GLOBALIZATION:

Globalization is an ambiguous term. It means different things to different people. It

may mean different things to the same person.
So what does globalization mean?
Globalization is a process of reshaping human life through globalizing certain
values which include economic patterns related to free trade, production,
consumption and distribution; cultural patterns related to entity, language, and
lifestyle; and political patterns related to democratic process and human rights. It is
the ongoing process that is linking people, neighborhood, cities, regions and
countries much more closely together than they have ever been before. This has
resulted in our lives being intertwined with people in all parts of the world via the
food we eat, the clothing we wear, the music we listen to, the information we get
and the ideas we hold.
While globalization is not a new process, it has accelerated rapidly since World
War II, and is having many effects on people, the environment, cultures, national
governments, economic development and human well-being in countries around
the world.
In the more recent past, globalization was often primarily focused on the economic
side of the world, such as trade, foreign direct investment and international capital
flows, more recently the term has been expanded to include a broader range of
areas and activities such as culture, media, technology, socio-cultural, political, and
even biological factors, e.g. climate change.

DRIVERS OF GLOBALIZATION:
Promotion of free trade

Since World War II, and especially since the 1980s, governments have reduced
many barriers to international trade through international agreements such as the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
These agreements have led to many initiatives to promote what is called free
trade, including:

The elimination of tariffs (taxes on imported goods).

The elimination of import quotas (limits on the amount of any product that
can be imported)

The creation of free trade zones where there are only small or no tariffs as
well as cheap land and skilled, but controlled, labor

The reduction or elimination of controls on the movement of capital out of a

country so profits can easily be returned to the base country or a tax-haven

The reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local

businesses so overseas companies can compete against them without any support
for local industry and employers

The establishment of local subsidies for global corporations so that they can
make things cheaper in open country rather than another

The harmonization of intellectual property laws and cross-border recognition

of intellectual property restrictions (e.g. patents granted by China would be
recognized in the United States and vice versa).
These economic and trade reforms are a central part of free-market economics
which greatly increased opportunities for international trade and investment.
Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, large corporations are
able to source their raw materials from many different countries and establish
factories and sales outlets all over the world. Thus, while there are many forms of
globalization as we have seen, one of its most significant aspects is its dependence
on free trade. Free trade is strongly supported by the major international
development banks and by economically powerful nations, such as US, UK and
Japan, as they own 89% of multinational corporations. More recently, China and
India are becoming strong supporters of free trade as their economies start to
dominate global markets. This defining feature of globalization is underpinned by a
politico-economic philosophy known as neo liberalism.
Neo-liberal trade policies are intended to encourage free trade but many people,
especially in developing countries, argue that it has not produced fair trade. As a
result, many development campaigners stage large demonstrations at international
meetings of political and economic leaders, with banners and placards saying Fair
Trade Not Free Trade.

Multinational Corporations

It might seem impossible or, at least impractical, but every week four-wheel-drive
trucks made in Japan bring crates of Coca-Cola to a remote Mayan community in
the Yucatan of Mexico when the community lacks running water and electricity in
their community. The same thing happens in villages in many parts of Africa and
Asia.
Two processes lie behind this paradox. The first includes the neo-liberal trade and
economic policies we saw in the previous section. Neo-liberal policies favor
private enterprise and discourage government investment in the sorts of social
infrastructure that support education, health, public transport, housing and housing
that contribute to social well-being.
The second is the ever-increasing influence of multinational corporations. A
multinational corporation (MNC) is a large company engaged in international
production and sales. The largest MNCs have raw materials extraction and
production sites in many different countries, even often manufacturing different
components of a product in different countries where it has a cost advantage.
A growing amount of what we consume is produced from outside our own
countries by MNCs whose purpose is to make a profit for their owners and
shareholders. Many of these companies have active corporate social
responsibility programs to assist the communities where they operate.
Nevertheless, of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while
only 49 are countries, based on a comparison of corporate sales and country GDPs.
Sometimes MNCs are so large that they transcend national boundaries in their
operations and are known as transnational corporations (TNCs). Sometimes they
merge with other MNCs or TNCs to produce one very powerful organizations. As a
result, MNCs have the potential to strongly influence international trade and
investment laws so that they can meet their need to make a profit.
Transport, the media and communications technologies

Technology has been another principal driver of globalisation. Advances in

transport and information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed
economic life. Developments in containerisation and bulk carrier shipping have
enabled rapid and cost-effective transport while innovations in logistics and airfreight means that many goods from African flowers to Chinese-made computers
can arrive in markets over-night. However, it is the rapid improvements in

information and communication technologies that have provided some of the

strongest drivers of globalisation in recent years. The global Internet and its
associated capacity for financial transfers have provided companies with valuable
new tools for:

Identifying new and expanded economic opportunities

Faster and more informed analyses of economic trends around the world

Easy and instantaneous transfers of payments and profits

Speedy, often instantaneous, communication and decision-making

Partnerships with far-flung partners.

