Nika Chitadze
Director of the Center for International Studies
President of the George C. Marshall Alumni Union, Georgia – International and Security Research Center
Professor of the International Black Sea University
Introduction - Understanding the
globalization
Globalization - is one of the most
discussed in recent year’s phenomena in the contemporary development of the
world and at the same time, perhaps, the least strictly defined. The term
itself entered in a broad scientific circulation in the 1990s, largely
superseding the notion of "postmodernism," which was widely used to
describe the complexity and diversity of the modern political world. At the
same time, in the late 1980s, the word "globalization" has
almost
never met in the scientific vocabulary. American sociologist R. Robertson was
one of the first to address the study of globalization problems, using the word
"global" in the title of his work “Interpreting Globality”
(Robertson, 1983). At the same time, in the field of ecology and technological
disciplines specialists began to talk about globalization earlier in the 1960s,
although in other terms.
Today, for
the describing the processes, which are connected with globalization, not very
seldom are used other meanings - postindustrial epoch, the age of the
information revolution, techno globalism etc. All of them reflect the most
important changes that it consists.
There are
different points of view regarding the essence of globalization. One research
is focused on its economic aspects, in others on the formation of a common
information space, and thirdly on the development of common standards. The
latter refers primarily to the organization of production, social life, and so
on. In this regard, as a metaphor, the meaning McDonaldization of the world is used, which is understood as a
certain standardization and “conveyance” of processes in the organization of
economic and social life. From the universal blocks, such as from the cubes of
the "Lego," various kinds of finite form are formed, which has many
variabilities. A vivid example of such "MacDonald" is the furniture,
which is offered by the Swedish company “IKEA”: From the standard blocks, there
are virtually countless options for furnishing the apartment, depending on the
area, tastes, and human needs (Lebedeva, 2007).
There are,
although relatively few, skeptical assessments of the processes that have been
called "globalization." Thus, M. Veseth considers, that the
globalization is not at all a new phenomenon. In fact, the processes, which
gained this name, are connected with the complexity of the world processes,
which has always been existed (Viseth, 2006). However, by his opinion, the
globalization attracts so much attention, because with its help experts try
either to prove the existence of new threats, or, on the contrary, make
prognosis on prosperity of mankind. A similar position is shared by the many
researchers, who point out, that the globalization of is a politically demanded
concept.
The
understanding of globalization differs depending on the theoretical positions
of the authors. Realists, by the recognizing the existence of significant
changes in the world, consider globalization, rather, as the process of the
evolutionary development of the world, and not as a qualitative leap in its transformation.
The neo-Marxists see in modern processes an endeavoring stage in the
development of capitalism, which generates an ever-greater polarization of the
world according to the economic parameter, and as a consequence, political
instability. For the majority of researchers who adhere to the neo-liberal
tradition, the globalization is a qualitatively new stage in the political
structure and the world, and also in human civilization as a whole.
There is
one more point of perception of the globalization process, connected with
political practice and the estimated characterization of changes in the “good -
bad” dichotomy. This is more relevant to political practice and generates, on
the one hand, many movements conditionally united by the concept of “anti-globalists”
(they often come from extremely radical positions against the development of
globalization processes, as well as the institutions that are most closely
associated with them, in particular , IMF, WTO). On the other hand, although in
a less pronounced form, the movements of supporters of the globalization
process, for example, Internet users, etc. Such a variety of opinions and views
regarding globalization is due to the complexity, complexity of the processes,
and the covering of the spheres of human activity and relations.
Returning
to the scientific interpretation of such a phenomenon as globalization, let us
dwell on its three dimensions, which the French researcher B. Badie singles out
as:
- a
constantly moving historical process;
- homogenization
and universalization of the world;
- "blurring"
of national borders (Badie, 2000).
If we take
the first of these dimensions, we will see that the history of the development
of mankind does indeed observe a tendency to expand the space where intensive
interaction takes place: from individual villages, cities, principalities to
states, regions, and finally, through the era of great geographical discoveries
to the world in whole.
Nevertheless,
the process of globalization is complex and ambiguous. In historical
development, it went non-linearly and did not at all assume the accession of
new peripheral territories to a certain invariable center. So, G. Modelski,
using an example of the development of cities in the ancient world, shows the
"pulsating" nature of this process (Modelski, 2000). He distinguishes
two phases, each of which lasts for millennia: centralization, when the central
zones of the world system are formed, and decentralization, if the periphery
becomes the main one, there is a change of place in the
"center-periphery" system. In principle, close to the idea of the
Concept of “pulsations” are also contained in the works of Paul Kennedy, when
he speaks about the rise and fall of great powers (Kennedy, 1989).
