Globalization
Globalization is everywhere. Every day we hear it on the news, read it in the papers, overhear people talking about it… and in every single instance the word globalization seems to have a different meaning. So, what is globalization? In this essay, globalization will be defined and what I believe to be at its core and what the major results of globalization are.
At the political and economic level, globalization is the process of denationalization of markets, politics and legal systems. It is the rise of global economy. Many international organizations, governmental institutions and the whole academic world discuss the consequences of this political and economic restructuring on local economies, human welfare and environment. It is one of the most important features of the present world debate.
At a business level, the process of globalization is when companies decide to take part in the emerging global economy and establish themselves in foreign markets. They adapt their products or services to the linguistic and cultural requirements of different nations. Then, they might take advantage of the Internet revolution and establish a virtual presence on the international marketplace. More and more companies do their business online. E-commerce has changed traditional business practices by providing direct international access to information and products.
Globalization has also cultural and ecological connotations, and that it is not only political or economic phenomenon. It means that countries all over the world become interdependent in many possible ways. There is probably no area of human activities left that is not affected by globalization. We listen to the same music, eat the same food, wear the same clothes, and decide ecological and war and peace issues together.
I believe that the core sense of globalization is economic. In recent years more and more economic activity in the world seems to be taking place between people who live in different countries. It takes different forms, like international trade, growth of import and export, foreign investments, foreign loans and bonds, and many others. Economic globalization has different consequences on businesses all over the world and influences almost every other sphere of human life. Globalization has potential benefits on the one hand, and costs or risks on the other. Globalization increases economic development and reduces poverty. Globalization makes us vulnerable to changes all over the world. For example the huge market or foreign goods in the United States creates jobs overseas and keeps foreign workers employed. Similarly, the health of the U.S. economy depends on how well American products sell in foreign countries.
Seven of the world’s leading industrial nations meet annually at a “Group of Seven” summit to coordinate policies for worldwide economic issues. Each one of us is now more fully involved in a global economic system than were our parents or grandparents. There are probably no industries left that have much protection from international competition. Globalization in its core sense is the expansion of cross-border economic ties. Geographical distance does not matter anymore.
I especially like the idea of the World Bank. The World Bank, based in Washington, is a multilateral institution that lends money to governments and government agencies for development projects. Its purpose to help to the poor countries but for more than twenty years, the bank has imposed stringent conditions, on recipient countries, forcing them to adopt reforms such as deregulation of capital markets, privatization of companies, and downsizing of public programs for social welfare. As globalization continues, this a great concept, that the richer countries will help the poorer countries, however we are still far from this happening and there are still a lot of problems with it and corruption as there are those that are trying to get richer off the poor.