GLOBALIZATION:

Globalization is an ambiguous term. It means different things to different people. It may mean different things to the same person. 

So what does globalization mean?

Globalization is a process of reshaping human life through globalizing certain values which include economic patterns related to free trade, production, consumption and distribution; cultural patterns related to entity, language, and lifestyle; and political patterns related to democratic process and human rights. It is the ongoing process that is linking people, neighborhood, cities, regions and countries much more closely together than they have ever been before. This has resulted in our lives being intertwined with people in all parts of the world via the food we eat, the clothing we wear, the music we listen to, the information we get and the ideas we hold.

While globalization is not a new process, it has accelerated rapidly since World War II, and is having many effects on people, the environment, cultures, national governments, economic development and human well-being in countries around the world. 

In the more recent past, globalization was often primarily focused on the economic side of the world, such as trade, foreign direct investment and international capital flows, more recently the term has been expanded to include a broader range of areas and activities such as culture, media, technology, socio-cultural, political, and even biological factors, e.g. climate change.

 

DRIVERS OF GLOBALIZATION:

Promotion of free trade

Since World War II, and especially since the 1980s, governments have reduced many barriers to international trade through international agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

These agreements have led to many initiatives to promote what is called “free trade”, including:

The elimination of tariffs (taxes on imported goods).

The elimination of import quotas (limits on the amount of any product that can be imported)

The creation of free trade zones where there are only small or no tariffs as well as cheap land and skilled, but controlled, labor

The reduction or elimination of controls on the movement of capital out of a country so profits can easily be returned to the base country or a tax-haven

The reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local businesses so overseas companies can compete against them without any support for local industry and employers

The establishment of local subsidies for global corporations so that they can make things cheaper in open country rather than another

The harmonization of intellectual property laws and cross-border recognition of intellectual property restrictions (e.g. patents granted by China would be recognized in the United States and vice versa).

These economic and trade reforms are a central part of “free-market economics” which greatly increased opportunities for international trade and investment. Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, large corporations are able to source their raw materials from many different countries and establish factories and sales outlets all over the world. Thus, while there are many forms of globalization as we have seen, one of its most significant aspects is its dependence on “free trade”. Free trade is strongly supported by the major international development banks and by economically powerful nations, such as US, UK and Japan, as they own 89% of multinational corporations. More recently, China and India are becoming strong supporters of free trade as their economies start to dominate global markets. This defining feature of globalization is underpinned by a politico-economic philosophy known as neo liberalism.

Neo-liberal trade policies are intended to encourage free trade but many people, especially in developing countries, argue that it has not produced fair trade. As a result, many development campaigners stage large demonstrations at international meetings of political and economic leaders, with banners and placards saying “Fair Trade – Not Free Trade.”

Multinational Corporations

It might seem impossible or, at least impractical, but every week four-wheel-drive trucks made in Japan bring crates of Coca-Cola to a remote Mayan community in the Yucatan of Mexico when the community lacks running water and electricity in

their community. The same thing happens in villages in many parts of Africa and Asia.

Two processes lie behind this paradox. The first includes the neo-liberal trade and economic policies we saw in the previous section. Neo-liberal policies favor private enterprise and discourage government investment in the sorts of social infrastructure that support education, health, public transport, housing and housing that contribute to social well-being.

The second is the ever-increasing influence of multinational corporations. A multinational corporation (MNC) is a large company engaged in international production and sales. The largest MNCs have raw materials extraction and production sites in many different countries, even often manufacturing different components of a product in different countries where it has a cost advantage.

A growing amount of what we consume is produced from outside our own countries by MNCs whose purpose is to make a profit for their owners and shareholders. Many of these companies have active corporate social responsibility programs to assist the communities where they operate. Nevertheless, of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while only 49 are countries, based on a comparison of corporate sales and country GDPs.

Sometimes MNCs are so large that they transcend national boundaries in their operations and are known as transnational corporations (TNCs). Sometimes they merge with other MNCs or TNCs to produce one very powerful organizations. As a result, MNCs have the potential to strongly influence international trade and investment laws so that they can meet their need to make a profit.

Transport, the media and communications technologies

Technology has been another principal driver of globalisation. Advances in transport and information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Developments in containerisation and bulk carrier shipping have enabled rapid and cost-effective transport while innovations in logistics and air-freight means that many goods – from African flowers to Chinese-made computers – can arrive in markets over-night. However, it is the rapid improvements in information and communication technologies that have provided some of the strongest drivers of globalisation in recent years. The global Internet and its associated capacity for financial transfers have provided companies with valuable new tools for:

Identifying new and expanded economic opportunities Faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world Easy and instantaneous transfers of payments and profits Speedy, often instantaneous, communication and decision-making Partnerships with far-flung partners.