If we
extrapolate the results of G. Modelski to further historical development, we
can assume that such a “pulse” takes place not only on a territorial basis, but
which is especially important, and on the basis of which substantial aspect is
formed Center and periphery. In history, such a substantive foundation was, in
particular, ideology, religion, economic development.
Much more
controversial is the second dimension of the globalization process that Badie
identifies: the universalization and homogenization of the world in its extreme
form. Within the framework of this approach, various assumptions were made
regarding the creation of a global village - universal community of all
people living on earth or global government, which would regulate the whole
complex of interrelations among the countries and people. By the other words,
it was suggested the formation of some world confederation (Badie, 2000).
Those
examples, ideas and hypothesis are widely used in journalism, popular
literature, reflecting the notion that all people inhabited on our planet are
united by a single destiny, and it has become possible thanks to the
dissemination of universal cultural patterns, the development of technologies -
primarily transport, information and communication, world trade and financial
system, that unite all people in an interconnected and interdependent
community.
Universalization
and homogenization of the world is sometimes considered as its westernization.
In this case, it means that the values and norms of behavior characteristic
of Western civilization are gaining increasing popularity. Indeed, many types
of behavior, production, consumption, emerged in the West, and then become
accustomed to other countries and cultures. Moreover, in these countries they
are often perceived as inherent to them. In this regard, an amusing example is
given by the leading New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in the book “The
Lexus and the Olive Tree”. The little Japanese woman who first visited the
United States exclaimed: “Mom, look, they also have McDonald's”(Friedman, 2012).
There are
many other examples in this regard. However, it is necessary to take into
account, that under the external universalization, more complicated processes
are hidden.
First,
each culture perceives and assimilates the norms inherent in other cultures in
its own way. This is the focus of many researchers who are engaged in the
analysis of the influence of cultures. Samples of the behavior of Western
civilization in different regions of the world (including the sphere of
consumption) are included in another cultural context sometimes have a
completely different meaning, sometimes the opposite one. In the case of the
external identity of the Western types of behavior, completely different things
may be hiding: for example, the intension to be “as everybody” in one country
to be seemed as the person with different views in other countries. In general, external forms always have their fillings
in the cultures due to the very complex intertwining of what is imported from
the outside, with the existing traditions and norms. Emphasizing the specific
of each culture, the French explorer Thierry de Montbrial, believes that when
speaking about globalization, “we do not mean the unification and
standardization at all" (De Montbial, 2006). As an example, the constructors of automobile
are not intending to create the “world car”, which should satisfy all
standards. It is not real. For example, production of the French company Danone
is determined by the different approaches on the tastes of the inhabitants of
Paris (for French), London (for the British), Beijing (for Chinese) etc.
Difference in taste, as well as in mentality will never disappear”. From the
other side, for example the modification of the car model, or for example any
food product, which is oriented on the different consumers are “collected” from
the unified structural components.
Secondly,
Western civilization itself is not homogenous. In this sense, the
universalization of the world like the type of melting pot, about which very
much was talked related to the American culture is not going on. It can be
mentioned, that today in the US more and more is used the metaphor of
"salad", thereby emphasizing the preservation of the identity of each
nation. Thus, we cannot always mean under the globalization the westernization
of the world.
Third, it
is necessary to take into account, that not always the exactly western cultural
forms are spread. There is existed also a reverse process, which manifests
itself in the interest of the west to the Eastern religions, African culture
etc. Therefore, it is hardly legitimate to speak about globalization as a
Westernization of the world.
What has
been said, however, does not exclude the processes, which are connected with
the unification of mankind into a single whole, i.e. what can be somehow called
as mega-community. It should be pointed out, that it is a question of
creating a global community in which existing national-state entities act as
more or less independent structural units. However, the differences between the
parts of this new formation do not disappear. Moreover, by some parameters,
differentiation can increase.
