Monday, April 9, 2007

Globalization?

-Shirleen Low

What exactly is all this furore about globalization about anyway? Yes, we know - McDonalds, KFC, Nike, and plenty of other well-known brands can be found just about anywhere in the world today. However, what exactly is globalization, and how did it come about?

According to Wikipedia, globalization refers to the ever-increasing "global connectivity, integration and interdependence" in all sorts of spheres, ranging from the economic to the ecological. Simply put, globalization basically refers to the ever-evolving way in which our world is changing - this leads to the world getting more and more integrated and how countries are now very closely linked to each other, and are dependent on each other. This has led to the fast spreading of now-global well-known brands such as McDonalds, the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants. A person who does not know of McDonalds or who has never seen one is a rare find these days.

These are some pictures of McDonalds from Japan, America and Germany respectively:



















What causes globalization? There are many factors - one of which would be technology and new modern advances. With the spread of such advances, information is passed much easier around the globe. A very obvious example would be through the Internet - information about any place in the world or almost any group of people in the world can be found with a single click. The spread of infinite information is far and wide, and globalization has led to the setting up of a global telecommunications infrastructure. All this has led to investments being made without having to fly anywhere; buying and selling can be done with much more ease than before. For example, since 1950, the volume of world trade has multiplied by 20 times, and economies worldwide are booming with the fast spread of quick investments and easy consumerism.

Another factor which has pushed globalization forward further would be the economies; many countries have adopted the free-economy system, thus giving investors and businesses the freedom to invest freely. This has greatly increased the amount of investments, spreading fast across the world faster than ever before. Surely, the days by which Nike and McDonalds were limited only to the USA are long gone. Globalization has enabled companies to spread not only within specific countries, but globally (thus the name), and much more freely than before.

However, globalization is not only limited to well-known brands spreading across the globe, quickly becoming household names. Globalization not only helps to quicken the spread of information everywhere (including remote areas), it also creates a form of cultural diffusion. With globalization, people are slowly opening up to new ideas, new ways of thinking and new cultures and even religious practices. Now, instead of limiting one's self to a certain culture merely because one belongs to a specific part of the world, one can become part of the world culture, where everyone participates in new ideas and goes against the old conventional ways. A good example would be the wide spread of Hollywood movies. Now, the same blockbusters and box office hits can be watched in almost any country in the world.

These are all only the tip of the iceberg - globalization is a general term and encompasses many aspects of many countries' economies, society, technology, culture, politics and ecology. This is only a quick overview about what globalization is about. Today, globalization is taking place at a faster pace than ever before. Simply put, globalization cannot be stopped as the world continues to change, and the world is becoming more and more globalized by the day.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization
http://www.globalization101.org/

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