Globalization describes the growing interconnectedness of the world as a result of increasing commercial and cultural exchange, often in tandem with technological innovation (such as the development of the Internet). It is customarily spurred by economic motivations, such as the desire of a Hollywood studio to capture new audiences abroad or the hope of a worker in one country of finding better-paid employment in another. The commercial symbol of globalization is the multinational company, offering homogenized products in markets around the planet.
In the 20th century, increased levels of international trade coupled with more efficient methods of transporting goods and people – along with a desire to foster greater interconnectedness as a brake on hostilities in the aftermath of two world wars – saw an explosion in globalization. The mass adoption of the Internet has been another key component of the phenomenon, connecting individuals with each other and with businesses in a way hitherto unimaginable. Whether this is for good or bad is very much up for debate.
The obvious winners are big businesses, which access huge new markets and reap the financial rewards. In return, globalization advocates argue that multinationals create new jobs, bolster local tax revenues and spread commercial and technological know-how. Furthermore, barriers are broken down between different cultures and nations, even to the extent that rogue governments are compelled to adhere to international standards.
Globalization and individuality
Others, though, are less convinced. Seeing a burger chain selling virtually the same meal in London, Lisbon, Lima and Lagos does little for cultural diversity, instead imposing a ‘one-size-fits-all’ template on the world. Furthermore, the appearance of a multinational in a market often spells doom for small local businesses and can skew the labour market, too. And while globalization may force some regimes into international line, others are accused of adopting policy stances more suited to the needs of big business than of the local population, as when drinks companies are given access to scarce water supplies in preference to the native population. As former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote in 2002: ‘If globalization is to succeed, it must succeed for poor and rich alike. It must deliver rights no less than riches. It must provide social justice and equity no less than economic prosperity and enhanced communication.’
What is beyond doubt is that globalization is inescapable. Francis Fukuyama has said:
Today, no country can ever truly cut itself off from the global media or from external sources of information; trends that start in one corner of the world are rapidly replicated thousands of miles away . . .
The trick is to make it work for everyone. As economist Amartya Sen has said: ‘Globalization is not in itself a folly: it has enriched the world scientifically and culturally and benefited many people economically as well.’