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Sen's picture of "argumentative India" challenges the notion that India's cultural heritage relates primarily to religion and spirituality and not to virtues more typically associated with Europe's Enlightenment. Logic, astronomy, mathematics, linguistics, and scientific inquiry have been constant features of the subcontinent, but an imperialistic reading of India's past crediting only Europe with such advances veiled them behind more "arcane and non-material" virtues. Yoga, transcendental meditation, and otherworldliness thus became the defining marks of "Hindu civilization."

Sen sharply critiques the notion of "clashing civilizations" espoused in the work of Samuel Huntington. Huntington stresses how post–Cold War politics are largely defined by cultural and religious differences. For Sen, assigning a single identity to any people distorts who they are and lays foundations for enmity and conflict. Sen's critique of the "clash of civilizations" (even more so in his recent book Identity and Violence) challenges the notion that India is a "Hindu" nation with a Hindu majority, as members of India's Hindu Right would have us believe. Their ideology of Hindutva, which pursues a theocratic state based upon Hindu identity, thrives upon hatred of Muslim and Christian minorities and violates the toleration epitomized by Akbar. Sen's critique also thwarts any suggestion that democracy is the West's gift to the rest. Democracy for Sen is not only the best political system; it can be achieved elsewhere without cultural imperialism or mimicry.

As much as Sen stresses the virtues of India's argumentative tradition, the book could have been more forthright in identifying its limitations. Argument is most constructive when it leads to consensus that furthers the common good. Short of that, one is left with a sea of "conversations" that displace real action. India's politicians are widely criticized for their corruption and inability to implement plans that secure basic needs such as public health, infrastructure, and education. The country's legal system, presumably a venue for argument in the service of justice, is the most over-docketed system in the world. A woman who has been raped may wait as many as nine years to have her case heard. While argument is preferable to violence, Sen makes no compelling case that it ensures the rule of law, the sanctity of contracts, and administrative efficiency, qualities essential in today's changing economic climate.

While Sen's book focuses on Indian culture and identity, Friedman highlights the increasing skill, speed, and efficiency with which Indians and Chinese are competing for global wealth. Friedman is no stranger to questions about cultural roots. In his brilliant earlier book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, he describes the challenge of going "glocal,"  of staying rooted in cultural traditions (the "olive tree") while participating in the global economy (the "lexus"). By and large, The World is Flat is Friedman's discussion of the lexus without the olive tree.

Central to Friedman's thesis is what he calls the "triple convergence" of forces that have been flattening the world since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The first is the combined impact of ten "flatteners," largely related to information technology, to facilitate unprecedented participation in the global economy. This has produced a "web-enabled platform" that enables collaboration by companies, universities, and individuals regardless of location. The next convergence is the historical shift from a world defined by vertical to horizontal relationships between people, nations, and businesses. Examples range from how companies create different departments worldwide that collaborate with each other to the sharing of security information by various national intelligence agencies. The third convergence is the dramatic surge in economic participation as economies opened up in places like China, India, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

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