Is Globalization Is Good or Bad - Essay Example

Globalization is neither Good nor Bad in Itself. What’s Important is What Kind of Globalization Globalization means different things to different people. Some define globalization as the extension of financial activities across political limitations of countries. It refers to a process of growing economic union and growing financial interdependence between nation-states in the global economy. It is linked not only with an increasing international export and import of goods, services, investment, technology, information and populace, but also with an association of economic activities which blurs national limits. Rapid technical change, especially in the field of information and communication technology, has facilitated the process of globalization by creating favorable atmosphere. The noticeable and quick increase in economic and political power and mobility of capital and skilled labour at the global level on one hand and increased unskilled labour round the world on the other, has considerably changed the character and the course of the development in different countries. The word ‘globalization’ is used in two ways, which are the source of confusion and the course of disagreement. It is used in a positive sense to explain a course of growing incorporation into the global monetary market. The characterization of this practice is not at all steady. It is used in an ordinary sense to specify a tactic of development based on a quick incorporation with the world financial system. While some see this as salvation, others see it as damnation. Continuous close interrelation, and incorporation of trade and investment in the global market at a privileged phase of development are often described as globalization. Big level commodity manufactures with wage labour and commodity replacement all over the world through trade are the essentials to the formation and improvement of world economy. It works for the more free association of commodities and services along with the solitary exports and imports of capital and quick growth of overseas investment in look out for high profits. The unexpected and rapid outward movement and expansion for trade and investment is a continuous process-in which the capital goods and large scale exports have dominated in the last few decades. This development owes to the internal social causes and economic factor of the developed capitalist countries which have a great impact to change the basic character of the world economy. Change for the basic characteristic of developed capitalist economies over the years largely contributed to the present globalization and they require proper consideration and analysis in the light of the present developments. Globalization encompasses wide- ranging moves towards trade liberalization, the removal of non-tariff barriers and the leveling of tariff rates, increasing freedom of capital to move across national boundaries, and advances in communication which turns the world into a global market. A globally competitive nation requires the ability, through the mobilization of a range of skills and the development of supporting infrastructure, to generate considerable growth in output and employment while remaining exposed to global competition. From an economist’s perspective globalization is transnationalisation of production and capital, standardization of consumer tastes, legitimization of global capitalism through transformation or generation of international institutions.Transnationalisation can happen only in a borderless world. Tariff barriers, share limitations concerning the movement of commodities and services, opportunity for monetary services, exclusion of overseas switch over boundaries, and restrictions - in brief all obstacles to free trade and dealings have to be removed to make possible a limitless global market. Economic globalization as seen in the world today is not a new occurrence. Its growth was gradual and it gained momentum day by day. The trend today is a move from a borderless international market economy ever more governed by definite set of rules. In the present framework, globalization means worldwide and financial liberalization, creating an international economic system and a international manufacturing system which is based on ‘a uniform global regulation of value’ (Ould- Mey).The end of the cold war helped the materialization of a new forceful competitive worldwide fiscal order. This was made achievable due to the incorporation of the newly industrialized nations and much of the developing countries. The supporters of globalization hailed it as the universal remedy for all economic problems, and that the only path to monetary success is to hold fast to free - market doctrine. Globalization prefers new opportunities for the transnational elites, corporations and fund managers to penetrate world markets as countries are eliminating barriers on trade and capital flows. Globalization has brought within itself great inequalities, mass impoverishment and despair. It has split society along the prevailing liability lines of rank, gender and community while, almost permanently, deepening the split globally between the rich and the poor countries. While it has helped a minority group of citizens and corporations to prosper within nations and within the international system, it has ignored and dishonored the basic human rights of the majority. The demand to free up has demanded a reduction of state participation in national life, promoting privatization, reducing jobs, impoverishing health, education and other basic subsidies affecting the weak and the poor. Most often, liberalization brings about greater discrimination and people are trapped in absolute poverty. At the same time, in many developed first world nations, one can witness an increase in the unemployment levels. In 1997, The Human Development Report exposed that under developed nations and underprivileged people too often observe that they are ignored, neglected and invisibilized as an outcome of globalization. Even though economic globalization is believed to enhance production, opportunity, industrial advancement, and uniting the humanity, it eventually causes enlarged poverty, social discriminations and neglecting of basic human rights. The global lenders demand developing nations to redirect considerable capital away from domestic sectors: pull out all subsidies for the downtrodden, privatize the public sphere, and re-mould the market and lessen wages. As a result, this process lures developing nations to globalization. The structural modification programmes and strategies of import and export of industrialization were part of a political and financial reformation process, a prologue to globalization. The supporters of globalization offer theoretical justifications to admit growth brought about by export, minimal wages and living conditions for workers, lessening government budgets and tremendously high interest charges and home producers like farmers have to suffer the disastrous end result. Anti-globalism group believes strongly that free trade favours only rich countries and retards growth in developing countries, as a result of high cost of restructuring the economy, loss of local control over economic policies, collapse of local industries and erosion of communities. Recent trade reforms in Latin American countries have been associated with increased wage differential, as the adoption of imported technologies rendered the tradable sector less intensive in the use of unskilled labour that is abundant in these countries. The argument on anti-globalism is supported by Daouas (2001), who states that although globalization has helped to boost growth and wealth in recent years, it has not done so for all continents and all nations. In developing nations like Africa, a decline of existing imbalances has hindered development and increased poverty. Media has now become an influential participant in the globalization procedure. It is the globalization of economies that has also led to the globalization of media. Media is used to enforce the culture and power of the developed nations from the global North. The mounting mobility of jobs has fashioned global work places and thus has enhanced global labour migration. That is, the globalization and market-oriented monetary reforms helped international organizations shift their productive units to developing nations. Consequently, more people leave their motherlands in the quest for jobs and in many circumstances, people are strained to work in inhuman situations for lesser wages. This proves that globalization is not at all a non-intricate but a very complex set of process that works at multiple levels- political, fiscal and cultural. In course of time, especially in the last few years, the controversy over globalization experienced an intense shift with the two contending groups-one that advocates globalization and the other that warns against it- moving towards a compromise. Both sides have almost agreed that globalization is desirable, but efforts should be focused on how best to manage the process at the local and international levels, so that the benefits are widely shared, and the costs kept to a minimum. This agreement in favour of openness and world economic incorporation should encourage more developing countries to respond positively and provide their citizens a hopeful future in the global village. Globalization, by offering a brighter future for all, is perhaps the surest path to greater security and world peace. Works Cited Cornia, G.A.”Liberalization, Globalization and Income Distribution,” Working Paper No. 157, World Institute for Development Economics Research, Finland, 1999. Dunning, John H.ed.Making Globalization Good: The Moral Challenges of Global Capitalism. New York: OUP, 2003. Jong, y. “Income Distribution and Growth in East Asia.” Journal of Debelopment Studies.34 (6) (1998):46-53. Ould-Mey, Mohameden.”Global Adjustment: Implications for Peripheral States.” Third World Quaterly.15:2 (1994). Stiglitz, Joseph. Globalization and its Discontents. New Delhi: Penguin, 2002. Wood, A. North-South Trade, Employment and Inequality. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. Read More