GLOBALISATION OF BUSINESS, Syed Sajid [reading in the dark .txt] 📗

Tariffs and Trade) in October 1947 (Ottawa Conference) was a great stride towards globalization (particularly from economic point of view). But the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after the Uruguay Round of Talks was a turning point in the signification of globalization. The activities and role of this organization increased during the 1990s. Hence, many thinkers call the 1990s the decade of globalization.
GATT had 102 members in 1990 while the numbers of the WTO exceeded 134 in 1999[xv] and consequently the trade of goods and services increased quickly.
C) Intellectual-political background – The disintegration of Soviet Union, the decline of communism, and introduction of liberal democracy as the dominant ideology of the world prepared a suitable ground for globalization. With the decline of communism - the rival model of capitalism - liberal democracy came to the fore as the only model that claims to be able to fulfill all demands of man and tries to expand its domain across the globe.
The claim of liberal democracy of being globalized is based on objective as well as subjective foundations:
1) The Subjective or theoretical foundation: The reliance of liberalism on modern rationality and its triumph over the intellectual rivals during the past two-three centuries has spread the idea that liberal democracy is the only model that through reliance on modern rationality can dominate the world. This idea has not only dominated the ideas and thoughts of the peoples of the world but also the ideas or thoughts of researchers and thinkers in various parts of the world (even the Third World) who have confirmed it.[xvi]
2) Objective foundation: Some palpable moves in the world are underway towards free economy and integration in the international capital market. The WTO, the acceleration of democratic movements and expansion of Western models in various societies,[xvii] and overall the international intellectual-political backgrounds during the past one, two decades have prepared the grounds for the spread of the idea of globalization.
Perhaps one of the main backgrounds for the signification of globalization is man's need to offer models and follow models in the world and bridge cultural gaps and lacunas, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union (Communism) that has pushed globalization towards an irreversible stage.
3) Major problems of the global society: The major universal general problems and threats the global society has been entangled with during the past decades and which gradually are growing and expanding, including global warming, destruction of the Ozone Layer, the threat of the spread of Mass Destruction Weapons (MDW), etc. have obligated all the societies to face these menaces unitedly. Hence international measures are necessary to face these problems. Evidently in a globalized world these global measures will be more effective and coordinated in facing these threats.
During the past few decades all conditions have been ripe for condensation of the world in time and space and widespread connection of the societies to shrink the world. Information technology has played a crucial role in condensation of the world.
In a globalized world, people in far away parts of the world can easily contact each other particularly through information technology such as computer and Internet to garner information about various affairs. The essence of the modern world is enhancement of people's information. Overall, the enhancement of information and awareness plays an important role in the progress and development of every society. Of course in some countries (mainly with undemocratic political systems) it will create several problems for their governments and their legitimacy. The effects of globalization will be discussed below.
4 –Approaches to Globalization
In the field of consequences and implications of globalization, like its conceptual background and history, there are a number of intellectual currents and circles, which encompass positive and negative aspects of globalization.
The advocates of globalization through their arguments try to demonstrate the positive aspects of globalization. They consider globalization a completely positive and useful trend while the opponents consider it dangerous and negative. Whether globalization is a threat or an opportunity will be discussed below.
4 – 1 – Globalization as an Opportunity
This approach encompasses various viewpoints including the neo-liberalist, neo-functionalist etc. The neo-liberalist approach considers globalization the liberation of various fields in the interdependent world which expands the communications and exchanges of human societies. The neo-functionalists consider the era of globalization that of enhancement of regional interactions which in turn prepare the grounds for upgrading international cooperation and convergence, a step towards globalization.
The advocates consider the globalization in the said manner as a utopia due to which convergence, economic advantages, liberation from undemocratic systems, and establishment of international civil society and democracy will be materialized.[xviii]
The advocates of globalization basically consider this process as an inevitable, useful key to the future growth of the global economy.[xix]
In sum the ideas of the advocates may be summarized in the following three points: a) Economic-commercial field: Expansion of free trade across the globe (since the 1980s with the Reagan and Tacher's liberalization policies and collapse of communism),[xx] more interdependence of the world economies compared to the past and ever expansion of financial and commercial deals,[xxi] expansion of technology beyond the limit of the developed countries, considerable growth of transportation, communication and tourism (it has had 12 percent growth in the last decade and the global income accruing from it touched the figure 400 billion dollars – more than the figure for the world's oil exports).[xxii]
The advocates of globalization consider the outcomes of this process positive and constructive and in the interest of the entire mankind. Of course, there will be some short-term and long-term problems in this way, but the final outcome will be bright and positive.
