Admittedly, globalization have positive impacts, however it is being utilised by capitals to run the states. Policies are being framed under influence to facilitate capitalism. I wrote this article in December 2008 and given to publish it in quarterly magazine of business group; same text is here to share views:
Globalization is a process by which capital, goods, services, and sometimes labor cross national borders and acquires a transnational character. It is often accompanied by the flow of related taste, ideas, and even values across boundaries, thus helping to reshape local political institutions, social relationships, and cultural patterns. Globalization in the era since World War II has been driven by Trade Negotiation Rounds, originally under the auspices of GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), which led to a series of agreements to remove restrictions on "free trade". The Uruguay round led to a treaty to create the World Trade Organization (WTO). Now, the WTO provides a framework of rules for international trade. More specifically, globalization refers to:
•Increase in international trade at a faster rate
•Increase in international flow of capital including foreign direct investment
•Greater transborder data flow, using technologies such as the Internet, communication satellites and telephones
•Greater international cultural exchange, for example through Hollywood and Bollywood movies.
•Some argue that even terrorism has undergone globalization. Terrorists now have attacked places all over the world.
•Erosion of national sovereignty and national borders through international agreements leading to organizations like the WTO and OPEC
•Greater international travel and tourism
•Greater immigration, including illegal immigration
•Development of global telecommunications infrastructure
•Development of a global financial systems
•Increase in the share of the world economy controlled by transnational corporations
•Increased role of international organizations such as WTO, IMF that deal with international transactions
•Increase in the number of standards applied globally; e.g. copyright laws
Some conceived globalization as turning the whole world into one global village in which all peoples are increasingly interconnected and all the fences or barriers are removed, so that the world would witnesse a new state of fast and free flow of people, capital, goods and ideas resulting in prosperity to all the corners of the globe together with the spread of the highly cherished values of democracy, freedom and justice. On the other hand critics conceived it as turning the world into a global market for goods and services dominated and steered by the powerful gigantic transnational corporations and governed by the rule of profit. Human rights and cultural values would be seriously threatened.
Globalization has both negative and positive aspects. The negative ones include:
- the rich-poor inequality in both economic and social spheres is widening and the poor are sinking to the bottom.
- Environmental degradation due to unrestrained activities of multinational corporations.
- Basic necessities in life are set aside in favour of profits. Many developing countries have been occupied with facilitating foreign investment in industries that are lucrative to foreign markets and discarding the most fundamental needs of the people.
- Globalization aids the removal of national controls over cross-border financial flows.
- Globalization has popularised the consumer culture where people are more interested in what they have rather than the essential aspects of humanity.
- Formal education systems are emphasising technical and managerial skills responding to market demands and leaving aside traditional academic subjects with less emphasis on development of social or basic sciences.
- The IT boom has given rise to lot of information that is useless and meaningless causing people to be pre-occupied with unimportant things.
- Double standards are present in the human rights aspect of the present world.
- The global financial system has been plagued by a series of financial crises of increasing frequency and severity. The negative impact of these crises has been devastating, wiping off the gains of years of prior economic progress and inflicting heavy social costs through increased unemployment and poverty.
- There is a widespread concern at the overwhelming dominance of the culture and values of the United States, and other Western countries, in the global media and entertainment industry. The fear is that exposure to the images of western life style and role models could lead to tension and would be both culturally and socially divisive.
- The huge accumulation of capital is in perpetual search for lucrative investment with its sole motive of super-profit leading to inhuman exploitation and degradation.
Globalization is not all negative. There are various positive aspects, including:
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has helped to reduce poverty by creating jobs and improving incomes.
- The expansion of trade and foreign investment has accelerated social mobility and strengthened the middle class.
- New communications and information technology have helped disseminate knowledge in many fields of study and disciplines.
- Communication is cheaper and easier.
- Globalization makes it possible for humanity to have compassion for each other when calamities, natural or man-made, affect others.
- Issues such as human rights and public accountability are brought to the fore.
- The rights of women are highlighted and the problems many women face are now addressed.
There is enough evidence to suggest that the world’s wealth is, in general, rapidly increasing due to the advances in science and technology and that it is more than enough to satisfy the needs of all the dwellers of the globe. What is needed is the globalization of human rights and prosperity. One of the motives of globalization, that of maximising profits, may well be responsible for the concept’s excesses. So, globalization may well be one of the most serious challenges ever to the integrity of human civilization. Since society and culture hold many positive aspects it is important that globalization do not override these ideals. Ethics and moral standards should be injected into these economic activities as a short-term and medium-term strategy. The market should be regulated by ethical principles. The economic dimensions of globalization are not the only factors that need reconsidering. Culture should be guided by moral universal values whereby a strong ethic of restraint is embedded within one’s culture to prevent the dominance of another culture.
