What is Globalization?
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A Brief History of Globalization
First Published Date : June 29, 2010 ADawnJournal.com
A concept that is becoming more and more important in the 21st century is globalization. Globalization is something that has been going on for thousands of years, but it is only now we are truly seeing the effects of a global society, rather than one based on separate countries competing for resources. Globalization is the process where economies, societies and various cultures are connected through various networks that include trade, communication and transportation across the planet. Economic globalization follows along these same lines, in which economies become connected through investment, migration, trade and flows of capital.
Globalization History
Globalization as we know it goes back to around the Hellenistic Age, when urban centers were the center of Greek culture and held sway from Spain to India with its culture. As time went on, various other empires helped push globalization closer and closer to a reality. The Roman Empire, Han Dynasty and Parthian Empire are all given as examples of empires that were globalized based on the world that that time. A good example of this is the fact that 300 Greek ships a year sailed between Rome and India, sending 300,000 tons of goods.
When Islam came into being, globalization took another step forward as Jewish and Muslim traders created sustained economies that spread across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Ideas, technology and food all began to be traded and spread over vast distances. The Mongol Empire continued this when they had an empire that stretched from Korea to Europe, helping to spread technologies across Europe and Asia. Thanks to the Mongol Empire, trade along the Silk Road greatly increased, leading to Marco Polo to make his famous journey to China.
Once the Age of Discovery began, globalization moved into the New World as European powers like Portugal, Spain, France and England began to take advantage of the glut of resources North and South America provided. When the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th and 19th centuries, globalization took another step forward, leading to the world as we know it. Vast trade in resources helped connect countries and cultures across the planet.
Following the Second World War, politicians began to break down borders that hampered trade so that interdependence and prosperity could increase and therefore prevent a future global war. Organizations like The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, along with free trade, helped to spread wealth and capital across the world. Some of the ways that economists have achieved this global trade concept through globalization include:
· The creation of free trade areas and the elimination of tariffs.
· The reduction of transportation costs.
· The elimination of capital controls.
· Creating subsidies for global corporations.
Globalization Effects
Globalization has had many different effects across the planet. These are both good and bad. A good example of the bad effects includes sweatshops and the loss of jobs as companies go to cheap countries where labour laws are relaxed. However, in terms of good effects, we have the following:
· Foreign products have spread across the planet with the movement of goods through international trade. Since 1955, international trade of goods has increased 100 times from $95 billion to $12 trillion. A good example of this is the fact that China’s trade with Africa rose by seven-fold between 2000 and 2007.
· Roughly $1.5 trillion is traded in national currencies on a daily basis thanks to globalization and the emergence of worldwide financial markets.
· Thanks to globalization, the United States has enjoyed great power since the 20th century because of its massive amount of trade. China is now catching up on the United States and will soon become the leading world power.
· Information is traded through globalization thanks the Internet, television and other mediums like telephone and radio.
· Globalization has helped to harmonize languages. The most widely spoken language on Earth is Mandarin with 845 million speakers, while Spanish and English come in second and third with 329 million and 328 million speakers. Roughly 35 percent of all mail is in English, while 50 percent of the internet traffic is in English and 40 percent of radio programs are in English.
· Globalization has led to greater travel and tourism, with as many as 500000 people on planes at any one time and 922 million international tourists moving about each year. Immigration has also increased and multiculturalism has become extremely common throughout the world.
Globalization is happening all around us and many do not even realize that they are experiencing it every day. A good example of this follows:
A man wakes up in the morning and dresses in clothes that were made in Southeast Asia and China. He gets coffee from his kitchen, with the coffee coming from Africa and the coffee cup coming from Europe. He has a breakfast made up of fruit from South America and milk from Canada. He gets in his car, which was made in Japan, and fills it up with gas that was originally oil extracted from the Middle East. As he gets to his office and uses furniture made in Sweden and electronics made in Asia, he surfs the net, hitting websites located in 15 different countries.
This is just a brief example of how one person, in the first few hours of a day, can be using items that come from all over the world. While globalization has received a lot of bad press, the good it has done is unmistakable. It has spread prosperity across the planet and helped get people out of poverty. Less than 12 percent of the world lives in extreme poverty now, down from over 40 percent 30 years ago. In addition, more people have food, more people are making money and more people can live the lives that they want. There are downsides, including the effect on the environment due to global trade, but overall globalization is leading to a better world and we should be happy we live in a world where the world is interconnected.
