HIST*1150
FINAL WIKI REPORT: GLOBALIZATION
GROUP 11: Gillian Forth, Jonathan Kwok, Daniella DiSimoni, Aidan Small, Brandon Kassies,
Peter Faint, Patrick Algenio, Mitchell Armstrong, and David Blow
3/1/2012
Introduction
Now over a decade into the twenty first century, globalization is a household term.
However, despite the widespread use the definition of globalization is far from clear and the
concept is often defined by many different people, in many different ways. Globalization
incorporates numerous elements, including economics, politics, culture, health, war, peace, the
environment, and travel, but what it means for all of these things is more complex.
This report seeks to explore the evidence of globalization, and how the consequences and
implications of an increasingly globalized world have become apparent in a variety of ways.
Following a generally accepted definition of globalization as increased global interconnectedness
through technology, economics, trade, travel, knowledge and governance, the articles and texts
examined reveal how the trends many accept as being perpetuated by globalization have had an
impact in numerous areas of human life around the world, both positive and negative.
Part 1:
One of the authors of “Twentieth- Century World” (6th ed.), Carter Vaughn Findley, is
the president of world history and a professor at Ohio State University along with John
Alexander Murray Rothney. Dr. Findley has also received Ohio State’s distinguished research
award in 2000 and is a specialist in Turkish studies. Dr. Rothney’s areas of specialization are
history of modern France and the twentieth century world. Rothney and Findley co-founded
Ohio State’s world history program. This text is written by two American authors who teach at
the same university, illuminating the possibility of an obvious bias or prejudice, however the
authors blatantly “reject an approach based on Europe or the United States,” (p. xvii) and the text
does effectively take on a global perspective. Being written within the past six years, the
information presented can be considered relatively contemporary and is therefore still useful for
studying the twentieth-century from a twenty-first century perspective.
This textbook covers word history by focusing on themes of global interrelatedness,
identity and difference, the rise of mass society, and technology vs. nature. The text utilizes
several subject areas to reveal the multitude of perspectives history can have, such as political,
economic, social, scientific and military history, allowing for a full understanding of the
contemporary world. The topic of globalization is thoroughly addressed in this textbook as is
displayed in the preface where the authors state, “readers of earlier editions will recognize
globalization as only a new form of what the Twentieth-Century World has taken as its foremost
theme since its first edition, global interrelatedness (p.xvii).
This textbook is functional because it looks at globalization developing in specific
regions, such as Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, and explored them in a global context.
In analysing globalization, the content remains focused on outlining different perspectives of the
advancements and impacts it had throughout the world, this is exemplified through scrutinizing
global disorder and global interrelatedness. The authors explain how the text “seeks to help
students understand how global interrelatedness has evolved, primarily since WWI,” (p. xvii)
which demonstrates how world events are explained in a global context and how specific issue or
events impact people on a larger scale. The emphasis within the text is on global linkages and
seeks to identify how events such as the collapse of the stock market in the 1920s or the rise of
the Nazi regime in Germany had world-wide influence. Another major focus in this textbook is
the conflict between culture and religion and this matter of global acceptance, being “globally
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accepted”. With these views being included in this textbook, it is able to put into perspective
what specifically was beneficial to the modern developing society. This textbook summarizes the
topic of globalization to “being visualized as currents flowing. What makes up these currents
may be material, cultural or a combination of both” (p. 17).
The textbook “Twentieth-Century World History: A Canadian Perspective,” was written
by two authors from differing backgrounds. William Duiker is a professor at The Pennsylvania
State University and his major areas of focus have been with the political and historical
developments in the East over the twentieth century. Bessma Momani is an assistant professor at
the University of Waterloo and has commonly taken a Canadian perspective on international
political issues. The authors are both accomplished academics and have worked in the field of
history and politics for a considerable amount of time; they are also of different genders and
therefore likely bring different perspectives on world issues.
