JOVENAL, JADE NOVE R.

SATURNINO, PHOEBE JEAN

GLOBALIZATION

GLOBALIZATION may be defined as the world- wide integration of

government policies,culture, social movement ,and financial market
through trade and the exchange of idea.
British sociologist Anthony Giddens define it as “ intensification” of
worldwide relationships which link distant localities in such a way
that happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and
vice versa (as quoted in “globalization” n.d)

Globalization emphasizes the increasing trans-border or transnational

relations , which are occurring in the contemporary world.
Globalization ,in effect, restructures our social space or geography
from one that is mainly territorial to one that is increasingly
transnational. In other words, whereas individuals usually have most
of their interactions and affiliations in the past with others who
share the same territorial space (e.g. the village, town, or nation)
there is massive mushrooming of interactions and affiliations across
these territories today because of globalization. Evidently ,
globalization has brought about the escalation of global relations
Globalization is said to have begun after world war II but has
accelerated to the mid 1980’s driven by two factors;
1. Technological Advances- have reduced the cost of transportation,
communication, and computation to the degree that it has become
economically viable for a firm to place different phases of
production in various countries.
2. Business Escalating Liberation of Trade and Capital Market -
more and more government are declining to protect their economies
from foreign competitions or influence through import tariffs
and nontariff obstacles like import quotas , legal prohibition
and export restrains.
Although generally seen as downright “good” especially by many
economist, globalization unfortunately has a dark side
Author Gail Tverberg enumerates some reasons why globalization
unfortunately is not living up what was ideally expected of it , and
is, in fact, our very major problem today.
“TWELVE REASONS WHY GLOBALIZATION IS A HUGE PROBLEM” (Tverberg ,2013)
a. GLOBALIZTION uses up finite resources more quickly – an example
china joined the world trade organization in Dec. 2001. Its coal
use began rising rapidly
b. GLOBALIZATION increases world carbon dioxide emissions. If the
world burn out its coal more quickly, and does not cut back on
the other fossil fuel use, carbon dioxide emissions increase.
c. GLOBALIZATION makes it virtually impossible for regulations in
one country to foresee worldwide implications of their actions.
Action which seems to reduce emissions fro an individual country
may indirectly encourage world trade, ramp up manufacturing in
coal producing areas ,and increase emissions overall.
d. GLOBALIZATION acts to increase world oil prices. Oil supply is
not growing very much , due to its limit we are reaching , and
partly because demand is exploding due to globalization. If we
look at oil supply, its virtually flat. Part of our problem now
is that with globalization, world oil demand is rising very high.
Rapidly rising world demand, together with oil supply which is
barely rising, purchases world prices upward. The east has
sufficient pent –up demand that will make use of any oil that is
made available to the market.
e. GLOBALIZATION transfers consumption of limited oil supply from
developed to developing countries. If world oil supply isn’t
growing by very much , demand is growing rapidly in developing
countries oil to meet rising demand must come from somewhere.
High oil prices are particularly a problem for major oil
importing countries such as, the United States, many European
countries and Japan. Because oil is used in growing food and for
commuting, a rise in oil price leads to a cutback in
discretionary spending, recession , and lower oil use in these
countries.
f. GLOBALIZATION transfer jobs from developed countries to less
developed countries. Globalization levels the playing field, in
a way that ,makes it hard for developed countries to compete . A
country with a lower cost structure( lower wages and benefits for
workers, more inexpensive coal in its energy mi , and more
lenient rules on pollution) is able to outcompete a typical OECD
(Origination for Economic Cooperation and Development) country.
g. GLOBALIZATION transfers investment spending from developed
countries to les developed countries. If an investigator has a
chance to choose between a country with a competitive advantage
and a country with a competitive disadvantage which will the
investigator choose? A shift in investment shouldn’t be so
surprising .
In recent years, the US domestic investment had dropped off and
I now close to consumption of asset ( similar to deprecation, but
include other removals because manufacturing has moved overseas.)

h. With dollar as the world’s reserve currency, globalization lead

to huge US balance of trade deficit and other imbalances. With
 increased globalization and rising price of oil since 2002, the
US trade has deficit has sored . A major reason for this is the
fact that US dollar is the worlds “reserve currency “.
High oil prices together with the globalization have led o huge
US deficit spending since 2008. This has occurred partly because
a smaller portion of the population is working ( and thus paying
taxes) , and partly because US spending for unemployment benefits
and stimulus has risen.
i. GLOBALIZATION tends to move taxation away from corporations , and
onto individuals citizens. Corporations have the ability to move
to locations where the tax rate is lowest. Individual citizens
have much less ability to make such change. Also with today’s
lack of jobs, each community competes with other communities with
respect to how many tax breaks it can give to prospective
employers.
j. GLOBALIZATION sets up a urgency “race to the bottom” with each
country trying to get an export advantage by dropping the value
of the currency. Because of competitive nature of the world
economy., each country needs to sell its goods and services at as
low a price as possible.