Consumerism

One of the major dimensions of the mental models created by globalization has
been the commodification or commercialization of daily life. The themes and
underlying values of many American and European movies, television programs
and advertisements normalize materialistic assumptions about what counts as a
good life or a life worth living.
As a result, one part of the cultural impact of globalization has been to create a
global consumer culture.
Interconnected drivers

The important point to note about consumerism is that it is both an effect and cause
of on-going globalization. Itself a product of the media, new communication
technologies and the resultant normalization of Western ways of life, consumerism
drives global demand for new and more products which, in its turn, drives the sales
of products of multinational corporations and entrenches economic globalization.
In this way the driving forces of globalization become self-reinforcing.

DIMENSIONS OF GLOBALIZATIONS:
Social Globalization:

Globalization is a fact. One result of globalization is that we now are much more
related to each other throughout the globe. It has an effect on us, but it also

contributes to human life. It gives us access to the world, but it also gives the world
access to us, not only our markets, but also our goods.
Investors with large amounts of capital can determine the rules of our markets, and
therefore we can be forced into structures we are not prepared for. Seen in this way,
it mainly shows us that national solutions to economic problems are no longer
enough; we need much more international cooperation for the good of everyone
involved. We also need an intense and inclusive dialogue, so that all relevant
knowledge and experience, from south and north, east and west will be on the table
when decisions are taken.
The social democratic movements throughout the world are related to each
other and connected to one international body the Socialist International. That
requires more and more real cooperation, and possibly also new structures for
decision-making. We can no longer only learn from each other; together we must
create stable systems which can provide the world with methods of decisionmaking that can truly change life, not only for humanity but for all of creation.
The whole of humanity, now and in future, is challenged mostly by threats we have
made for ourselves. And the main problem is that those of us who created the
problems are not the ones which will have to pay.
-The topic of globalization is strongly defined from two different perspectives; one
is the western interpretation which sees the world as being more and more
dependent and related to all other human beings, and the southern perspective
which is more concerned with judging the effects on young economies that
seem to be violated by globalization. These two views must be reconciled with
each other. The goal of widening markets and the problem of threatening markets
through that widening process must both be analyzed.
- As Social Democrats, we too are challenged by a south/north perspective on the
issue of globalization. The conflict between high-minded principles on one side
and practical solutions or pragmatic views on the other tends to give us either a
principle-based worldview or a pragmatic one which can allow us to break with
our own more vague principles when required.
The topic of globalization is strongly defined from two different perspectives;
One is the western interpretation which sees the world as being more and more
dependent and related to all other human beings, and the southern perspective
which is more concerned with judging the effects on young economies that
seem to be violated by globalization. These two views must be reconciled with
each other. The goal of widening markets and the problem of threatening markets

through that widening process must both be analyzed.2introduction- It is possible

that the very foundation of the word socialism (or if one prefers, social
democracy), is in its essence challenged. We must together, from south to north,
start a much deeper analysis, not only in terms of economics and governance, but
also in ethical, theological and overall theoretical terms.
It must be fully understood that a society with broadening gaps between
individuals or groups requires more and more police, guards, and guarded houses,
but a united society can spend more on equal distribution and less on law
enforcement, thereby decreasing tensions.
Although globalization might benefit religions through the easier exchange of
information and different opinions about these religions, it however represents a
source of harm to many religious and spiritual values (Falk, 2001). Globalization,
through its cultural and informational aspects and the promotion of consuming
patterns and value corruption, challenges religious systems (Aulakh, 2000: 233). In
fact, it is gradually replacing these values with pure secular systems within which
certain religious values will lose their influence on peoples behaviors.
CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION:
Globalization represents a challenge to cultural and local languages. United
Nations study (Al-Jazeera, 2001) shows that half of local languages in the world
are expected to disappear. This could lead unenthusiastically to marginalizing
many local cultures. Scientific and economic superiority of the US and the flow of
information technology assist in imposing certain languages in particular English
as a second language in some developing and developed countries, and as a first
language in some others. There is no doubt that language has significant impact on
cultures and, therefore, the dominance of English could contribute to the
emergence of a global and intercontinental culture which may wipe out traditions,
customs, and values of many societies and marginalizes their cultures .
Globalization has significant impact on local entities. Its complexity takes decisive
dimensions in particular with regard to its effects on labor immigration from the
South to the North. In many cases this problem not only has political reflections,
but also social dimensions. For example, when the Algerian football player Zaiden.
Zaiden has appeared as a star in the French team in World Cup 1998, French Right
Wing started to criticize the presence of non-aboriginal French in the national team
(Middleman, 2000: 71). At the same time, Algerians in both France and Algeria
were so pleased and looked at Zaiden as an Algerian hero, despite the fact that he
was born in France and still resides there. So globalization in this sense is
reshaping the identity of many peoples particularly migrants.