The textbook is explicitly from a Canadian perspective, but also attempts to remove the
“Eurocentric perspective… [and] give a truly thorough understanding of world history.” This
source was published within the past five years and therefore provides a contemporary
perspective on world issues and their most recent developments, as well as examining how this
directly impacted or influenced Canada. Despite attempting to remove biases, this text is written
by two North American academics, and is also attempting to reveal a Canadian perspective, thus
despite being critical, there are perspectives that are not illuminated in this text, such as groups
not considered politically significant by the authors.
The topic of globalization is heavily addressed in this text, and is incorporated into many
of the more specific topics addressed, such as the spread and development of Western popular
culture, the Western influence in the Middle East, the politics of the Middle East, the economic
issues in Latin America in the 1980s, and the topic of Americanization.
Globalization is a difficult topic to define and involved a diverse number of subject areas,
especially in politics and history. This textbook is useful because it examines the economic,
political, social, and cultural aspects of globalization as both negative and positive, and remains
critical when examining specific events including the involvement of the USA in several
countries in the Middle East, Structural Adjustment Programs and the IMF, and the use of media
and the spread of information on a global scale.
This source provide concise and easy to understand explanations of significant events of
the twentieth-century while highlighting the international impact of increased integration and
interdependence. However, there is an obvious Western perspective, although it is also very
critical of the Western position on the world stage as a political and economic actor.
More specifically, this text discusses in great length the spread of American media and
popular culture, through such outlets as television and material goods, to the rest of the world
and the impact this has had on the politics and cultures of other nations. Further, there is a focus
on the Western influence in the Middle East and the clash that has taken place between the two
distinct cultures. The secularization of Eastern states as well as the sexualization through foreign
media programming now available through satellite television is also addressed. The economic
actions which negatively impacted Latin America in the 1980s are criticized as Western coercion
though Neo-liberal measures (SAPs), and are seen as a negative result of globalization. Finally,
there is discussion of “McWorld” and the Americanization or Westernization of other nations
around the world, and the cultural impact this is having. However, despite these in depth and
useful discussions, there is an evident bias seeing as there is limited discussion of where
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globalization is not evident, and of those who experiences fall outside of the “newly” globalized
world of the twentieth and twenty first centuries.
The previously summarized textbooks have several similarities but also differ in many
aspects as well. While both texts critically observe the events of the twentieth-century and place
them in a global context, where they begin their analyses is different. Findley and Rothney begin
at the very end of the nineteenth-century with brief descriptions of the industrial revolution and
wars that contributed to the major happenings of the early 1900s, but quickly move towards the
First World War and the events leading up to it. Contrastingly, Duiker and Momani present
questions within the text to critically engage the content and its relevance to the larger context of
the century, including, “Why was a Social Revolution and Not Liberalism in the Air in Russia?”
and “What Brought Down the Old Order in China?” (pp. 11-13). Duiker and Momani begin their
analysis much earlier using their critical and interrogative format, contributing to a wider
knowledge of the causes of historical events as well as their effects. Overall, the beginning of the
texts differ in how far back they go to explain the events of the twentieth-century, and use
different formats to engage the reader with the content, the former being more explanatory, the
latter utilizing a more critical examination.
Both texts ground their content in the context of globalization and global interrelatedness
and seek to demonstrate the links between countries, events, people, and ideas. Further, the
authors utilize similar themes to connect the material and to display it within unique paradigms,
such as gender, nationality, science, or military. However, despite efforts not to Findley and
Rothney maintain a more streamlined and relatively Western approach, focusing on the World
Wars and the events mostly tied to North America and Western Europe. Duiker and Momani
more effectively explore the events of peripheral nations which tend to be largely ignored by
mainstream history, and despite requirements to remain concise, these authors utilize their
critical format effectively to reveal other aspects of history such as the popularity of satellite TV.
in the Middle East or details of Canada’s nationalism.
These texts are very similar but have a multitude of differences as a result of the
perspective they actively choose to take (e.g. Canadian) as well as the focus they adopt. Each are
centred on the general theme of globalization and global interrelatedness, however they do not
seek to completely define it objectively but explore it through unique avenues and utilizing
specific techniques. Both texts explore the major events of the twentieth-century in a global
context, however, each chooses to start at a different point in time and focus on slightly varying
areas of interest. The differences and similarities of these texts illuminate the complexity of not
only historical study, but more specifically the concept of globalization. The information
provided displays how depending on one’s perspective, the major areas of interest and focus can
vary from the political to the scientific to the gendered to the environmental, and exploring the
increasingly globalized nature of our society is ultimately a subjective endeavour.
