Globalization

Globalization commonly refers to a tendency to transcend the boundaries of the nation-state. This tendency can be observed in almost every aspect of modern life: ideologies, economics, technical advances, transnational regulations,, and environmental problems. Whereas in the course of the 20th century, nation-states have been the main agents in the international community, non-governmental and/or transnational actors are increasingly replacing them. Environmentalist movements operate worldwide, international organizations address the problems of global warming or the problem of poverty, and transnational companies are important players on the world market. High technology advances (media, the internet) have enabled individuals to communicate with others in any part of the world, thereby enabling them to participate, globalizing their lives. Nevertheless, globalization cannot be viewed as only a desirable process. Many critics have been addressing the problems that globalization poses: while it broadens the options for westerners and highly educated elites all around the world, it increases discrimination against the poor even further. In this context, globalization can be defined as the spatial and temporal approximation of world regions that have access to high-tech means for communication and information. The International Monetary Fund defines globalization as “the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services, free international capital flows, and more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology”. Meanwhile, The International Forum on Globalization defines it as “the present worldwide drive toward a globalized economic system dominated by supranational corporate trade and banking institutions that are not accountable to democratic processes or national governments.” The different definitions highlight the ensuing debate on the roles and relationships of government, corporations, and the individual in maximizing social welfare within the globalization paradigms. The economic aspects stressed in globalization are trade, investment, and migration. The globalization of trade entails that human beings have greater access to an array of goods and services never seen before in human history. The globalization of investment takes place through Foreign Direct Investment, where multinational companies directly invest assets in a foreign country, or by indirect investment where individuals and institutions purchase and sell financial assets of other countries. Free migration allows individuals to find employment in jurisdictions where there are labor shortages. The political aspects of globalization are evidenced when governments create international rules and institutions to deal with issues such as trade, human rights, and the environment. Among the new institutions and rules that have come to fruition as a result of globalization are the World Trade Organization, the Euro currency, and the North American Free Trade Agreement, to name a few. Social activist and non-profit organizations such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace are also becoming more global in scope. Some of these organizations take issue with the economic and political aspects of globalization as they fear that economic interests either subvert the nation-state in its ability to protect its citizens from economic exploitation, or support governments that violate the human rights of their citizens. Cultural global ties also grow through globalization as news, ideas, and fashions move around the globe through trade, travel and media at lightning speed. However, these ties may also cause strains: for example Western Ideas of freedom of expression may clash with Islamic views on religious tolerance. And if not strains, critics contend this is really an imposition of cultural imperialism in order to preserve economic interests. The other aspect of globalization is the revolutionary change in technology, particularly in transport and communication, which ostensibly creates a global village. Globalization spreads everything. Some authors prefer the term internationalization rather than globalization. In internationalization, the role of the state and the importance of nations are greater, while globalization in its complete form eliminates nation-states. So, they argue that the frontiers of countries, in a broad sense, are far from being dissolved, and therefore this globalization process is not happening, and probably will not happen, considering that in world history, internationalization never turned into globalization (the European Union and NAFTA are yet to prove their case). However, the world increasingly shares problems and challenges that do not obey nation-state borders, most notably pollution of the natural environment, and the movement previously known as anti-globalization has transformed into a movement of movements for globalization from below, seeking, through experimentation, forms of social organization that transcend the nation- state and representative democracy. Whereas the original arguments that globalization is taking place can be refuted with stories of internationalization, as above, the emergence of a global movement is indisputable and therefore we can speak of a real process towards a global human society of societies. Other authors have argued that we are in transition to a planetary phase of civilization; the exact form and character of the global society is contested and will be determined by the choices we make in the critical decades ahead. For example, the Global Scenario Group [4] has outlined alternative visions of the global future, with "market forces" or economic globalization being just one option, contrasted with "policy reform," "fortress world," "breakdown," "eco-communalism" and a "new sustainability paradigm." Various aspects of globalization are seen as harmful by public-interest activists as well as strong state nationalists. This movement has no unified name. "Anti-globalization" is the media's preferred term; it can lead to some confusion, as activists typically oppose certain aspects or forms of globalization, not globalization per se. Activists themselves, for example, Noam Chomsky, have said that this name is meaningless as the aim of the movement is to globalize justice. Indeed, the global justice movement is a common name. Many "anti-globalization" activists see globalization as the promotion of a corporatist agenda, which is intent on constricting the freedoms of individuals in the name of profit. They also claim that the increasing autonomy and strength of corporate entities increasingly shapes the political policy of nation-states. The main opposition is to unfettered globalization (neoliberal; laissez-faire capitalism), guided by governments and what are claimed to be quasi-governments (such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) that are supposedly not held responsible to the populations that they govern and instead respond mostly to the interests of corporations. Many conferences between trade and finance ministers of the core globalizing nations have been met with large, and occasionally violent, protests from opponents of "corporate globalism". Some "anti-globalization" activists object to the fact that the current "globalization" globalizes money and corporations, but not people and unions. This can be seen in the strict immigration controls in nearly all countries, and the lack of labor rights in many countries in the developing world. Another more conservative camp opposed to globalization is state-centric nationalists who fear globalization is displacing the role of nations in global politics and point to NGOs as encroaching upon the power of individual nations. The movement is very broad, including church groups, national liberation factions, left-wing parties, environmentalists, peasant unionists, anti-racism groups, anarchists, those in support of relocalization and others. Supporters of democratic globalization can be labeled pro-globalists. They consider that the first phase of globalization, which was market-oriented, should be completed by a phase of building global political institutions representing the will of world citizens. They see globalization as the beneficial spread of liberty and capitalism. Critics argue that the anti-globalization movement uses anecdotal evidence to support their view and that worldwide statistics instead strongly support globalization. In the field of software, globalization is a technical term that combines the development processes of internationalization and localization. Many, such as participants in the World Social Forum, use the term "corporate globalization" or "global corporatization" to highlight the impact of multinational corporations and the use of legal and financial means to circumvent local laws and standards, in order to leverage the labor and services of unequally-developed regions against each other. A more sophisticated approach to measuring globalization is the recent index calculated by the Swiss think tank KOF. The index measures the three main dimensions of globalization: economic, social, and political. In addition to three indices measuring these dimensions, an overall index of globalization and sub-indices referring to actual economic flows, economic restrictions, data on personal contact, data on information flows, and data on cultural proximity is calculated. Data are available on a yearly basis for 122 countries. According to the index, the world's most globalized country is the USA, followed by Sweden, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Luxembourg. The least globalized countries according to the KOF-index are Togo, Chad and the Central African Republic.