This seems to be a season of scary books, nonfiction but full of emotion. I have mentioned Amy Chua's "World on Fire" and my hesitation to read it in any but tiny doses. Now I have finished a book more moderate in its first impression, but strong and ultimately quite inspiring. Professor Arjun Appadurai manages in a slim volume to evoke a very dark and entirely conceivable future for our globalizing earth, and then suddenly lets the light in, with an almost religious effect. Good for him! And good for all of us, especially for anyone who enjoyed Robert Neuwirth's rather longer work, "Shadow Cities".

Fear of small numbers is an effort to explain rise in world wide ethnic violence during the times of globalization. Appadurai's arguments are fundamentally linked to resultant tensions of financial, cultural, demographic and political uncertainities created by forces of globalization. He asserts that these uncertainies create the fuel which is ignited by local reasons to give rise to violence of the sort witnessed in last two decades.

Many of his assertions appear to me in the form of hypothesis lacking conclusive evidence. Many examples given in the book are also explainable by reasons different from those provided by Appadurai.

Phenomenon which are explained in terms of globalization have existed prior to it. For example the desire for A Hindu Nation State, accompanied by anger at Muslims due to practical unachievability of the same has existed atleast since begining of twentieth century and definitely since 1940's.

The book should be seen as one point of view among the various possibilities and judged as such.

"Fear of Small Numbers" by Arjun Appadurai offers an exceptionally astute and often original analysis on the topic of violence and globalization. Drawing on his extensive knowledge gained over an impressive career as a scholar, consultant and activist, Mr. Appadurai brings an unique and internationalist perspective to bear on the subject. Written with a high degree of intelligence, clarity and conciseness, Mr. Appadurai's book convincingly explains how much of today's violence is tied to economic and social forces that are peculiar to our moment in history, thereby providing much-needed insight into how we might begin to address and resolve the problem of violence in our time.

Mr. Appadurai contends that globalization has created mass uncertainty by demolishing the state's ability to control its own economic destiny; as a consequence, the production of cultural cohesion has gained greater importance than ever for the nation state's bid to retain relevancy. Unfortunately, the globalization game can easily destabilize national borders and upset the state's attempts at social cohesion by creating mass unemployment and encouraging inflows and outflows of destitute workers. Under these conditions, the downtrodden can sometimes become scapegoats for the nation's failures; in extreme cases, the poor and disenfranchised may become victims of violent purges that are driven by the majority population's heightened social and economic anxieties.

However, Mr. Appadurai believes that terrorism constitutes the truly nightmarish side of globalization. Mimicking transnational corporations by organizing themselves in flexible, decentralized production networks, terrorist groups threaten the survival of the nation state. Terrorist rage is often directed at the U.S. as a consequence of its perceived cultural and economic hegemony as well as for its frequent exercise of military power around the world, especially in the Middle East. Mr. Appadurai points out that suicide bombers attempt to make political statements by personalizing themselves and their victims in deliberate and pointed contrast to the anonymous mass violence inflicted by U.S. air bombing campaigns. While Mr. Appadurai understands that some of these outsider perceptions of the U.S. may be difficult to accept, we probably need to acknowledge the author's point about how the unequal distribution of wealth and the sometimes indiscriminate and reckless deployment of U.S. power may be contributing to political destabilization and violent backlash if we wish to address some of the root causes of terrorism in a meaningful way.

Mr. Appadurai goes on to discuss how the rise and fall of the BJP in India illustrates how political struggle can coalesce around ideas of cultural identification and exclusion. We learn how relatively small segments of the population can challenge legal and religious doctrines in a manner that can seem threatening to the majority population, elements of whom sometimes lash out violently against perceived threats in ideologically motivated attacks. On the other hand, the author finds hope in the many grass-roots activist networks around the world who are working for positive socioeconomic change. Mr. Appadurai believes that such organizations can create a much-needed "third space" for democratic deliberation and decision making, thereby helping the global economic system to work towards just ends.

I give this timely and important book the highest possible rating and recommend it to everyone.

"Fear of Small Numbers" by Arjun Appadurai offers an exceptionally astute and often original analysis on the topic of violence and globalization. Drawing on knowledge gained over an impressively formidable career as a scholar, consultant and activist, Mr. Appadurai brings an unique and internationalist perspective to bear on the subject. Written with a high degree of intelligence, clarity and conciseness, Mr. Appadurai's book convincingly explains how much of today's violence is tied to economic and social forces that are peculiar to our moment in history; thereby providing much-needed insight into how we might begin to address and resolve the problem of violence in our time.

Mr. Appadurai contends that globalization has created mass uncertainty by demolishing the state's ability to control its own economic destiny; as a consequence, the production of culture has gained greater importance than ever for the nation state. However, the economic losers of the globalization game can create unstable populations that threaten borders and social cohesion. The downtrodden can sometimes become scapegoats for the nation's failures, and in extreme cases they may become victims of violent purges that are driven by the majority population's growing social and economic anxieties.

Mr. Appadurai believes that terrorism constitutes the nightmarish side of globalization. Mimicking the organization of transnational corporations into flexible, decentralized production networks, terrorist groups threaten the survival of the nation state. Terrorist rage is often directed at the U.S. as a consequence of its cultural and economic hegemony as well as for its frequent exercise of military power around the world. The author points out that suicide bombers attempt to make political statements by personalizing themselves and their victims in pointed and marked contrast to the anonymous mass violence inflicted by U.S. air bombing campaigns.

Mr. Appadurai discusses the rise and fall of the BJP in India to illustrate how political struggle can coalesce around ideas of cultural identification and exclusion. We learn how small numbers can challenge legal and religious rights in a manner that threatened the majority population, elements of whom lashed out violently in an ideologically motivated attack. On the other hand, the author concludes with a hopeful look at a few of the many grass-roots activist networks who are working for positive socioeconomic change. Mr. Appadurai believes that such organizations can create a much-needed "third space" for democratic deliberation and decision making, thereby helping the global economic system to work towards just ends.

I give this timely and important book the highest possible rating and recommend it to everyone.

Appadurai draws on his former work on globalization in Modernity at Large, to propose a set of exciting and innovatively original reflections on the agendas set by post-September 11. The way terrorism is a sequel to former globalizing tendencies, and has been used in local contexts to deal in a discriminating way with 'difference', and 'minorities', is set against larger issues, such as the question of the role of the territorialized nation-state, and deterritorialized global terror. The interest of his approach resides in the fact that it considers a wide range of examples from South Asia to Europe, and the US, thus making the more evident how reductive - to say the least- are views of contemporaneity derived from Huntington's Clash of Civilizations. Appadurai is a genuinely original thinker, an exception in a world which sees a daily proliferation of repetitive and obvious approaches to such issues. An inspiring book I strongly recommend!