Understanding Globalization

What is Globalization?

• The speedup of movements and exchanges of humans, goods, services, capital, technologies, and cultural practices across the globe.
• Promotes and increases interactions between different regions and populations.
• Process by which ideas, knowledge, information, goods, and services spread globally.
• In business, it describes integrated economies with free trade, free flow of capital, and easy access to foreign resources.
• Driven by the convergence of cultural and economic systems.

A Brief History of Globalization

• There are four major periods of globalization: 16th century, 19th century, after WWII, and the present.
• The 16th century was the Age of Exploration, where European countries established trade routes and colonies.
• The 19th century saw the Industrial Revolution, with advancements in transportation and communication technologies, the rise of capitalism, and the development of the modern economic system.
• After WWII, international organizations were established (UN, World Bank, IMF), multinational corporations emerged, and global trade grew.
• The present is characterized by the widespread use of technology and the internet, leading to further globalization.

Critics of Globalization

• Income inequality, exploitation of workers, and environmental degradation are often cited as drawbacks.

Characteristics of Globalization

• Social mobility of people
• Intensification of interactions
• An active process
• Borderless interaction
• Spread of ideas, knowledge, technology, culture, religion, and more

Global Village

• Marshall McLuhan (1964) coined the term "Global Village" in his essay "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man".
• Media has interconnected the world, creating a global village.

Manfred Steger

• Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
• Focuses on globalization, ideology, and non-violence.
• Believes globalization is the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness across world-time and world-place.

Globalization

• A widespread belief that global integration of economic markets is beneficial for all.
• It spreads freedom and democracy.

Arjun Appadurai

• Proposed 5 dimensions of global cultural flow:
  • Ethnoscapes: global movement of people
  • Technoscapes: circulation of mechanical goods and software
  • Mediascapes: flow of culture
  • Financescapes: global circulation of money
  • Ideoscapes: movement of political ideas

Anthony McGrew

• Views globalization as multiple sameness and interconnectedness that go beyond nation-states.

Michael Freeden

• See globalization not as an ideology but a range of processes under one concept.
• Global flows occur in different physical and mental dimensions.

Causes of Globalization

• Trade liberalization: reducing or removing trade barriers between countries.
• Improvements in technology: advancements in tools, machines, and systems that make processes more efficient, effective, or accessible.
• Reduced cost/improvement of communication and transportation: advancements in technology make it cheaper and easier to connect and move goods and people.
• Deregulation of financial markets: removing or relaxing government rules and restrictions on financial institutions and activities.

Types of Globalization

• Political globalization: involves policies that promote the globalization of governments, economies, and cultures.
• Economic globalization: involves interconnected free markets, trade, and the global movement of capital, business, goods, and people.
• Cultural globalization: marked by the spread and merging of individual cultures on a global scale.

Advantages of Globalization

• Open economy leads to faster innovation with new ideas.
• Export jobs often pay more than other jobs.
• Productivity grows faster when countries produce goods and services they are good at.

Disadvantages of Globalization

• Exploitation of underdeveloped countries.
• Widening of the rich-poor gap.
• Harmful effects on small industries and businesses.

Effects of Globalization

• Increased competition
• Exchange of technology
• Knowledge and information transfer
• Increased investment and opportunities
• Rise of multinational and multicultural management