FREE ESSAY ON GLOBALIZATION

GLOBALIZATION

THE LIMITS OF GLOBALIZATION
Nowadays one of the most commonly used terms is globalization. But what does
globalization mean? Does it mean dissappearing borders, a common trade unit, no tax in
trade abroad, political awareness across the world, or, in extremes, even interfering
with other countries' domestic affairs?
In some ways globalization may be useful in creating a common sense of world citizenship,
but useful to what extent? What are the possibilities, advantages and risks of such world
citizenship? Are the United Nations and the European Union, stepping stones to
globalization?
Disappearing borders, in the economic meaning of the term can most clearly be seen today
in Europe. The European Union restricts taxes on trade between members. Taking a step
further the EU have decided on a common currency, the Euro , which became available at
the beginning of 1999. This currency may economically be more functional but what
aboutnational pride? All trade units display a country's well known heros or great
personalities of them that the citizens respect for. How are the citizens going to
respond to this kind of change time will show but nobody can say European countries are
not nationalistic. There is a strong evidence on the contrary. One example is world war
II, which started in the middle of Europe- -considered then the most civilized part of
the world- because of Germany's belief in its national superiority. This unfortunate
development took place just half a century ago.These European nation-states may seem to
be getting along well for the time being because of fairly smilar economic levels but
what will happen if one country's economic level drops or gets much better than the rest?
Would the better ones pull up the worst to keep up with them or would those
countries-having the best economy- want to carry the rest on their shoulders? 
Besides its economic ups and downs globalization has a tremendous effect on cultural
values. World has a cultural diversity in itself. Every nation every country has its own
traditions values practices of cultural activities. These create a diversity which every
part of the world can be pointed out by their own characteristics. By the beginning 20th
century with the effects of industrialization and common usage of communication devices
and transpotation becoming faster and more comfortable economy started to play the most
important role in a state's political policies. Trade became one of the main incomes of
the countries and trade required close interaction between countries and decisions were
started to be taken to ease traders by governments. This attitude of governments have led
economic affairs to shape up cultural practices of states. As the cultures were revised
by economy, stronger economies emposed their cultural practices to the weak ones. This if
not stopped will continue until cultural erosion destroys cultural diversity over the
world. 
The export of Western commodities, values, priorities, ways of life. In a process of
unequal cultural encounter, 'foreign' populations have been compelled to be the subjects
and subalterns of Western empire, while, no less significantly, the West has come to face
with the 'alien' and exotic culture of its 'Other'. Globalization, as it dissolves the
barriers of distance, makes the encounter of colonial center and colonized periphery
immediate and intense (1995:108). 
The current century has seen a magnitude of rise and fall of political power and
economical, political, social and structural changes, which without doubt have influenced
any society's culture that was touched. From the imperial ages early this century, Europe
in particular has seen the decline of the colonial power, the democratization and
communization, the rise and fall of totalitarian, nationalistic and socialist regimes,
and their decline. Europe has also experienced the fall from economic and political
superpower, in a century that was for a long time been best characterized as the USSR-USA
century. Equally Asia has been struck by fundamental changes: from the imperial China to
the communist China, the rise of the Tiger Economies, the Vietnam war, the Korean war,
the independence of India, the Iran Iraq war, the Gulf war,... to name just a few. 
Since economy plays the most important role or is the main criteria in a 
country's prestige and power; economically strong states started to have more power on
international affairs. Such strength of some countries have led them to interpret the
term globalization as their right to interfere with weaker states' domestic affairs. The
most recent event we could observe about this issue was the attack of the US to Iraq on
Ramadan -the religiously important month of Muslims. The reason and aim of the bombing
were explained by the US Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms. Albright, exactly as We -as the
US- will do what is needed for Iraqi people to get what they deserve as better life
standarts. This statement could be interpreted in two different ways that are very far
away in meaning from each other. It could either be viewed optimistically as US really
cares about the future of Iraqi people and want to do something good for them. Or a
pessimistic approach could be such that: US sees itself as the judge of the world and
decide what is good or bad for everyone. The second approach is not the majority believe
its right but this is still a failure of interpretation of globalization, travelling
overseas to bomb.
During the time this Commission has been at work, we have witnessed the currencies of
Europe held hostage by forces of speculation themselves out of control. Powerful
economies confronted each other on the threshold of trade wars, while marginal ones
collapsed. There was ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, a 'failed state' in Somalia, and
genocide in Rwanda. Nuclear weapons lay unsecured in the former Soviet Union, and neo-
Fascism surfaced in the West. 
Caring about the whole world and not just the territory one lives in is the starting
point of the idea: World Citizenship. If we are living in the world we have to be aware
of what's going on around us and if possible do something for the better of the world.
This may include environmental issues as well as political ones. However, world
citizenship must not be understood as forgetting national and cultural values of one's
own and only care about the whole. If interpreted like this the idea of world citizenship
also becomes a threat to cultural diversity. 
Formally the equivalence can be so stated: nationalism has as a central political demand
the establishment of a state on a territory, exclusive of other states on that territory,
populated by a group formed by involuntary membership of an inclusive category, usually
descendants of past inhabitants of the territory. Normative globalism seeks a state with
planetary territory, and a monopoly of that territory, paralleling the monopoly claim of
nationalism itself. [5] All humans would belong to that state (as citizens) by reason of
being human and/or inhabiting the planet, without any choice in the matter. In its
central claim normative globalism is equivalent to nationalism: it is semantically
correct to describe it as a form of nationalism. 
As a result globalization may be useful in economic affairs but the limits shoul be drawn
concisely that it does not threaten cultural diversity and nationalism. Governments shoul
take special care against cultural erosion and stop resmbling of cultures with the
effects of ecomonics. 
Bibliography
Communications and Culture Transformation
Cultural Diversity, Globalization and Cultural Convergence
Project presented to the European University, Barcelona
June 1998 
http://www.stephweb.com/capstone/3.htm
Political and socio-economical changes
CNN Special Report-Press Meeting on the issue of Bombing Iraq 
Our Global Neighbourhood
The Report of the Commission on Global Governance
Chapter Seven -- A Call to Action
The Next Steps http://www.cgg.ch/ch7.htm#Summary of Commission Proposals
World-nationalism: normative globalism as
pan-nationalism
http://www.diagonal.demon.nl/world.nation.html