In the end of the line for hamburgers In Krytyka, No. 6 (68), 2003, pp. 9-10.

The material is a review of Thomas Friedman's book “Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization”, which was translated into Ukrainian in 2002. The text consists of five parts.

In the first part, Bendyk examines the influence of Francis Fukuyama's concept of «The End of History» on Western intellectuals. Among these intellectuals, he includes Thomas Friedman with his «Golden Arches Theory». McDonald's, chosen by Friedman as a metaphor for globalization processes, is subject to the author's irony.

The second part criticizes Friedman's attempts to describe globalization as an exclusively positive phenomenon. The author emphasizes that globalization is impossible without the use of economic and even military pressure. He refers to the arguments of the ideologist of the anti-globalization movement, Subcomandante Marcos, considering them to be largely valid.

In the third part, the author argues that the events of September 11 marked the collapse of the Enlightenment political project. He states that modern Westerners are «post-materialistic,» meaning that they value self-realization and the desire to make the world a better place above consumerist values.

In the fourth part, Bendyk considers trust as the only solid foundation of social relations, and fear of the Other, caused by the threat of terrorism, as a factor that undermines it.

The fifth part contains a conclusion about the crisis of the universalist Western idea.