Globalization optimist Thomas Friedman has a new take on Benjamin Barber’s idea of Jihad vs. McWorld: the world of order vs. the world of disorder. The world of order rests on four pillars: the US, the EU (along with Russia), China, and India. The world of disorder also has its four pillars: anarchic states, rogue states, teetering states, and organized crime and terrorism.

One world works toward integration, security, and free markets, the other toward anarchy, genocide, and terror. Easy enough.

But not really. Friedman mostly ignores the role that transnational corporations and global market organizations (like the WTO and the IMF) play in globalization. The global market is closely allied to the four great nation-states Friedman mentions. (What happened to Japan and the tigers?) More and more, I can’t tell the difference between corporations and their sponsoring nation-states. Let’s just lump them in together as part of Friedman’s ‘world of order.’

But what kind of order? Apparently not one favored by the millions protesting war with Iraq yesterday. (The NYT compared the crowds to those celebrating New Years Day 2000.) Nor is it the kind of order preferred by the market globalization protests at Seattle, Davos, and Milan. Nor is it the kind of order advanced by International Non-Governmental Organizations (like the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, etc.) when they rammed through the international land mine treaty and the International Criminal Court—over the objections of Friedman’s pillar nation-states…

No, there seems to be two competing versions of global order, one advanced by transnational corporations and their nation-states, the other by INGOs and the anti-globalization movements. One preaches the gospel of market neo-populism, the other the gospel of human rights and environmentalism. Both have their cooks, crooks, and crossovers. Both have their theologies and ideologies. Both share in the global culture of Benneton, Starbucks, and the internet. Think of them as the AFC and NFC of the world of order.

But if we’re going to bring economics into the world of order, shouldn’t we do the same with the world of disorder? The disordered world is overwhelmingly a world of poverty and disease, which greatly contributes to the disordered world’s resentment of the ordered world. Just take the case of AIDS to see the difference. In the ordered world, AIDS may not be curable, but it is definitely treatable; there’s multiple medications to slow down HIV. In the disordered word, though, AIDS is a death sentence, afflicting millions compared to the ordered world’s thousands. What person living the the disordered world wouldn’t resent the ordered world, knowing this information?

Another key element of the disordered world is fundamentalism. When that resentment takes a religious form and starts to seek what it sees as justice, you will always get fundamentalisms. And fundamentalisms have long had a strong presence in the ordered world, even before 9/11. What’s new is their launching attacks from the heart of the disordered world. And there’s precious little else there to compete with their embattled spirituality.

So this isn’t the Hall of Justice vs. the Legion of Doom picture that Friedman paints for us. Batman and Superman aren’t even speaking to each other, and they both think the other is screwing things up. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor and the Joker aren’t exactly chummy either. Neither side cares much for the other, but how it will play out is anybody’s guess.