Finally,
the last of the aspects (or measurements) of the globalization having been
mentioned by B. Badie, “blurring” of the state borders, perhaps most reflecting
this process (Badie, 2000). It is manifested in the intensification and
increase in the volumes of various kinds of exchanges and interaction beyond
the state frontiers, in all areas. As a consequence, one of the most important
results is the formation of the world market of goods and services, the
financial system, the global communication network. In this connection, sometimes
the concepts of cross-border interaction or trans boundary processes are
pointed out.
If we talk
about the spheres of development of cross-border processes, in the beginning
the borders of national states turned out to be the most transparent in the
field economy on the European continent, when the restoration of the economies
of various states having been destroyed during the Second World War has
required a close cooperation. This process then shifted to social, political,
cultural, and other relationships, as well as to other regions.
Questions:
how transparent the borders are; first of all, which countries are included in
this process; what are the consequences and the others topics remain
controversial. Nevertheless, a number of researchers, in particular P.
Katzenstein, R. Keohane and St. Krasner, see in the process of transparency of
the borders the essence of globalization itself. This point of view is shared
by many authors (Keohane, Nye, 1977).
Transparency
of interstate borders made the world interconnected. It is for this reason that
some scholars, especially those working within the framework of neoliberalism,
link globalization to interdependence, which, by J. Nye determine whether
participants or events in the system's parts affect each other (Keohane, Nye, 1977). A close understanding
is found in the works of A. Giddens, who speaks about the intensification of
social relations linking the different point with each other by such way so
that what is going on in one place, is determined by the processes in a quite
different part of the planet and in reverse. Somehow can be considered, that
there is the expansion and deepening of social networks and institutions in
space and time by such way, so that from one side, on the daily activities of
the people more growing influence have
such events, that occur in other parts of the Earth, and on the other hand, the
actions of local communities can have important global consequences. Developing
this point of view can be underlined, that concretely the interdependence of
different societies, their increasing, and not the leveling of the world at all
“stairs” of the public reality create the essence of globalization (Giddens, 1995).
Transparency
of interstate borders, caused by globalization, "turned" the previous
ideas about the security, conflicts, their settlement; diplomacy and other
basic problems of classical studies of international relations. But most
important, everywhere it has erased the rigid barriers that existed earlier
between foreign and domestic policy. So, in the area of security, the
immediate threat of one or a group of states, in the relation of one or several
other states, goes into the background, and gives the place for consideration
to the problems of terrorism, separatism, nationalism, etc. The same can be said about the conflicts that
from one side transferred from internal to interstate, or on the contrary. New
conflicts require different approaches to their analysis and regulation.
Having
opened the interstate borders, globalization has simplified the activities of
the new, non-state actors in the world arena: TNCs, regions and municipalities
of the concrete states, nongovernmental organizations, thereby stimulating
their activity and quantitative growth. But there is a reverse influence: the
non-state actors themselves stimulate the development of globalization and the
transparency of the borders.
Globalization
affects all spheres of life. Th. Friedman notes, that the global international
system as a whole form both as domestic policy, also international relations,
covering the markets, national states, technologies on such level, which has
never existed before (Friedman, 1999). At the same time, globalization
does not deny existence of the National states. The same E. Giddens emphasizes
that one of the dimensions of globalization is the system of national states.
Manifestations of globalization
In the
human sciences the first were economists, who started actively write about
globalization, they paid the special attention to the fact of the forming a
factually unified world market. According to the International Monetary Fund,
globalization is just an increasing integration of the goods and services
market, as well as capital. The global economy, says M. Castells, a Professor at
the American University of Berkeley, "is an economy in which national
economies are depended from the activities of the globalized core. The latter
includes financial markets, international trade, and transnational production,
to a certain extent science and technology and related types of labor. In
general, it is possible to define the global economy as an economy whose main
components have the institutional, organizational and technological ability to
act as integrity in real time or in selected time on a planetary scale” (Castells, 1996).
American
researcher T. McKeown notes, that within the first 15-20 years after the Second
World War, the main indicators of international trade were approximately the
same as in the 1930s-1940s but did not reach the level of 1914. The situation
changed dramatically in the early 1970s. If the import of the developed
countries with the strong market economy in the period from 1880 to 1972 was
from 10 to 16% of the GDP, then during 1973-1987 this index reached 22%. According
to the different researcher’s position, until 2025 the average annual rate of
world exports would increase to 7%. Especially great is the role of export of
direct investment, which, according to the position of the various scientific
institutions, will increase by this time, approximately for 3 times (Lebedeva,
2007).
