Is Globalization a Process or a Project? Research Paper

Is Globalization a Process or a Project?

Since the mid-18th century, the world has experienced rapid development in transportation and communication technology, increasing interaction between people from different geographical locations. As a result of the increased interactions, people from different societies across the globe exchanged ideas, beliefs, and cultures, facilitating the emergence of international trade and establishing strong associations between countries. In modern-day society, globalization is often perceived to constitute an economic process of interaction and integration through which people from different locations establish relationships to develop socially and economically. It is often blamed for unfairly accruing economic benefits to organizations that control resources while other members of human social experience economic deprivation. For this reason, globalization is said to be a project designed to bring about greater interaction among human beings to attract economic and political benefits to individuals who own capital. However, many people believe that globalization is a process through which human beings find the need to associate and develop through a diversity of developmental initiatives. Proponents of the idea view globalization as a natural and historical process that brings the peoples of the world together to create positive changes and opportunities across the world. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate whether globalization is a process or a project. Globalization is a process that brings about equitable social, environmental, economic, and political development across the globe.

Globalization is a process of continuous technological, social, and economic development. While some people attribute globalization to conquest, its primary cause is observed to lie in rapid industrialization and the development of technology. In the post-war period, many countries across the globe introduced economic models that supported industrial activity to facilitate development. Technological tools and equipment were also developed to support productivity and rapid development (Journeyman Pictures, 2018). As a result, many countries experienced increased productivity, necessitating the search for foreign markets to sell locally-produced goods and services. Through globalization, countries collaborate to develop neoliberal standards to foster their developmental agenda, such as eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, and lowering trade barriers amongst them to promote greater associations (Raffer, 2019, p. 75). Industrialists also established standard tools and methods to be used in the production of goods and services, which were globally adopted. Communication technologies were also developed to enhance social interactions between people living in different geographical locations to encourage global productivity. Eventually, the growing relationships among nations eventually paved the way for new players, such as international organizations, multinational companies, and international figures, which propelled the world towards greater cooperation. For example, through globalization, international business standards and human rights were globally accepted to promote social and developmental uniformity and support cooperation among people from different societies across the globe (LibertyInOurTime, 2012). Therefore, globalisation is considered a crucial process in advancing human civilization.

Increased interaction and collaboration among nations also attract multiple social and economic benefits, which portrays globalization as a critical process. Critics of globalization perceive it as a project managed to facilitate achieving goals among societies with greater control over human resources. It is often claimed to support initiatives by developed countries to sustain their economies while developing nations experience extreme poverty. According to Akoum (2008), conflicting arguments and estimations exist in which globalization is cited to accelerate poverty despite its promise for economic development. In contrast to such claims, globalization is observed to promote economic progress in all regions across the globe. Nuruzzaman (2005) identifies that globalization attracts economic growth among nations, constituting the ultimate tool for eradicating poverty. To lift members of local communities out of poverty, developing nations enter the global economy, where they achieve wider markets for their products. Globalization also improves access to technological tools among developing countries to foster productivity and attract economic growth. It also fosters good regional governance by establishing a process of international cooperation to negotiate responses to problems affecting more than one nation or region. On that account, globalisation helps ensure that all countries experience economic development by opening up opportunities for effective problem-solving and governance.

Globalization is also a process of interdependence among nations. As critics of globalization perceive it to be a project for economic exploitation, it is often feared that implementing transnationalism opens up domestic economies for foreign manipulation and competition (TEDx Talks, 2014). Critics, therefore, claim that globalization endangers economic progress and the survival of local industries. Although globalization opens up local markets for the entry of multinational organizations, it also paves the way for the participation of local businesses in international trade. As such, globalization attracts greater production diversity through which local communities access products and services produced in foreign countries and sell their products to such regions. It, therefore, promotes economic interdependence among businesses in the international market, which promotes growth among local industries. Also, with the advent of Globalization, it has been observed that countries find it difficult to remain independent. Each nation needs an adequate supply of resources from other nations to initiate and successfully implement developmental projects. For example, while developing countries produce raw materials and agricultural products, developed countries use such products to produce finished goods, which are later availed to international markets. Such a chain of production ensures that each nation produces unique products, ensuring equitable economic development among nations embracing globalization.