This can be done in various ways- pay its workers’ wages allow
more pollution, us cheaper ore polluting fuels , or debase the
currency by Quantitative Easing ( also known as” printing money ”)
in the hope that this will produce inflation and lower the value
of the currency relative to other currencies.
k. GLOBALIZATION encourages dependence on other countries for
essential goods and services. With globalization , goods can
often be obtained cheaply from elsewhere . a country may come to
believe that THERE IS NO POINT I PRODUCING ITS WN FOOD OR
CLOTHING. It becomes easy to depend on imports and specialize in
something like financial services or high-priced medical care-
services that are not as oil-dependent.
l. GLOBALIZATION ties countries together , so that if one country
collapses, the collapse is likely to ripple through the system ,
pulling many other countries with it . History includes many
examples of civilizations that started from a small base ,
gradually grew to over-utilize their resource base, and then
collapsed.
There are significant parallels between financial dislocations
now happening in the united states and the types of changes which
happened in other societies, prior to collapse.
History includes many examples of civilizations that started from a
small base ,gradually over-utilize their resource base, and then
collapsed.
EHTICAL CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION
1. One criticism against the presently unfolding neoliberal
globalization is that it concentrates wealth in the hands of a few,
leaving the majority in the condition of poverty.While advocates of
globalization paint a pretty picture of a globalized world marked by
the spread of liberal democracy, prosperity, and peace, globalization
has actually caused radical inequality, a deepening of exclusions
brought about by inequalities that present the world to ba a
fragmented space where some benefit at the expense of others.
2. It fails to maximize happiness for the greatest number of people.
From a dentological perspective particularly in Kantian Ethics.
3. Exploited populations are treated as means to an end nad not as end
in themselves.
4. LOOSE SOVEREIGNTY
With Globalization it states are in effect increasingly losing their
sovereignty. In a globalized world, oraganizations sucha s the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) , Word Bank, and World Trade
Organization Bank and the IMF usually prescribe dislikeable
neoliberal politics.
INTRUSIVENESS
Globalization is thus seen as morally condemnable intrusiveness of
international economic organizations by lack of accountability to the
people openly affected by their policies and the tendency to impose
agonizing conditions on indebted governments.
5. ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE
Ecologically speaking another moral challenge arising out of
globalization is the problem of handling the global environment in
order to prevent a ecological collapse. These involve anthropogenic
greenhouse effect that is supposedly generating global climate change
layer depletion which progressively extinguishes the protective
blanket that shields the worlds population from UV.
The global biosphere is also encountering a speedy reduction in the
diversity of ecosystems in the number of species of life , and in
the variety of genes that circulate with in individual species.
Explosive population growth which threatens to surpass the earths
carrying capacity and bust the biosphere.
Industrial capitalism is an essential partner of globalization ,
chiefly responsible for the damage of the ozone layer and the
escalation of global warming .
Global Environmental considerations form the need for international
environmental ethics which i an aspect of global ethics.
GLOBALIZATION AND BUSINESS ETHICS
 As globalization is largely an economic concept and system, it is
rational to have a separate section that deals with the issues and
challenges it creates. Basically Business Ethics is a form of applied
ethics that examines moral principles concerning business behaviours
and the conducts and relationships of individuals in the organizations.
1. Duplication of products ,child labor, money laundering,
environment issues, and many other business malpractices.
2. Sundry business crimes in work places and intellectual property and
patent thefts.
3. Focusing on Child labor issue is taken differently in different
nations. In Europe it is seen unethical activity whereas in Asian
Countries , it is somewhat tolerated.
The international company like NIKE in its Vietnamese factory employs
children. Nike Vietnam, however, provides free education and food to
these children. Fundamentally the main reason for employing children
is that it reduces the cost of production line. Hence the practice ,
in many cases, has resulted in legal conflict and loss of custom for
being seen as immoral.
SEARCH FOR UNIVERSAL VALUES
Evidently there are quite a number of moral questions and problems
arising from globalization, tat is from global independence and
interconnection. In a set of shared ethical values and standards is
central for the cohesion of society and for global justice and peace.
A shared set of moral values and moral values and principles will
make peace and harmony at the global level.
The philosophical challenge however is that it seems improbable to
ascertain principles that will be persuasive across cultures.
In a globalizing world it is prudent for example to advocate
universal cultural values such as truth ,justice, and love. Situations
today also ideally call for working in favor of a universal spirit of
fraternity, a solidarity altruistic spirit, a decided and generous
will, and the universal will to live in peace. In a situation of
equilibrium and disharmony, the reawakening of the human spirit of
love and compassion may save us from our own worst extremes. Indeed,
material wealth ought to go hand in hand with moral and spiritual
wealth.`