Part 2:
Following a period of global stability at the beginning of the new millennium we
optimistically told ourselves that war was a thing of the past and that history was over. A year
later came 2001, and an incident that would mark the next decade as one of conflict across the
globe. After such a reversal of fortunes, naturally we began to question our long held
assumptions on what it takes to maintain peace among nations.
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Supporters of Immanuel Kant‘s 1795 essay perpetual peace proposed that democracy, economic
interdependence and international organization were three principles that were required for
ending human conflict. However, Seung Whan Choi, the author of Beyond Kantian Liberalism:
Peace through Globalization suggests that in order to deter the recurring nature of international
conflict, more than just these three pieces are required to create a lasting peace.
The author puts forward that idea that peace is achieved through the phenomena of
globalization which creates mutual interdependency among nations and increases the cost of
violent conflicts which deter nations from resolving problems using said conflicts. The author
refutes arguments that suggest that globalization is a destabilizing force by showing that
globalization only appears to be an undesirable event when its effects are only observed
narrowly. He argues that since the nature of globalization is inherently complex, it must be
viewed as a whole in order to comprehend its effects on global stability.
The author uses a statistical model to test Kant’s hypothesis. Using data from 114
countries over a span of 30 years, he rates how well those countries adhere to Kant’s principles
and compares that to their history of military disputes. Overall he found that the results did not
show conclusive evidence that adherence to Kantian principals. However, when he examined
that data using globalization instead of Kantian principles, the results became far more
conclusive.
However it is important to remember that a statistical model is only a model. Results
derived from a model depend entirely on the designer. Therefore it is important to take the
results with a grain of salt and interpret them only as a sign that we should further investigate
globalization as a contributing factor towards peace.
One of the key problems of globalization is that it is driven by the desire to create profit.
Raphael Kaplinsky expands on this idea is his article: “Is Globalization All That It Is Cracked Up
to Be”. This paper discusses the numerous implications of the increase in economic globalization
through product markets. Raphael Kaplinsky defines globalization as “a multifaceted process
[that] can be characterized as a systematic decline in the barriers to the cross-national flow of
products, factors (capitol and people), values and ideas,” (Kaplinsky, p.46) and argues
globalization has contributed to growing inequality and poverty between and within countries.
The article explains how the growth associated with increasingly integrated and
globalized markets is not apparent in poor countries. The main argument of the article is that
financial globalization has led to rising levels of poverty and inequality and a growing gap
between the rich and the poor. Kaplinsky seeks to determine whether or not globalization has
truly led to economic growth by analysing the relationship between globalization and living
standards over the past two decades. Through examination of peoples’ absolute living standards
and relative living standards, the author finds that from 1987 to 1998, in places like Asia and
Europe, income dropped severely. This correlates with a steady fall in wages throughout this
period as well, not only seen in developing countries but also in wealthy states, including the
USA and the Netherlands. The research conducted reveals an increasing disparity between the
rich and the poor over the past two decades. Through the use of statistics the author demonstrates
how the rate of unemployment from 1970 to 1997 has sharply risen due to increased integration
and globalization.
Following the author’s claim that globalization has not had the expected outcome, the
article seeks to illustrate how an increasingly globalized world has had negative implications on
the well-being of many people through high unemployment, erosion of tax bases, and the
removal or reduction of tariffs on trade, exacerbating government’s challenges with
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redistributing wealth to reduce inequality. Kaplinsky claims that “the sustainability of
globalization depends on the ability of those who gain from globalization to maintain their
political ascendency over those who lose,” (Kaplinsky, p.61) and ultimately that “if growing
openness is sustained, then increasing unequalization and falling standards of living are likely to
be experienced on a global scale” (Kaplinsky, p.62).
