Question

twenty years ago, new york times columnist, thomas friedman proposed his “golden arches theory of conflict prevention.” this holds that “no two countries that both have mcdonald’s has ever fought a war against each other since they each got their mcdonald’s.”
friedman’s was one of several end - of - history narratives suggesting that global capitalism will lead to permanent peace. he claimed that it might create “a tip - over point at which a country, by integrating with the global economy, opening itself up to foreign investment, and empower its consumers, permanently restricts its capacity for troublemaking and promotes gradual democratization and widening peace.” he didn’t mean that mcdonald’s ends war but it did symbolize the transition when it arrived in a nation.
in using mcdonald’s as shorthand for the forces tearing democracy apart, i am, like him writing figuratively. i do not mean that the presence of the burger chain itself to be the cause of the decline of open, democratic societies (though it has played its part in britain, using our defamation laws against its critics). nor do i mean that countries that hosts mcdonald’s will necessarily mutate into dictatorships.
what i mean is that, under the onslaught of the placeless, transnational capital that mcdonald’s exemplifies democracy as a living system withers and dies. the old forms and forums still exists – parliaments and congresses remain standing – but the power they once contained seep away, re - emerging where we can no longer reach it.

Explanation:

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Answer:

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