Is Globalization Beneficial or Tyrannical?

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It is undeniable that globalization describes the path that the world is taking technologically and economically. Nations all over the world have become intertwined in financial relationships that make them dependent on each other. Markets are becoming increasingly free with the global demand and supply for major technological and agricultural products.

Since the end of cold war, all nations are increasingly adopting the capitalist economic system which encourages world trade. Technology, particularly information technology, has also played a great role in dissolving national barriers to create an increasingly uniform social system. All these aspects of the modern society constitute globalization.

While some analysts consider globalization desirable, some people argue that this phenomenon is a slow drift of the world towards tyranny and domination by some privileged class. A global economic system and global information technologies dominated by economically superior nations are leading the world towards tyranny and domination.

Analysts Alan Taylor and Maurice Obstefield argued that the apparent economic globalization is actually trade between rich countries while poor nations are sidelined (Friedman, 2008). Trade among countries in the north is fair since countries depend on each other enhancing their economic security.

However, the nations in the south are sidelined and exploited for raw materials and labor. Thus, globalization has one set of countries exploiting another group of weaker countries. As this consolidation of economic power continues among rich countries, the economically weaker countries lose bargaining power for their contribution to the world economy. Thus, globalization is not as fair or uniform as it might seem (Friedman, 2008).

Robert Lucas also analyzed the idea of capital and concluded that the apparent movement of capital from rich countries to poor countries is deceptive. The common perception is that the poor countries are benefitting from the investments made by rich countries (Friedman, 2008).

However, the amount of returns the poor countries get from provision of labor, raw materials, and infrastructure to aid production by multinationals is much less that the benefit the rich countries get from the cheap labor and low overhead costs they have in developing countries.

According to Lucas, the overall effect is that poor countries are exploited by rich countries. Much of the labor force in poor countries becomes dependent on the multinationals leading to tyranny by foreign countries. The multinationals act as representatives of their countries of origin and may coerce their host countries into any kind of agreements.

In addition, the capital invested in developing countries is a small proportion of the movement of capital in the world market. The small economies of the developing countries amplify the apparent investments so that they appear to be huge investments (Friedman, 2008). Thus, the movement of capital among rich countries is obscured by their huge economies making the investments in them seem small.

Information technology is the leading cause of all kinds of globalization. Cultures are slowly merging to form one uniform culture around the world. Information technology began with development of air transport and mass media. News travel around the world as fast as they do within a country. This spread of culture has been amplified by emergence of the internet in the early 1990s.

Social networking and mail services on the internet have enabled people to interact socially over the internet. More people are continuously joining the internet community. Entrepreneurs own companies that provide the internet services and access from rich countries. Through these companies, people from the developed countries are able to control the information that people can access over the internet all over the world.

They have the ability to influence world opinion. In addition, they collect a vast amount of personal information from people around the world. This way, the majority of the world population can be controlled through the internet giving companies that provide internet services an immense power (Mishkin, 2009). It is obvious that the internet is used for the benefit of the developed countries.

Other analysts argue that globalization is the path to global prosperity. The most significant benefit of globalization is the spread of technology from developed countries to the developing countries. Since most of the developed countries are always more technologically advanced than developing countries, technology and scientific knowledge always flows from the developed countries to the developing countries (Rodrik, 2010). This enables the developing countries to keep up with the global economic development.

Another argument is that developing countries cannot generate enough capital to match the labor in their economies. Yoav Friedman describes globalization exclusively as a process of movement of capital. Although he blames movement of capital for the spread of financial risk over many countries, he also argues that mobility of capital is important for global economy and stability (Friedman, 2008).

Thus, capital from larger economies is needed for economic development and production to increase. People in a developing country are employed by the multinationals; through their wages, the domestic economy obtains bargaining power to purchase what it needs in the international markets. Some analysts say that this flow of capital from the rich countries to the poor countries is necessary to enable weak economies to participate in international trade.

Social networking over the internet and mass media is another major player in the process of globalization. Some analysts argue the worlds societies are interconnected trough the use of social media and mass media (Hickman, 2012). John Hickman focuses on the positive aspects of globalization. He depicts social media as a forum where ideas are generated in an open platform. Knowledge is passed from one society to the other through mass media. The societies become integrated into one global community (Hickman, 2012). This integration is necessary for cohesion and peace around the world. Through such cohesion, development and trade are possible.

Globalization has several analysts arguing in its favor or against it. Although the immediate impression created by the essence of globalization indicates that it is a positive phenomenon and an advantage for the world society, the truth is that globalization is leading the world towards tyranny (Rodrik, 2010).

The worlds poor nations are becoming poorer and more dependent on the rich nations (Mishkin, 2009). This financial dependency makes them weak and susceptible to manipulation. It is also evident that the long-term effect of information technology that is instrumental in all forms off globalization is one global culture.

This culture is based entirely on the culture of the dominant nations. Since these nations own communication companies and mass media corporations, it is obvious that the material broadcast contains aspects of culture from powerful countries (Rodrik, 2010). The ultimate outcome of globalization is tyranny by one or a few wealthy nations. This may put the control of the world in the hands of a few people.

References

Friedman, Y. (2008). Globalization of capital movements. Israel Economic Review, 2(2), 45-78.

Hickman, J. (2012). Social Media & Globalization. Interactive cultures Web.

Mishkin, F. (2009). Is Financial globalization beneficial. Columbia University Journal, 4(5), 85-102.

Rodrik, D. (2010). Who needs the nation state?. Economic Geography, 3(1), 4-36.

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Is Globalization Beneficial or Tyrannical?

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