This article is critical of the impacts globalization has been having on our economies and
how those effects have negative implications on the lives of the poor. This is significant because
it illuminates the negative aspects brought by globalization, often overshadowed by the positive
gains of the few. The article also explains how the effects of globalization have been
theoretically contested for centuries and continue to be unclear, and utilizing these theories the
author argues that there is already reliable evidence which reveals the adverse effects of
globalization on the world’s poor, however the future of globalization remains debated.
Due to this narrow focus of corporate globalization, social and human rights can be left
behind in the process. Nisar Mohammad bin Ahmad expands on this idea is his article: “The
Economic Globalisation and its Threats to Human Rights”.
This article seeks to understand the negative implications that globalisation has had on
human rights throughout the world. It focuses its discussion on corporate elites and transnational
companies, criticizing their profit maximizing characteristics for putting human rights in the
backseat. The author also accuses globalization of being neoliberal and market driven therefore
being void of any justice or humanity. The article emphasizes that although globalization is an
on-going and never ending process of evolution, economic globalization roughly began when
trade and technology boomed during the World War 2 era. Then came the fall of the Soviet
Communism and the integration of market driven economic change. This major step in
globalization began the process of power shifting away from governments and towards economic
powerhouses, and with this major shift, the degradation of basic human rights. The author uses
examples such as inequalities in economic growth, poverty, attacks of states sovereignty and
blatant violations of human rights to help reinforce this shift of power and damage to human
rights. In the case of expanding inequalities in economic growth, the article focuses its attention
on the lack of international rules and weak governance in poor, developing countries as these are
the typical targets of TNC’S. Attacks on states sovereignty is another area where it is the poor or
underdeveloped countries that are affected. Economic globalization can be attributed to the
‘westernization’ of other countries. This ‘westernization’ is based solely off of big business and
economic reasons, and can be detrimental to third world or underdeveloped countries, and
especially to world-wide human rights. These arguments used to reinforce the authors thesis all
share the common element of third world/underdeveloped countries and the constant push for
economic and technological development. This constant push for globalization has driven many
organizations to push for regulations and theories of how to deter the negative effects of
globalization, which the author outlines and contributes to in the article. The basis of the
regulations outlined in the article revolves around national and international trade and economic
laws and the use of internal codes of conduct and self-policy regulation. The author concludes
the article with the realization that although globalization is necessary and inevitable in today’s
world, basic human rights should not take a back seat, and that TNC’s and other large economic
factors must be regulated.
If the power of TNC’s is not properly regulated then they will begin to overtake the
power of the state. Miroslav Jovanovic looks at this often glossed over fact in his article “Is
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Globalization taking us for a ride?” The article tackles the more negative side of the economic
subheading of globalization and how developments in technology are allowing trans-national
companies to skew economic power away from government authorities. The author brings up the
point that trans-national companies and their profit-maximizing ideologies are not the only
reason for the negative impacts of economic globalization, as customers are the ones that drive
economic markets and are the root of major TNC’s decisions. Furthermore, Governments now
have an even more crucial role in the economic side of globalization, as they must manage the
economy within their nation while maintaining a subtle touch, although this power is becoming
smaller and smaller thanks to TNC’s. The author states that because of these multiple factors, the
evolution process that globalization had taken, especially in an economic context, has been
rocky. Not only have anti-globalization organizations tried to hinder economic development, but
governments and economies have crashed causing widespread devastation. The article moves on
to outline both the pros and cons of economic globalization, and while there are many negatives
such as human rights violations and increasing poverty, pros such as having a ‘weightless
economy’ with no borders brings an importance to globalization. And while human rights are
sometimes damaged by globalization, positive human rights can also be spread through TNC
advertising and regulatory practices. The article concludes by focusing on the efforts presented to
help regulate the effects of globalization. These efforts include corporate social responsibility to
ensure that TNC operations follow reasonable guidelines and help to prevent TNC’s from taking
advantage of the less fortunate or underdeveloped nations. There are also trade embargos and
rules that help to ensure fair trade while opening up doors to underdeveloped nations to increase
their economic involvement and develop their nation. The article concludes that the topic of
globalization is very complex, but when broken down is heavily influenced by TNC’s.
Globalization spreads both positive and negative attributes, but it’s mainly the underdeveloped
nations that receive the negative and the developed nations the positive.
