3.2 The Debate on Globalization
3.2.1 Is Globalization Real?
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is multi-national. If we take the American automobile companies of Ford and General Motors, they have begun to move more of their production and factories to other countries despite being a predominantly American company. Lastly, the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War could be seen as a major change which introduced globalization to the world. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the world division of “capitalist” and “communist” spheres slowly disappeared and with that, numerous global flows opened up such as immigration, media, tourism, diplomacy, and economic transactions through MNCs and other businesses. While all the various perspectives above provide us with interesting aspects, they are all limited in geographic scope and are less extensive than the global processes which began in the twentieth century. Therefore, for this thesis, the globalization standpoint in which it will be taking is that globalization is a relatively recent development which began sometime after World War II.
3.2 The Debate on Globalization
3.2.1 Is Globalization Real?
The globalization debate takes place between those who are dubious about the whole process (“anti-globalists”) and those who have accepted it as a reality and intend to cope with it (“globalists”).161 Globalists are those who believe that globalization affects the whole world, while anti-globalists do not believe that globalization has such a far-reaching effect and that globalization does not even have an impact on a significant population of the globe. In addition to this, anti-globalists also view that nation-states have erected barriers around their states which restrict or prevent globalization.
Globalists, on the other hand, believe there to be many processes (such as economic, political etc.)162 surrounding globalization or globalizations as some scholars name it,163 and thus,
161 Held, D., and McGrew, A. (2000), “The Great Globalization Debate: An Introduction,” in Held, D. and McGrew, A., eds., The Global Transformations Reader: An Introduction to the Globalization Debate, Cambridge: Polity, p. 1-50 162 Santos, B. (2006), “Globalizations,” Theory Culture and Society, 2-3: 23, p. 393-9
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globalists think it impossible that there would be any part of the world not affected. A globalist sees globalization as growing in power day-by-day and becoming even more pervasive. However, while the nation-state has declined in importance with the wake of globalization, “this era is not the end of the nation-state, even less the end of government.”164
Three powers are emphasized by globalists and these three diverse types of power are what make up globalization:
1. “Cooperative Power” – Governments have to collaborate with one another under the auspices of international institutions, such as the United Nations and NATO, to solve common issues pertaining to global society.
2. “Corporate Power” – Both economic power and social power has been increasing with the influence of big-name brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Burger King etc.
3. “People Power” – Locals have been seeking to impact politics by using method which are out with the normal political party process.165
Globalisation not only relies on nation-states to influence the rest of global society anymore, it relies on the three powers of “Cooperative,” “Corporate,” and “People” to affect the world and it can be seen as an “invisible government” comprising of corporations, banks and international organizations.166 There are a total of eight characteristics and features of globalization167 that globalists further use to develop their argument:
1. The new trend of this era is for aspects of society to become “global,” not just
“international” anymore considering the word “international” denotes that the nation-state is the basic component of world affairs, however, under globalization, that is no longer the case as non-state actors such as transnational corporations or international
163 Therborn, G. (2000), “Globalizations: Dimensions, Historical Waves, Regional Effects, Normative Governance,”
International Sociology, 15: 151-79
164 Yergin, D., and Stainislaw, J. (1998), The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, New York:
Touchstone, p. 398
165 Suter, K. (2006), Teach Yourself Globalization, Blacklick, Ohio: McGraw Hill, p. 2
166 Ferro, M. (1997), Colonization: A Global History, London: Routledge
167 Suter, K. (2006), Teach Yourself Globalization, Blacklick, Ohio: McGraw Hill, p. 3-5
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3. The people who are anti-globalists are technically as much a part of globalization as ever because the mass communication techniques they utilize are all a part of globalization. In addition to this, the goals of such anti-globalists have significantly altered over the ages to have turned their attention to problems facing developing countries and the solutions employed by international institutions to deal with those situations. 170
4. Globalization challenges the traditional methods of learning in academic disciplines considering the topics we now need to learn are much broader compared to before since factors such as climate change and global warming are shaping the society that we are living in everyday thus, the topics and research which we would have completed in the
past and the present differ drastically. 171
5. Globalization cannot be represented as a form of Americanization as it does not only impose American values onto other countries; it is the idea of exchanging cultures and values of all countries across the world. As we can see, America has lost manufacturing industries through globalization to China and India because of cheaper labour and more choice of where companies can settle their manufacturing destinations due to fewer
168 Efron, L., “Six Reasons to Think Globally Rather Than Internationally,” Forbes, May 30th 2013,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/louisefron/2013/05/30/six-reasons-to-think-globally-rather-than-internationally/ [Last Accessed: December 12th 2015]
169 Nixon, S., “For Britain, EU Question Is Matter of Security, Not Just Economics,” Wall Street Journal, November 1st 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-britain-eu-question-is-matter-of-security-not-just-economics-1446415040 [Last Accessed: December 12th 2015]
170 “Looking For Something to Get Angry About,” The Economist, November 29th 2002, http://www.economist.com/node/1465421 [Last Accessed: December 12th 2015]
171 Hayden, M., Thompson, J., and Levy, J. (2007), The SAGE Handbook of Research in International Education, London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE, p. 180
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borders around the world in terms of trade. 172
6. Globalization is an evolution of world affairs, it is not a conspiracy theory created by some unknown organization as some people believe.173 There may be misunderstandings about globalization due to miscommunications or lack of information given to the public.
7. There is a gap in global society which has still been unable to be fulfilled by a supranational organization and the decrease in national government power led to the situation of globalization.174 Additionally, the increase of global interconnectedness leads to the fact that the effectiveness of traditional policy instruments tend to decline considering they are out-dated and more advanced technology have provided further
effective measures for fulfilment of global needs.
8. The process of globalization is not a reversible one. It is not a subject matter that one can just discard once they have had enough, globalization will only intensify in the future, and therefore, we should be prepared to cope with it.175