Consumerism

One of the major dimensions of the mental models created by globalization has been the commodification – or commercialization – of daily life. The themes and underlying values of many American and European movies, television programs and advertisements “normalize” materialistic assumptions about what counts as “a good life” or “a life worth living”.

As a result, one part of the cultural impact of globalization has been to create a global consumer culture.

Interconnected drivers

The important point to note about consumerism is that it is both an effect and cause of on-going globalization. Itself a product of the media, new communication technologies and the resultant normalization of Western ways of life, consumerism drives global demand for new and more products which, in its turn, drives the sales of products of multinational corporations and entrenches economic globalization. In this way the driving forces of globalization become self-reinforcing.

DIMENSIONS OF GLOBALIZATIONS:

Social Globalization:

Globalization is a fact. One result of globalization is that we now are much more related to each other throughout the globe. It has an effect on us, but it also contributes to human life. It gives us access to the world, but it also gives the world access to us, not only our markets, but also our goods.

Investors with large amounts of capital can determine the rules of our markets, and therefore we can be forced into structures we are not prepared for. Seen in this way, it mainly shows us that national solutions to economic problems are no longer enough; we need much more international cooperation for the good of everyone involved. We also need an intense and inclusive dialogue, so that all relevant

knowledge and experience, from south and north, east and west will be on the table when decisions are taken.

The social democratic movements throughout the world are related to each other and connected to one international body – the Socialist International. That requires more and more real cooperation, and possibly also new structures for decision-making. We can no longer only learn from each other; together we must create stable systems which can provide the world with methods of decision-making that can truly ‘change life’, not only for humanity but for all of creation.

The whole of humanity, now and in future, is challenged mostly by threats we have made for ourselves. And the main problem is that those of us who created the problems are not the ones which will have to pay.

-The topic of globalization is strongly defined from two different perspectives; one is the ‘western’ interpretation which sees the world as being more and more dependent and related to all other human beings, and the ‘southern’ perspective which is more concerned with judging the effects on young economies that seem to be violated by globalization. These two views must be reconciled with each other. The goal of widening markets and the problem of threatening markets through that widening process must both be analyzed.

- As Social Democrats, we too are challenged by a south/north perspective on the issue of globalization. The conflict between high-minded principles on one side and practical solutions or pragmatic views on the other tends to give us either a principle-based worldview or a pragmatic one which can allow us to break with our own more vague principles when required.

The topic of globalization is strongly defined from two different perspectives;

One is the ‘western’ interpretation which sees the world as being more and more dependent and related to all other human beings, and the ‘southern’ perspective which is more concerned with judging the effects on young economies that seem to be violated by globalization. These two views must be reconciled with each other. The goal of widening markets and the problem of threatening markets through that widening process must both be analyzed.2introduction- It is possible that the very foundation of the word socialism (or if one prefers, ‘social democracy’), is in its essence challenged. We must together, from south to north, start a much deeper analysis, not only in terms of economics and governance, but also in ethical, theological and overall theoretical terms.

It must be fully understood that a society with broadening gaps between individuals or groups requires more and more police, guards, and guarded houses,

but a united society can spend more on equal distribution and less on law enforcement, thereby decreasing tensions.

Although globalization might benefit religions through the easier exchange of information and different opinions about these religions, it however represents a source of harm to many religious and spiritual values (Falk, 2001). Globalization, through its cultural and informational aspects and the promotion of consuming patterns and value corruption, challenges religious systems (Aulakh, 2000: 233). In fact, it is gradually replacing these values with pure secular systems within which certain religious values will lose their influence on peoples’ behaviors.

CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION:

Globalization represents a challenge to cultural and local languages. United Nations’ study (Al-Jazeera, 2001) shows that half of local languages in the world are expected to disappear. This could lead unenthusiastically to marginalizing many local cultures. Scientific and economic superiority of the US and the flow of information technology assist in imposing certain languages in particular English as a second language in some developing and developed countries, and as a first language in some others. There is no doubt that language has significant impact on cultures and, therefore, the dominance of English could contribute to the emergence of a global and intercontinental culture which may wipe out traditions, customs, and values of many societies and marginalizes their cultures .

Globalization has significant impact on local entities. Its complexity takes decisive dimensions in particular with regard to its effects on labor immigration from the South to the North. In many cases this problem not only has political reflections, but also social dimensions. For example, when the Algerian football player Zaiden. Zaiden has appeared as a star in the French team in World Cup 1998, French Right Wing started to criticize the presence of non-aboriginal French in the national team (Middleman, 2000: 71). At the same time, Algerians in both France and Algeria were so pleased and looked at Zaiden as an Algerian hero, despite the fact that he was born in France and still resides there. So globalization in this sense is reshaping the identity of many peoples particularly migrants.

.