A good example of globalization affecting the stability of nations was in Arab spring of
2010. In 2010, a revolutionary wave of protests and demonstrations turned the Arab world on its
head. Regimes were toppled, governments were ousted and thousands were killed. Mark David
Nieman in his article “shocks and turbulence: globalization and the occurrence of civil war”
argues that although globalization has increased global productivity and lifted millions out of
poverty, these same mechanisms can also disrupt social strata if the rate of globalization occurs
at a faster rate than a state can adapt to it, civil conflict can occur.
Sudden shocks of globalization can make it difficult for a nation to properly distribute
positive economic and socially transformative effects equally among a populace. This can result
in the creation of a discontent subpopulation that feels that they cannot compete in a globalized
world or that their way of life is being threatened. When such a subpopulation reaches a critical
mass, civil conflict ensues.
To support his argument the author compares the onset of civil wars to the degree of change in
globalization according to the KOF index of globalization. His results show a 90% confidence
interval between economic globalization shocks and civil war.
Implications arising for this link suggest that globalization, although a requirement for
the strengthening of a state can also be a detrimental factor to the well-being of that state if it is
introduced indiscriminately by state leaders. Foresight and caution must be exercised in deciding
whether or not a state is ready to increase integration into a global community.
Immediate integration into the global community may not be the best option for all states,
especially if that state is at a significant technological disadvantage. Jeffery James expands on
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this idea in his article “Information technology, cumulative causation and patterns of
globalization in the third world. This article emphasizes the importance of information
technologies and the role that it plays in various economies. Various kinds of technologies are
associated with a number of powerful cumulative mechanisms. This results in some countries to
grow more quickly than others, leaving other countries to be seen as insignificant or
marginalized in a global perspective. The main purpose of this article is to examine the economic
characteristics of information technologies and to provide a better understanding of the effects it
has on the global economy. Technologies are significant determinants on the development,
productivity and growth for particular countries. However, a technology’s effects on the patterns
of the global economy still need to be systematically analysed. The author argues that if poor
countries were to take full use of the advantages of information technologies in order for them to
integrate more fully into the global economy, these poor countries need to be more
familiar/knowledgeable of the technologies characteristics and what certain results it can
produce. The reason why other developing countries managed to successfully exploit the
advantages of global integration is because they are more knowledgeable of what these
information technologies can do. In other words, they are more familiar with the strategic
characteristics as well as the cumulative interactions between them. This argument gets the point
across that some countries can integrate into the global economy better than other countries
depending on how well they exploit the full range of integrative possibilities that information
technologies can provide. This article gives us the understanding of the unequal patterns of
globalization that is publicly displayed by developing countries over the past ten years.
This article introduces the Myrdal's notion of cumulative causation. It is a perspective
that gives us a better understanding on the differential effects of information technology on
patterns of globalization. According to the author, the Myrdal's notion of cumulative causation is
a more beneficial perspective to use rather than the normal standpoint of standard economic
theory. Information technologies play a significant role in globalization especially in developing
countries.
In addition to technology differentials, undeveloped states can also have much lose from
the implications of increased trade on the health of their populations. The article “Globalization
of Human Infectious Disease” explores this connection
The authors begin by proposing globalization has had an impact almost everywhere in the
world. They reinforce this claim by asserting how globalization has changed and/or influenced
the world we live in today in many different ways, such as through the “cross-border trading of
goods, ideas, cultures and people” (Smith et al., p.1903).The article stresses the significance of
globalization as an enabling factor in the spread of many infectious agents to many places around
the world. The authors argue “the breakdown of barriers to human movement and international
trade exchanges have enhanced the spread of novel infectious agents to susceptible populations
across the planet,” (Smith et al., p.1903). Some examples the article provides include the 20022003 SARS epidemic, the introduction of the West Nile Virus to the United States, and the avian
influenza (H5N1).
The method of data collection used for the research is a combination of the use of the
Global Infection Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON) and geographical analysis. The
article states, “infectious agents are reported as present in or absent from over 233 nations or
territories of the world,” (Smith et al., p. 1904) and this knowledge can illuminate possible
challenges with the spread of disease, and thus aid in finding their solution.
