Jihad Vs McWorld

5 Pages 1154 Words

Benjamin Barber's book “Jihad vs Mcworld is commentary on capitalism and nationalism and the conflicts between them. Jihad is characterized as tribalism, while Mcworld is characterized by capitalism and consumerism. Barber maintains that Jihad would not be so powerful if the rampant forces of capitalism were not subverting their traditions and customs.
Berber talks about America's use of different energy sources. He states 63 million barrels of oil per day were pumped at the peak of global production in 1979 and was between 59 and 60 million barrels per day from 1989 to when the book was published in 1995 (Berber 39). Since the book was published, world oil production has risen above the previous peak to an average of 68 million barrels per day in 2003. This trend of increased consumption and production will continue to rise. According to The Department of Energy, world demand for oil will be 119 million barrels of oil per day by 2025, with the largest increases in China, India, and other developing countries. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0129/p14s01-wogi.html
American consumption of oil fell from the peak of 11.30 million barrels per day in 1970 to 9 million barrels per day in 1990(Berber 41). Berber predicts that America will have to import 75% of the oil it uses by 2010. This has almost come to pass as America domestically produces only 5.7 million barrels per day and uses 20 million barrels per day(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4542853/ http://www.gravmag.com/oil.html#imports ).http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/topworldtables3_4.htmlwhich was an increase of usage of 1.5 million barrels per day since 2002.
When Jihad vs Mcworld was published, China imported no oil. Since then, China has became the second largest importer of oil in 2003 with and will likely take the title of the largest consumer of oil from the United States in the future due to the much larger population and an explosion of automobile usage. Currently Chi...