Choose Globalization Essay

Globalization, increasing integration, and the interdependence of domestic and overseas markets are cultural phenomena. It could be reflected in contemporary artwork, huge population migration from one country to another, and changes in linguistics. The world today has experienced widespread global interdependence. We could see how multinational corporations have more global reach and are more powerful another example is that we could see that travel and shipping are so much cheaper safe and reliable, if we could look back in time, it took the great Christopher Colombus 3 months to sail through the Atlantic ocean however nowadays, it only took only around 6 hours by plane and around 10 days my ship. We have experienced these huge changes, especially in the last 30 years at a very fast pace and we can’t stop globalization. So, what can we do about this phenomenon, we must first know, why does globalization happen?

Globalization is mainly because of the development of communication technology such as the internet, mobile phones, and other gadgets. And also the free trade agreements made trading between countries so much easier because obstacles such as tariffs are lowered significantly. Through globalization, we basically got this feeling that the world is getting smaller and smaller because the world is more interconnected. Travel is more affordable and accessible, and businesses and operating on a global scale, irrespective of how large they are.

Throughout the year globalization has given various effects to humanity, whether its bad or good it certainly has changed our lives. Some of globalization’s obvious effects are the change in the food supply, we don’t need to buy food depending on the season, we could buy food anywhere in the world at any time of the year. Globalization had also caused containerization, we could take the example of the adoption of the silver transport container, it has significantly reduced the transport cost of these metals, which makes the price much more cheaper and affordable. However, not all effects of globalization is good for humanity, globalization has also some of its bad effects. Globalization has caused the rise of worldwide apps such as Youtube or Instagram, These apps had made the world more unified as one, and diverse cultured are being ignored, this will cause them to prefer to go to coffee shops such as Starbucks which is widely known around the world, instead the typical local coffee store. Furthermore, globalization has caused damage to the environment, because the increase in trade means more transport is used, all this transport uses fossil fuels that produce harmful CO(Carbon monoxide) which is dangerous for the environment and could cause global warming. These harmful effects of globalization have caused awareness of the bad effects of globalization. Some people are starting to against globalization.

Globalization has brought a lot of positive impacts to the world. Competition in the global market exists is mainly due to globalization. By globalization, we’ve experienced tougher competition in the global market. As a result of this competitive market, it leads to products of high quality. The enhanced quality of both products and services is based on production approaches to customer demands and customer services. We could take an example from the fierce competition of Apple and Huawei has raised the market standards, as well the customer service. Globalization has also resulted in countless of positive impacts on culture. There is no culture that had all the positive practices. This means, the perfect culture does not exist, but through globalization, the combination of various cultures has resulted in the creation of new cultures which lead made the world a better place to live in. Lastly, human rights have significantly improved by this phenomenon since the rise of social media have helped the coverage of human rights violation receives attention all around the world. We could take an example from the human violation that happened in Sudan that receives sympathy from all around the world.

On the other hand, globalization has also led in fluctuation in prices. For example, developed countries in the EU union such as Germany and France have been forced to reduce its product prices because growing countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam have offered the same items at a cheaper price. This will inhibit the growth of a country. Furthermore, an increase in production also means an increase in natural resource use. Natural resources use such as fossil fuels will cause pollution and climate change. In addition, globalization has also caused job insecurity, this effect is mostly felt by developed nations such as the states. For example, the labor and manufacturing cost is a lot cheaper in Indonesia and Malaysia, making developed countries like Australia and New Zealand to outsource cheaper labor. The effect is people in developed countries lose or have fewer jobs.

I would like to relate globalization to liberalism. Liberalism is basically an ideology that believes that all citizens are equal and have the freedom of speech(democracy). So as a liberalist, the relationship between globalization and liberalism is controversial and ambivalent as globalization itself has its bright side and dark side. We could the quick pace of globalization these recent years has increased the number of democratic countries which have been absent in the past 20 years around Africa, and even Southeast Asia. I could take the example of my own country, which is Indonesia. My country use to impose the nasakom( nationalist, religious, and communist) ideology however, ever since the reformation in 1998 our country began to use the Pancasila ideology( which is very similar to the liberalist democracy ideology). This is basically caused by the influence of western countries through globalization. The territorialist state-centric nature of traditional liberal democracy is inadequate in the contemporary world where numerous and significant social relations are super territorial. Global democracy needs more than a democratic state. In principle, the growth of multilayered governance of local, regional, and transworld bodies could be hopeful development for democracy. In practice, however, post-sovereign, decentralized governance induced by globalization has proved to be less democratic than national governance in a sovereign state. Although the current worldwide trend of decentralization from national to provincial and district authorities is generally welcome, it does not automatically mean democratic progress, but rather a democratic deficit. Suprastate democracy of regional and transworld regimes has shown even more democratic deficits. EU and UN are more bureaucratic than democratic institutions. The veto power of the permanent members of the UN Security Council has no democratic justification, as well. Moreover, the democratic record of supra state regulatory agencies, like WB, IMF, WTO or OECD has been decidedly poor. On the other hand, globalization has opened greater space for democratic activity outside public governance institutions through different unofficial channels, such as the global marketplace, global communications, and global civil society, but the legitimating potentials of these mechanisms are generally weak, particularly concerning democratic credentials, participation, transparency, and public accountability.

Globalization and Nationalization both have an important position in the world we’re living in now. The term ‘nationalism’ refers to the feelings of attachment to one another that members of a nation have, and to a sense of pride that a nation has in itself (Kacowicz, 1998). An easy example of nationalism is that: if later after I graduate from ADP, I would go to the states, I would still support my country if there is a sporting event happening. Nationalism is usually used by some politicians to promote unity & patriotism. So how can we relate nationalism and globalization? I would like to give out 2 arguments to address this issue. Firstly, I would say that globalization is slowly killing nationalism, like I said in 2nd paragraph before, social app such as youtube has made them feel the national or cultural difference is not much of a thing anymore. Then, my second issue is that globalization and nationalism is somehow promoting one another. Like without nationalism, globalization wouldn’t be happening today because nationalism makes every nation different in a way from other countries. On the other hand, globalization has also promoted nationalism, we could see from “The work of Durkheim” is influential in shaping the republic of turkey in the the1920s. In this globalized world, nationalism has caused many people migrate from one place to another. This migration has caused mixing cultures which makes them hard in finding their true identity. So, It means globalization has made nationalism relevant again as they feel lost if they don’t have a definite culture or identity.

In conclusion, based on all the facts and theories I stated above I would like to say globalization is a cure but in the same time, its also a curse for humanity. I would like to describe it as a two-edged sword, globalization is such a complex phenomenon that flows to many aspects in our life. So, my action toward globalization is to accept globalization with an open hand. Because if we could maximize all the positive impacts like the growing foreign trade and investment happening around the globe but at the same time reduce the adverse result of this phenomenon, I do believe it would make our life so much easier by making the world a lot more interconnected and make it a better place to live in.

1. https://www.e-ir.info/2013/11/14/the-australian-green-movement-a-sustainable-future/
2. https://www.marketing91.com/what-is-globalization/
3. https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/401/trade/what-caused-globalization/