Besides its economic dimension, globalization is observed to promote social and political stability globally. It is argued that globalization encourages the adoption of capitalism around the globe to cause serious implications in the class structure of societies. As a result, global capitalism is cited as the main contributing factor to class conflict worldwide. However, since the class struggle is observed to prevail in regions with high immigration rates, class conflict is associated with increasing economic and civil unrest migration, especially in the western world. Many refugees flee from their countries to seek economic and social breakthroughs. Their home countries fail to engage in international associations to develop socially, economically, and politically. As a result, such countries lag behind as other nations experience globalisation’s economic and social benefits. For example, in the United States, the rate of poverty is higher among immigrants compared to U.S-born members of society (Chimienti, 2018, p. 424). Class struggle is, therefore, associated with immigration rather than globalization activities. From a political perspective, globalization promotes political independence among nations. Especially in the post-war period, global interconnection among nations enhanced the bargaining power of developing countries by allowing them to establish themselves in the international market. Democratic globalization also reduced localized discontent that results from lack of representation in the global setting, which promoted economic inclusivity among nations. Globalization is, therefore, a process of economic and political liberation.

The process of globalization has also brought about higher standards of living and better-quality lives among societies across the globe. As globalization promotes productivity among nations, the growing global trade and increased extraction rates of natural resources have brought about multiple environmental challenges. Particularly in developing countries where extraction of natural resources constitutes a common economic activity, multiple health and social implications of environmental instability have been recorded. For this reason, critics have blamed globalization for unfairly exposing members of society in developing countries to serious hazards of pollution. They, therefore, identify globalization as a project to expand economic separation between developed and developing countries. However, Current environmental challenges are observed to thrive due to society’s desire to develop economically. Contrary to the critics’ perceptions, globalization supports strategies put in place to promote sustainability. Through globalization, many global organizations have emerged to commercialize environmental protection, attracting economic and environmental benefits. Such organizations develop environmentally friendly technologies and production methods available to developing countries to help alleviate environmental challenges. Moreover, through globalization, environmental activists from different nations join hands to form organizations that engage in activities focused on causing a global impact to restore environmental stability. As a result of such activities, the prevalence of health and social implications of pollution decline to bring about higher standards of living and better-quality lives among societies.

Globalization also supports cultural propagation, increases access to new cultural products, and improves understanding of foreign values and attitudes. Many critics of globalization associate it with the loss of cultural identity among members of various communities. It is perceived as a feudalist project to disunite certain communities to assume control over their economic progress to support their exposure to the outside world (New Economic Thinking, 2019). In the post-war period, strategies put in place by European governments to establish healthy relationships with other countries were feared to support neocolonialism and the idea of white supremacy. However, with the onset of cultural globalization, such claims have been invalidated as communities across the globe develop a better understanding of their own culture and that of other communities they interact with. As a result, negative stereotyping and misconceptions about different cultures have declined. Cultural products have also been commercialized to support a greater understanding of diversity and economic development. For example, communities avail their cultural diets for purchase by members from other ethnicities, bringing about greater social cohesion and community development in the multi-ethnic world.

Globalization is a process and not a project. While critics of globalization attribute it to political and economic conquest, its primary cause is observed to lie in rapid industrialization and the development of technology. Since its primary stages, globalization initiatives aimed at promoting global productivity through the use of newly introduced production technologies. It also brings about increased interaction and collaboration among nations to attract multiple social and economic benefits, which portrays globalization as a critical process in human civilization. In addition to its economic dimension, globalization promotes global social and political stability. Although it is argued that globalization encourages the adoption of capitalism around the globe to cause serious implications in the class structure of societies, evidence reveals that globalization supports economic independence. Globalization also brings about higher standards of living and better-quality lives among societies across the globe. It also supports cultural propagation, increases access to new cultural products, and improves the understanding of foreign values and attitudes, which reveals its essence in the continued improvement of human society.

References

Akoum, I. F. (2008). Globalization, growth, and poverty: the missing link. International Journal of Social Economics.

Nuruzzaman, M. (2005). Economic liberalization and poverty in developing countries. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 35(1), 109-127.

Chimienti, M. (2018). The failure of global migration governance. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41(3), 424-430.

Raffer, K. (2019). Developing Economies and Newly Globalized Trade: New Rules to Fleece the South. In Globalization and Development (pp. 75-91). Springer, Cham.

Journeyman Pictures. (2018, March 6). The Winners and Losers of Globalization (2000) [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK_YNzoHUIU

LibertyInOurTime. (2012, May 26). Globalization is Good: A Documentary by Johan Norberg [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_szIfpjzxU

TEDx Talks. (2014, December 1). Globalization and the poor — a look at the evidence | Krisztina Kis-Katos | TEDxStuttgart [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIldvz0jygE

New Economic Thinking. (2019, January 9). The new feudalism [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-2TEwdRnX0