The Impacts Of Globalization in International Politics
Globalization is known in the international political system as the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale ("Globalization Benefits And Challenges"). In short, it is the series of activities occurring worldwide that allow humans to stay connected to each other no matter where they are located on Earth. Globalization allows for ease of communication and movement through tools like cellphone, computers, and the internet which all can be accessed pretty much across the globe. Knowing what globalization is, political scientists studying the topic then wonder what are the immediate and prolonged impacts brought about by connectivity? Because the world economy relies on trade it allows for unparalleled economic possibilities, as countries can communicate and openly trade at any point and any time. Globalization also creates de-territorialization as territory and distance become less relevant with the growth of digital technology and space. In turn, it also creates pluralism among many states as states no longer have homogenous nations due to networking (("Globalization Benefits And Challenges"). The effect of pluralization is that many local and global institutions replace the identification of national as sites of cultural identification because everyone is affected by the institutions, not just the states ("Globalization Benefits And Challenges"). Differentiation may also occur because states give up functions they’ve always held and no longer act as the economic and security hub of their citizens’ lives.
All of these impacts of globalization sound like they would bring about prosperity and appease people all over the world, however, many political theorists have made interesting critiques labeling globalization as a negative process. For example, it brings about inequality in some states because there is no way to measure who benefits and loses from the process. There is also the theory that because wealthy individuals can connect with one another, it worsens the middle-class American family in terms of wealth because the wealthy are able to create more opportunities for wealth for themselves. There are the environmental impacts, the impacts on crime rates, and the ability for disease to spread more rapidly throughout many different nations. When nations communicate and cohesively destroy forests, habitats, or even work to pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, it harms the environment ten folds than just one country independently hurting the planet. The same thought process can be applied to criminals and terrorists. When working together, they have a greater impact on those they harm. An increase in arms and drug sales among terrorist groups supports this conclusion when they are cooperatively breaking the law and the system of slavery itself is self-explanatory of the negative impacts of globalization. Finally discussing the spread of disease, reflect on the last two years with the spread of COVID-19. Originating in China, it quickly spread amongst every nation infecting 100s of millions and killing millions in some countries. What all of these processes result in are the harming of the global economy because of disrupted supply chains from environmental damage, efforts in resolving armed conflicts like ISIS, and global pandemics disrupting economic activity worldwide.
The final effect that globalization has debatably the largest impact on is cultural diversity. Before the constant accordance, every nation had its own representative culture in its own location. Once the world opened up, the loss of cultural diversity instantly was recognizable. For example, an international corporation such as McDonald's is located in almost every country worldwide. Adding a company of American origin to countries that have developed their culture through isolationism takes away from that culture because American culture has now changed that country. While the list effects of globalization are both positive and negative as political scientists it is our duty to weigh each argument and make an effort to either limit or encourage the growth of globalization for the betterment of each state worldwide.
Works Cited
"Globalization Benefits And Challenges". Velocity Global, 2022, https://velocityglobal.com/blog/globalization-benefits-and-challenges/.
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ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good essay in regards to looking at globalization through multiple perspectives. I think the question of whether or not globalization is a good or bad thing is too complicated to form a solid understanding , there are too many pros and cons that arguably don't necessarily outweigh one another. For example, your brief analysis of how globalization has opened up many new opportunities for different countries to connect and trade much easier and more efficiently is certainly a very good thing globalization has brought to us. Because trade and communication with other nations is so much easier through globalization, it has brought us new innovations and technology that creates many nations much stronger, and makes it easier to grow economically. Although, the cons you have stated such as inequalities amongst other classes and the depreciation of differing cultures is also a large issue that is important to step back from and recognize. Do you believe there is a connection between certain cultures and inequalities, and if the those who are less economically stable have their culture become more diluted over time more so than others?
ReplyDeleteAfter further thinking about if globalization is a positive or negative if you were to decide whether or not globalization is good or bad, would you say that the economic growth and innovations that have come out of globalization specifically outweigh the other cons, or is there only a middle ground amongst the ideas of globalization?
I think that you make a really good point through this blog post about how globalization touches so many different parts of society. The reason it can be so difficult to decide whether globalization is good or bad is because of how many facets of life it is involved in. There are good impacts like the ability of information to travel quickly, but there is also the issue of inequality rising due to globalization. I think that where people come into problems is by trying to decide whether globalization is good or bad because that is basically impossible to do. With something so diverse, I think people need to be able to say some things are good and some things are bad instead of trying to tie them all together.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blogpost. I liked how you addressed both the pros and cons of globalization. I think this is very important to do when discussing globalization because given the fact that globalization essentially affects everybody in the world in some shape or form, there are really an endless number of both pros and cons. I also liked the fact that you talked about the rapid spread of Covid because this is obviously a very recent and still lasting issue that can be blamed on globalization. Finally, I thought your arguments were well supported with information.
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