Globalization

The word globalization is derived from the word globe which casually means the world. Globalization is the interaction of the nations among themselves from individual to government level. It is the interconnection of the countries through technology, goods, services or technology. John Baylis, an international author, and the pro-vice-chancellor of university explains the idea of globalization in three domains. He said that ,

• Social(technology)
• Economy 
• Political   

Outlines : 

History/background – globalization is not a modern term. It has been practiced from ancient times. People from an early age are also involved in trading and other communication factors. The term globalization has been modernized in the 19th century.

Theories of globalization – As globalization started, different theories were formed like industrialization, the universality of economic pattern, the cobweb model of world politics, and the theory of international society and the international system. These theories well explain the globalization process.

Advantages – globalization has various advantages such as the elimination of poverty, employment opportunities, technology improvement, economic boost up, traveling become easy, tourism, free movement of workers, movement of goods, cross-culture, military sharing, the formation of multinational companies or opportunities to other countries, etc.

Disadvantages – The advantages of globalization include devaluation of the currency, reduction in social expenditure, loans from international institutions, no accountability, no local companies promotion, mismanagement of resources, disease sharing, promote terrorism, westernization, etc.

Conflicts of globalization – different ideologies have different aspects of globalization. 

Factors – factors promoting globalization.

History/Background

Globalization is the cross-border interaction of people or governments. It was in practice from ancient times but modernized in the 19th century. The examples of ancient interactions are : 

Silk Route

Silk route was a historic route for trading purposes from the 2nd century B.C to the 14th century. It connected Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Discovery of Sea Routes

Sea routes were discovered in the 14th century by Portuguese explorers under the command of an explorer named Vasco da Gama. This was the first recorded trip made directly from Europe to India via Cape of Good Hope. The main purpose of the exploring route was trade. 

Arab traders moved to Ceylon :

Arabs traded with Ceylon(Sri-lanka) in the 7th century A.D Arabs brought the merchandise and bartered them for spices that Sri-lanka had.  Thus globalization is an ancient term that interconnected people. 

Globalization in the 19th Century

During World War 2, 44 allied nations gathered at Mount Washington Hotel These 44 nations signed an agreement named “Bretton Wood agreement” dated 1-22 July 1944. Through this agreement, 3 institutions or departments formed which today is known as: 

• IMF(international monetary fund)
• World bank
• GATT- now known as WTO.

Another institution formed is UNO in 1945.

Theories of Globalization: 

The theory of globalization explains how people of one country connected with the people of another country. 

Theory of Modernization:

The theory of modernization explains how industrialization pace up modernization. People in an industry interact with each other and promote modernization.

The universality of Economic Pattern: 

As we focus on history, it is obvious that the least developed countries followed the economic pattern of well-developed countries. The theory of universality of economic pattern follows the same rule.

The Cobweb Model of World Politics:

The world is connected through different issues like poverty, UNO, terrorism, global warming. So the countries are connected like the cobweb model which promotes globalization.

The International Society and International System:

International society is the association of state and how they interact with each other(in a society). The international system is the idea that influences the whole international society. For example in the cold war, some countries adopted the pattern of democracy and some countries adopted the pattern of communism. 

Advantages of Globalization

• Due to globalization rate of poverty decreases in a country as there will be more sources of employment. 
• Technology sharing among countries bring revolutionary changes regarding employment and economic purposes. 
• People can move easily from one country to another as transportation becomes so easy and people are more interconnected with each other.
• Tourists can easily travel to the whole world.
• McDonald’s is a European fast-food company that is now serving in many countries. It is just due to globalization.
• It promotes cross culturing. When people travel and interconnect with each other than cross culturing of dresses, sports, ideas, languages seems to happen.
• Military exercising with other countries. Suppose a country does not have an idea about military exercise then another country shares its military to teach them.
• Multinational companies also increase the interconnectedness which provides sources of employment. 
• More opportunities-for example KSA is rich in oil while Pakistan is an agricultural country. So trading between agricultural products and oil is also the advantage of globalization.

Disadvantages

• Devaluation of currency- it occurs due to free trade. It is supposed to devalue the products of a country to increase the sales which eventually reaches the point where the currency will lose its value in the international market. For example that of Zimbabwe.
• A reduction in social expenditure is on health, education, social life. And it is a major disadvantage. 
• The loan from the international institution- IMF provides loans to the countries which in turn impose policies of their own will in that country.
• Globalization in Russia, 1986- globalization dramatically affected Russia and Russia completely lost its economy in 1989. 
• No accountability-globalization is the only international system that has no accountability.
• Formation of multinational countries- it is actually a loss to 3rd world countries.  The multinational companies will enjoy national treatment in the free trade system that is a major loss to local businesses. 
• Mis-management of resources- the industries or companies formed in a country will mismanage their resources.
• Disease sharing- diseases spread easily due to the interconnectedness of people. Coronavirus is a major example of globalization. People are now forced to live quarantined. 
• Supports terrorism- for example, a country is facing any terrorist activity then the interconnected country may also face terrorism due to interconnected borders.
• Westernization 
• Globalization prevails mostly by the west that influences the culture of the west.

Ideologies

Idealism ideology-  It supports globalization which promotes peace.
Realist ideology- If globalization is in the favor of the state then do it.
Marxist ideology- Marxist condemn globalization. According to them, it is a western policy to impose their values
Reza shah pahlavi- He wanted to promote modernization but not succeeded and the revolutionary changes occurred in that era.

Factors Promoting Globalization:

• International organization- world bank, IMF, UNO
• Multinational corporation- coca-cola, McDonald’s.
• International media- CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera.

Conclusion: 

Thus globalization has both advantages and disadvantages. A country cannot be isolated if it does not interact with any other country either for sports, economical, political or due to any other factor.  So globalization can be adopted but in a useful sense that will not disturb the economical, political or social structure of a country.