FREE ESSAY ON GLOBALIZATION

GLOBALIZATION

QUESTION 1
Explain what is meant by globalization. Is it really a myth?
Globalization is the free movement of capital, goods, services and labour around the
world, by big commercial companies, which have massive control of the world's economy,
transcending the boundaries of state and country. This transcendence across countries
results in the shrinking of the economy and results on it depending on larger companies
with a controlling interest in most of the capital within it. This global control of
capital comes through the transference of operations from superpower economies, to third
world countries. This transference takes place for purely economic gains, with companies
seeking to take advantage of lower wages and a large unskilled labor force. A very good
example of this is the footwear industry, in which footwear giants such as Reebok and
Nike, regularly shift their manufacturing base to countries with lower wage scales. 
Globalisation can be looked at from five different aspects; economically,
technologically, politically, culturally and environmentally.
Economically, globalisation has been greatly encouraged since the Second World War, with
the introduction of free trade agreements such as GATT (General Agreement on Tariff's and
Trade). Additionally, regional trade agreements have also been developed, which have
included 'single markets' established by the European Community and NAFTA (North American
Free Trade Agreement). 
Technologically, the Information Technology revolution has resulted in massive
improvements in communication, through faxes, email, and the internet. These improvements
have resulted in the world becoming a smaller place as world-wide interaction is both
quick and easy. 
Culturally, there has been a spreading of globalisation through the media of films,
television and music. For example, following the Second World War, the USA fearing the
rise of communism, actively encouraged and subsidised the world-wide distribution of
films effectively advertising the benefits of capitalism and the American Dream. As a
consequence to the dilution of cultures, 
Environmentally problems are increasingly becoming global problems. Therefore, countries
are no longer able to look at environmental issues in isolation. This has been
dramatically illustrated for example by the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the depletion
of the ozone layer and acid rain over Scandinavia. Countries now need to act collectively
for there to be any chance of reversing or just slowing the damage being caused to the
environment.