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The authors of the article claim they were not surprised by their findings, but found them
to be somewhat unexpected, and that the evidence suggest the current pattern of the spread of
infectious diseases has provided “the greatest opportunity for rapid spread across the globe,”
(Smith et al., p. 1908). The authors identify ten factors which “have recently been identified as
the main drivers of contemporary emerging infectious diseases, many of which also contribute to
globalization and environmental change,” including, “changes in land use/agricultural practices,
changes in human demographics/society, poor population health,”(Smith et al., 1909) and many
more. The overall implication of the research and its results is how it reveals how the spread of
human infectious diseases raises serious concerns for public health, and also urges countries all
over the world to determine which infectious diseases are most likely to reach their borders and
dangerously spread. The article concludes by suggesting future research utilizing the
collaborative efforts of “public health officials, epidemiologists, and scientists studying wildlife
disease ecology and biogeography—a collection of individuals who currently rarely interact,”
(Smith et al., p.1909) further demonstrating how globalization promotes interaction and
collaboration, even at macro-levels like research.
Globalization is a complicated, ambiguous, multi-faceted, and contentious concept and
this article demonstrates how through combining geography and research on human health on a
global scale, evidence can be collected to support the argument that we currently live in an
increasingly interconnected or “globalized” world. Through studying how infectious diseases
spread and discovering the factors which exacerbate the proliferation of disease, the authors
combine the concept of globalization with its implications on public health.
The article, “Globalization and Cholera: Implications for Global Governance,” by
Richard Dodgson and Kelley Lee, explores the spread of infectious disease further by examining
the cholera pandemic to investigate the historical explanations for the spread of infectious
disease.
Richard Dodgson and Kelley Lee assess the impacts globalization has had on health on a
global scale over the past few centuries with a specific focus on cholera. The main thesis of the
article is how globalization’s impact on health is not concise and easy to identify, but part of a
longer historical process which is embedded in society and how people and the way they interact
has altered over time. The authors argue a more thorough understanding of international relations
and of the international political economy over the past few centuries could lead to a better
understanding of how to address global health concerns such as endemics and pandemics like
cholera. Dodgson and Lee demonstrate that such an understanding of globalization could provide
solutions and effective responses to health concerns by using the example of the cholera
pandemic, and how transportation, migration, and trade influenced the outbreak worldwide. The
authors also use the cholera pandemic case study to better understand globalization itself and its
disproportionate impact on the economically disadvantaged. The article concludes with a
proposition for an adequate system of global governance which would enable better monitoring
of international health issues and prevent crisis on a global scale.
The evidence provided by the authors is in the changes in disease patterns and their
relationship to human settlement patterns, as well as through the introduction of trade routes and
increased movement of people across borders. Further, the authors propose that in most recent
decades, the development of modes of transportation which are fast, involve people in close
proximity, and global, has increased the need for a form of global governance to protect from
health crisis as people are more susceptible than ever to disease. The movement of people and
the consequences of globalization have directly influenced human health around the world,
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although disproportionately, which the authors point out reveals an interesting characteristic of
globalization itself.
This article illuminates the relationship between globalization and human health, and how
through examining human interaction through areas such as trade and migration there can raise a
better understanding of how different groups and societies are affected by the forces of
globalization. Further, the authors reveal how globalization can be better understood by
examining health concerns over the past centuries by tracking where endemics and pandemics
occur and why.
Not only can globalization negatively affect states health and economy, they can also
adversely affect their culture. An article from Robert Lieber and Ruth Weisberg expands on this
idea with their article “Globalization, Culture, and Identities in Crisis,” this article examines
globalization’s impact on culture and the many effects the “clash of civilization” has had on
global society. The article defines globalization as “the increasing global integration of
economies, information technology, the spread of global popular culture, and other forms of
human interaction,” (Lieber and Weisberg, p.273) and identifies two interpretations of the impact
globalization, one as optimistic, and the other as oppositional. Robert Lieber and Ruth Weisberg
suggest that globalization is discussed primarily in the context of economies and politics, and
one aspect that is often left unexamined is the intersection of culture and politics in relation to
globalization. Lieber and Weisberg argue “culture in its various forms now serves as a primary
carrier of globalization and modern values, and constitutes an important arena of contestation for
national, religious and ethnic identity,” meaning the overlapping of culture and politics has
significant implications on identity, especially post-September 11th, 2001.