B) Cultural – Today more than ever there exists a global culture; to the extent that most of the urban areas in the world seem similar. The world enjoys a common culture most of which stem from Hollywood. The world is becoming more and more homogenous and the differences are vanishing away.[xxiii] The enhancement of global awareness, international interdependence due to international contacts,[xxiv] expansion of a cosmopolitan culture, etc. are all the outcomes of globalization. Human beings think globally and act locally and this is why the world is moving towards peace and stability.
C) Political – An international civil society with transnational social and political movements is taking shape and the allegiance of individuals to the governments is being transferred to subsidiary governmental, transnational and international institutions.[xxv] In fact, the role of governments is paling away everyday. In the process of globalization, most pressures are exerted on the undemocratic, rigid governments[xxvi] and such governments will be weakened and will perish away due to globalization. Globalization facilities international measures and coordination to face off international threats (AIDS, environmental pollution, terrorism, etc.), for the governments are not able to thwarts such threats individually.[xxvii] In effect the international measures will be more useful in a globalized world due to coordination among the international players.
In sum, the advocates of globalization maintain that the world is moving towards peace and tranquility, for the globalization movement is a move towards convergence.
In the end of this part, it is pertinent to allude to some of the consequences of globalization as mentioned by thinkers and scholars.
1 – Expansion of communication, reduction of time and spatial distances and removal of hurdles in the way of free flow of information.
2 – Enhancement of collective consciousness towards common fate of mankind.
3 – Feeling of belongingness of human beings to the great family of nations and international society will be more comprehensive than the national communities.
4 – More inclination of authoritarian governments towards democracy.
5 – Closeness and more coordination between international players.
6 – Possibility of exchange of views and mutual understanding among cultures.
7 – Expansion of man's choice from national to international level.
8 – Preparation of media opportunities for the spread of Islam and imparting its message to the truth-seekers across the world in case the time and information technology are used properly as well as preparation of the grounds for the constant contact of the Muslim immigrants with the base country in order to preserve their religious values and identity.
9 – By certain observations and preservations, the international information network has provided a unique opportunity for the scientific progress of the developing and Islamic countries on the one hand and for identifying the interested people in Islamic thought and ideas and its proper introduction to them on the other.
4 -2- The Approach Focusing on Threats (Opponents)
This approach contains such approaches as neo-Marxism and neo-realism. The first through a center-periphery attitude considers globalization a factor for the enhancement of the power and wealth of the metropolitan countries and marginalization and gradual death of the weak countries. The second approach is power-based in which a few great powers at the cost of the destruction, bankruptcy, disintegration and dismemberment of national sovereignty of most of the countries concentrates on the consolidation, demonstration and exertion of power in the post-Westphalian system.
According to a verse: "might is right, if you want to have peace, you have to become strong."
The opponents of globalization consider it a hostile act and even horrible and maintain that globalization will exacerbate inequality among nations, threatens employment and standards of life and prevents social progress.[xxviii]
Overall, in viewpoint of the opponents, globalization is a project and a major social-political engineering in the world which will lead to the impoverishment of the poor and enrichment of the rich.[xxix]
The opponents of globalization forward the following arguments to support their viewpoints:
A) Economic-commercial – In reply to the argument of the advocates of globalization in the field of commerce and economy, the opponents maintain that although the spread of free market economy across the world is superficially correct, the global economy is in effect the economy of a limited number of rich countries in the world and in a more precise assessment the global economy belongs to the countries that are the members of OECD.[xxx]
The technologies accompanying globalization function in the interest of rich economies of the world and prefer their interests to that of the developing countries. Therefore, globalization not only has an imperialistic nature but exploitative one as well. Overall, globalization has unequal effects and its advantages will go only to small section of the human society (the Western developed world).[xxxi] Under the circumstances, global convergence too will be distributed in a very unequal manner in the world (for instance, in the international purchase market in 1998, the total transaction of the world was about 24 trillion (US) dollars, major chunk of which was spent by 20 percent of the world's population.[xxxii] The main reason for the opposition of the opponents of globalization is their fear of the widening of hiatus between the countries of the North and South.
B) Cultural – The opponents have various answers to the argument of the advocates who maintain that globalization will remove the cultural differences and create a single, common culture. First of all, most of the opponents maintain that such a common culture will never be created, for globalization has two meanings: first convergence and second pluralism. Globalization fosters both the social movements that struggle for respect to human rights and social movements that continue racism and ethnic schism or the fundamentalist ones. Although a kind of social integration of the CNN type is created, in fact, globalization is mainly a collection of local villages rather than a single global village.[xxxiii] Secondly, the danger of decline of indigenous cultures and cultural diversity in the world has worried a number of societies. Hence, they strongly oppose and resist such a prospect.
Many discussions in this regard aim to rescue the cultural diversity of human society and distinct cultural identities from the threat of this global whirlpool.[xxxiv] The preservation of cultural heritage of regions and areas is the concern of many human beings and this fear has