitimate effort to control illegal domestic counterfeiting of goods intended for export to the U.S.

5. What has Tom Friedman taught you about the flat world in which you will be working for the rest of your lives? Friedman's description of a flat world suggests that the economics of trade and even employment patterns in the United States may change substantially in the 21st century. The computer chip revolution continues to erode the significance of distance and already, even some of the largest and most successful American retail companies rely on foreign markets, particularly the on the production capabilities of countries like China. In addition to increased economic competition from China, outsourcing of certain industries, such as customer service to India may soon virtually eliminate customer service positions throughout the U.S. The most ominous are that a flat world is more difficult to protect from terrorism and more conducive to agreements between military powers who can influence the rest of the world, including nations far removed from those alliances.