The article’s goal is to “explicate the deeper reasons for these strong but often
oppositional reactions that people have to the effects of globalization on what they identify as
their culture” (Lieber and Weisberg, p.275). The article claims this shift to a prolific American
culture in global society has been received positively in places such as Europe and Japan, while
other countries have had an intense negative reaction towards it, such as many Muslim countries.
America is argued to have cultural primacy and thus dominate in areas such as entertainment and
language, largely because of its position as the most powerful country in the world. This
proliferation of American culture or the “Americanization” of other cultures is argued to have
negative implications on the many dimensions of human identity, such as the personal, ethnic,
national, religious, and social, possibly contributing to conflict.
The authors are ultimately arguing the primacy of American culture in the world
provokes different reactions in different places, specifically, that Muslim countries are more
likely to react harshly, even with violence, to the presence of influence of foreign culture.
Further, Lieber and Weisberg’s use of the word “modern” is unclear and fails to describe what is
apparently inherently different about certain states in contrast to Muslim states specifically. The
article attributes this difference to the claim “that in these societies, radically different notions of
values and identity are played out in the cultural realm, with much of the impetus stemming from
rage at corrupt regimes and failed societies, which is then redirected at external targets through
forms of transference” (Lieber and Wiesberg, p.276). Moreover, the authors continue elaborate
by proposing that the “intense cultural resentments” held by those countries who react negatively
have “little relationship to the problems at hand yet provide convenient scapegoats” (Lieber and
Weisberg, p.276).
The article compares globalization’s influence on popular culture, folk/indigenous
culture, and high culture in order to assess how each are perceived to be threatened by increased
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integration and interconnection. Lieber and Weisberg criticize exaggerated claims of
globalization’s detrimental effects on cultural identity and argue culture is always susceptible to
influence and those who react harshly to increased integration and Americanization are actually
transferring their discontent with other issues to anger towards the Western influence.
Robert Holton’s article, “Globalization’s Cultural Consequences,” takes a slightly
different perspective and focuses on how people understand globalization’s cultural affects and
how it is difficult to create an all-encompassing explanation. Robert Holton’s thesis in this article
is that the relationship between culture and globalization is complex and diverse and there are
common ways of examining the influence of culture on globalization (and vice versa) which
have limitations and leave out important elements. Holton compares three different positions on
the consequences globalization has on culture, the homogenization thesis, the polarization thesis,
and the hybridization (syncretization) thesis, and argues although these positions all illuminate
significant ways in which globalization has had cultural consequences, they also fail to
“adequately explain the diversity and complexity of global cultural development” (p. 151). This
article outlines each of the three positions, followed by a critical analysis of their limitations as
incomplete theories in understanding the implications globalization has had on the development
of culture. The author aims to highlight this gap in the understanding of how culture is affected
by globalization, not to outline a sufficient and all-encompassing explanation of how
globalization affects culture.
The three positions on the consequences of globalization on culture are all part, but not
the whole picture of how culture has been shaped by the increased spread of information and
people. The homogenization thesis proposes cultures will eventually “Americanize” or
“Westernize” and will resemble Western European or North American traditional ideas and
lifestyles. The polarization thesis claims globalization has produced “The West” and “The
Other,” or the West as the Other, developing two distinct cultures which are in opposition to one
another. Finally, the hybridization or syncretization thesis states cultures will eventually coalesce
and form a combined culture, which will be a collective identity made up of the diverse cultures
around the world through human interaction and the spread of ideas, and that this is revealed
through music and religion. However, although all of these positions offer understanding of
certain parts of globalization’s impact on culture, the author argues that none of them
independently explains its influence in full.
Globalization is a complex and diverse concept which can refer to a multitude of ideas.