In 1996,
world import was implementing on the sum about 5,2 Trillion USD, which is more
for 2 Trillion in comparison to 1986 (Lebedeva, 2007).
With
regard to world merchandise exports, in 1983 it was 1 Trillion 838 Billion, in
1993 3 688 Billion and 7 379 in 2003, 17 198 in 2019. Nominal trade values also rose in 2018 due to a combination
of volume and price changes. World merchandise exports totaled US$ 19.48
trillion, up 10% from the previous year (WTO, 2019).
Transnational
corporations and banks are in many ways the founders of globalization. As early
as 1878, an American firm “Zinger” – producer of the sewing machine had opened
a branch plant in Scotland. Today, the Coca-Cola Corporation has production
capacities in dozens of "international countries in all regions of the
world." This is called a simple “internationalization” of the production.
But at the same time it is growing a circle of companies of the global
transnational “citizenship”, capital of
which is attracted from investors from different countries; Factories and
plants are scattered across many states and often change their location
depending on the world conjuncture; the sales
network covers different continents, and the management network is essentially
cosmopolitan. "Global factories" are producing an increasing number
of "global goods” from computers to toothpaste, the nationality of which
cannot be determined".
Globalization
of the financial sector means a sharp increase in the role of centralization of
financial markets by integrating cash flows. They easily move around the world
with the help of computer networks. If at the first decade of XXI the daily
volume of transactions was about a trillion Dollars, this number was
significantly increased at the second decade of our century. For example, over-the-counter
foreign exchange trading rose almost 30% to $6.6 trillion per day in April
2019, up from $5.1 trillion three years earlier (Forbes, 2019). In this connection, as
R. O'Brien pointed out figuratively, for a financier, globalization means
"the end of geography". A key role starts to play such financial
centers as London, New York, Tokyo. They promote to increase the centralization
in the area of finance. At the same time, financial markets impose their own
rules of conduct on both - states and individual politicians
How it is
explained all those processes in the field of finance? According to scientists
Ch. Kegley and Eu. Wittkopf, three key factors contributing to the
globalization of finance are identified: the first is tied with the 1973-1974
oil crises, followed by a sharp increase in financial flows, which stimulated a
significant growth in investments and the introduction of new managerial procedures
into financial management. The second factor was the introduction in the minds
and practice in the 1970s and 1980s the ideas of the so-called
"deregulation of the market", according to which its effectiveness
increases if government is not interfered to the functioning of the market.
Finally, the third factor, which has influenced to the globalization of Finance
– widespread introduction computer technologies in such fields, which allowed
increasing sharply financial interaction and contacts beyond the national
borders (Kegley, Wittkopf. 2010-2011).
At the
same time with the process of globalization of trade and finance, the labor
market is also being globalized. Here again a huge role is played by
Transnational Corporations (TNC). TNC entirely provide about 50% of the
world industrial production. On TNC is coming more than
70% of the world trade. Within the period 1985-1995, according to the
estimations of the World Bank, by transnational
corporations more than 8 million jobs were created, among of them about 5
million job places at the developing countries (Lebedeva, 2007). At the same
time, more and more clearly, since the 1970s, there has been a tendency towards
a division of labor in a world-wide scale. The well-known American economist L.
Thurow in the journal "World Economy and International Relations"
brings the characterized example of the existed global manufacturing networks.
Particularly, he notes, that "the goods can be produced in any place of
the World, depending on the fact, where production will be cheaper, and be on
sale there, where it will be possible to sell them by the highest price.
Production chains can acquire a global scale. For example, an accelerometer (a
miniature semi-conductor chip, which is used as a sensor for a Car safety
pillow) can be worked out in Boston, produced
and tested in Philippines, packaged in Taiwan and mounted in a BMW car in Germany with
the purpose, that this machine to be successfully sold in Brazil " (Thurow, 1996).
The
division of labor is accompanied by fierce competition, which forces
manufacturers to constantly seek new reserves for the purpose, that whose
products would remain on the market. At the same time, Migration of labor force
has considerably increased. Particularly, according to the estimations of the UN Department of
Economic and Social Affairs, in 2017 the world counted 258 million
international migrants, which is about 3.4 per cent of global population
(United Nations, 2017) (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017). In this regard, together with some negative aspects
of international migration, it is necessary to point out about some positive
tendencies of migration for the developing countries. Particularly, according
to the World Bank Group report for April 8, officially recorded annual
remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $529 billion in
2018, an increase of 9.6 percent over the previous record high of $483 billion
in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, reached
$689 billion in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017 (The World Bank, 2018).
