In the 1950's and 60's developing countries thought that having an aluminum factory and a U.N. seat was what made them real countries, but today many countries think they will have arrived only if they have their own McDonald's and Windows 95 in their own language. This year McDonald's went into its 100th country and for the first time it earned more revenue from McDonald's overseas than from McDonald's America.

Said Mr. Cantalupo: ''I feel these countries want McDonald's as a symbol of something -- an economic maturity and that they are open to foreign investments. I don't think there is a country out there we haven't gotten inquiries from. I have a parade of ambassadors and trade representatives in here regularly to tell us about their country and why McDonald's would be good for the country.''

The question raised by the McDonald's example is whether there is a tip-over point at which a country, by integrating with the global economy, opening itself up to foreign investment and empowering its consumers, permanently restricts its capacity for troublemaking and promotes gradual democratization and widening peace. Francis Fukuyama, author of the classic work ''The End of History,'' argued to me that a country's getting its own McDonald's was probably not a good indicator of that tip-over point, because the level of per capita income needed in a country to host a McDonald's is too low. ''I would not be surprised if in the next 10 years several of these McDonald's countries go to war with each other,'' he said.

Yes, there will be conflicts, but more inside countries than between them. No question, the spread of McDonald's (a new one opens every three hours) is part of this worldwide phenomenon of countries integrating with the global economy and submitting to its rules, but this is not a smooth linear process. It produces a backlash inside countries from those who do not benefit from this globalization, who feel that their traditional culture will be steamrolled by it and who fear that they won't eat the Big Mac, the Big Mac will eat them.

How well governments and global companies manage these frustrations will be the real determinant of whether economic development will lead to wider democratization and wider peace. Here again McDonald's is an intriguing pioneer. When the riots broke out in Los Angeles one of the few commercial buildings not trashed was McDonald's. Wednesday's column will explore why.