“. . . . gods, religions and national boundaries are absolutely imaginary. They don’t tend to exist. As soon as you pull back half a mile and look down at the Earth there are no national boundaries. There aren’t even any national boundaries when you get down and walk around. They’re just imaginary lines we draw on maps. I just get fascinated by people who assume that things that are imaginary have no relevance to their lives.”-Neil Gaiman
I think I first came across the term “globalization” back then during undergrad, when I was a Political Science major. The term has many facets. Economically, it refers to the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology. Politically, it means the creation of sort of a pseudo world government which regulates the relationships among governments and guarantees the rights arising from social and economic globalization. Socially, well, we get more exposed to different cultures from every corner of the planet.
And with the rapid pace of development of technology and the internet, globalization becomes even more potent than ever. If before, the emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to foreign products are considered “in vogue”, now, the marketplace itself has become electronic. And as information technology develops, different types of commodities also emerge. Take, for example idea-based products such as financial services, data processing, medical information/transcription, and yes, even music. All of these move across borders with just the click of a mouse. Also, outsourcing (i.e., call centers, contract abstraction, etc) has become the trend for big companies, i.e., they “outsource” the jobs which do not fall in their primary line of business (e.g., customer service, technological support) so that they could save capital and focus more on their main business. Sweet, isn’t it? Through outsourcing, lots of jobs are also created in third world countries like India and the Philippines.
Hmm, I wonder what would be the next trend in globalization.
(Eleventh entry)
References:
http://www.neilgaiman.com
Bhagwati, Jardish (2004). In Defense of Globalization. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Francesco Stipo. World Federalist Manifesto Guide to Political Globalization
http://www.tcnj.edu/-darakjy2/globalization.jpg
1 comment:
the world becomes smaller and smaller as technology becomes more sophisticated. but the problem is we only consider globalization if its profitable. how about globalization of environmentalist approaches? my niece wants to become an environmentalist when she grows up. and now that i realize it, it has to become a profession one day. people don't realize it but our environmental problem is the foremost global problem we have and now is the time to treat it with a "globalization" approach.
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