The
development of the media is also a manifestation of globalization. The events
on which the accent is focused forms the public opinion in virtually in the
whole world. This in its turn leading to the fact that the National Governments
and international organizations are forced to react to events in the media.
This phenomenon is gained the name of “CNN effect”, due to the Broadcasting
Company, which broadcasts news 24 hours a day in many countries of the world.
To that news are relied the national television companies of the various
states. Thus, the military actions against Iraq in 1991, or
Libya in 2010 the world watched "from the picture" of CNN.
Development of new
technologies – leading factor of the globalization process
Political development of the world, more or less, but always was connected
with the scientific – technical progress, which during the history not only
provided economic and social growth, but factually formed the political system
of the world. F. Fukuyama in his article “Second thoughts: The last Main in a
Battle”, which was published in 1999, has written, that the industrial epoch –
epoch of locomotive, railways, factories - created possible the Weber`s theory
about centralized state.
The scientific-technical development of the last XX century and beginning
of the XXI century radically changed the face of the usual state-centric model
of the world. On the substitute to the industrial epoch, with its factories,
enterprises, locomotives and orientation on the natural resources (gas, oil,
corn, forest etc.), came other epoch, where the dominant position has obtained,
from one side, high technologies and connected with them information,
communication branches; from the other side – biotechnologies; the central resources
has become the knowledge. Lester Carl Thurow called all of this as a whole “man-made brain-power industries” and J.
Rosenau without pathos noticed, that concretely the high technologies
accelerated the globalization process.
As a result of such changes, at the countries of Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), more than 50% of GDP is produced at the
High-Tech fields. In this regard, in USA even has appeared the term – new
economics, which determined the fields, which are oriented on scientific, high Technological spheres of industry.
Within the new technologies the following issues are considered:
-
Information-communication technologies;
-
Biotechnologies.
Information and communication technologies occupy the
world with by the high speed. Thus, based on the dates of the US official
sources, in 1998, the number of the internet users was doubling within each 100
day, as a result, 100 million people were connected to the internet, when only
3 million people were internet users in 1994. With regard to the internet users
in the XXI Century, according to statistics, as to March 31, 2017, there 3,731,973,423
internet users in the World, 49.6 % of the World population. At the same time,
it should be pointed out, that Internet user’s growth within 2000-2017 was
about 933,8% (Internet World Stats, 2018).
For comparison: for radio it was
necessary 38 years to spread an information over 50 million people, and for
television 13 years.
By the rapid way is developing an electronic trade. For example, the volume
of the e-commerce market grew by 13% in 2017, and its turnover amounted to $ 29
trillion; the number of online shoppers increased by 12% (there were 1.3
billion people) (UNCTAD, 2019).
It is no dough, that the development of electronic trade by the agency of
internet introduces the serious and significant changes in the organization of
trade of those firms, which produce the goods and services. The traditional
management of expenses, which are based on the analysis of the used resources,
more and more gives way to the management of the relations with clients. Under
those circumstances’ entrepreneurs – suppliers of goods and services
concentrate their efforts on the keeping the trust from the client’s side, by
the offering to them an additional service and at the same time are trying to
be more adapted to the disappearance of borders.
It is becoming a usual event, that the high technologies began to gain a
legal form. For example, in the several US states, it is introduced the concept
about recognition as a juridical norm the electronic signature. Analogical
questions and as a whole the general problems, which are connected with the
legal aspects of the reglamented electronic trade, are considered in such
international organizations, as World Trade Organization, Organization of
Economic Cooperation and Development, United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development, UNCTAD, International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, etc.
Conclusion
‘Globalization’ is a
meaning, that has offered a wide choice of response, several terms have been
quite so much used or abused. The term has been presented in different way as a
period, process, a condition and even as force. The resulting attributions and
acknowledgements are diverse and always invite confusion. For sure, there is
one side who will willingly argue for globalization’s advantages, setting it up
as a solution to all the contemporary political, economic and social
organization problems. And there is an opposite part, who would equally loudly
and convincingly argue that globalization has negatively reflected on the
development of international society, first of all by the establishing
inequalities among the different states.
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