This article aids in the understanding of how difficult it can be to narrow down the implications
of globalization, as well as reveal the existing positions on cultural change over the course of the
past millennia. The three positions outlined by the author offer insight into the various ways
globalization has shaped culture around the world, but also how complicated it can be to provide
a concise understanding of globalization’s impacts on culture specifically.
Part 3:
Considering there is a selection of different academic opinions on the effects of
globalization already explored in this report, a variety of first-hand accounts from politicians and
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other global figures are able to contribute a “real-world” view of how globalization is
experienced by people around the world.
Hugo Chavez was born in 1954 and took office as the President of Venezuela in 1999. In
2004 Chavez gave a speech at the opening of the G-15 Summit and discussed the economic
factors of globalization which have had the greatest consequences for the people of Latin
America (p. 497). Chavez alludes to the pro-democratic-capitalist work of Francis Fukuyama
when denouncing the Neo-liberal policies which have dominated economics all over the world
for the past three decades:
The world began to witness the so-called ‘end of history’ and the triumphant chant of the
Neo-liberal Globalization, which today, besides an objective reality, is a weapon of
manipulation intended to force us to passiveness faced to an Economic World Order that
excludes our South countries and condemns them to the never ending role of producers of
wealth and recipient of leftovers (p.498).
Chavez is discussing the economic impact of globalization, and specifically the
consequences of the Structural Adjustment Programs of the 1980s in Latin America. The
dramatic increase in disparity within Venezuela and Latin America and also between Latin
America and the Western world are the focus of Chavez’s speech, he states, “globalization has
not brought the so-called interdependence, but an increase in dependency,” (p. 498) which is an
idea mirrored by one of the examined journal articles, “Is Globalization All That It Is Cracked
Up To Be?” This article discusses the negative economic implications of globalization for those
who inhabit the third-world and the lower economic classes, reinforcing Chavez’s argument.
Further, Chavez describes the health implications of the poverty which spread across
Latin America during its “lost decade” of development, and provides evidence of globalization
“in the countries of the South, in the 790 millions of people who are starving, 800 millions of
illiterate adults 654 millions of human beings who live today in the South and who will not grow
older than 40 years of age” (p.498). This manifestation of globalization is not one examined in
the preceding journal articles, at least not in the same way. Two of the journal articles studied
revealed the consequences of an increasingly globalized world on the spread of infectious
diseases, including cholera; however their analysis did not include the health implications of the
economic changes, but investigated the migratory increase and changes in trade patterns, spurred
by globalization. Chavez focuses on the increase in poverty and income disparity as evidence of
the economic sanctions imposed on Venezuela and other parts of Latin America, and how this
has contributed to a devastating decline in the living standards and health of millions. This added
perspective illuminates how globalization’s impact is broad and can have an impact in one area
in a multitude of ways, such as health through economics and trade or travel.
Hugo Chavez’s account of how globalization has had dramatically negative consequences
for Latin America over the past thirty years specifically, is also discussed at length in
“Twentieth-Century World History: A Canadian Perspective.” Chavez’s sentiments are shown to
also be held by academics as well, and the topic of the IMF and the World Bank, and SAPs
specifically, is a major focus of international development studies, reinforcing his argument
against increased economic “interdependence.”
Hugo Chavez’s analysis of the events and trends of the past three decades in Latin
America aid in understanding how globalization is felt by real citizens of the world, and not just
how it is interpreted by academics and scholars.
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This speech is about globalization through the depolarization of power in the world. One
of the greatest worries about globalization is that when the west begins to lose influence in
relation to the other rising powers, the world will fall into chaos. In this speech, Putin talks about
the myth of a unipolar world where the United States remains as the dominant superpower. He
goes on to describe how such a world is not only incompatible with democracy but ultimately
unsustainable. He points out that having only one dominant power is similar to that of a bully, a
bully that gets to do whatever it wants do, regardless of the opposition of its peers. For example
United States went on to conduct the Iraq war, regardless of the opposition to it by the
international community.
He goes on to mention that the United States continues to live out this fantasy of a
unipolar world by spreading it’s influence via aggressive acts and considering itself above the
law. Putin argues that peace can only be achieved by consensus not domination. He champions
the UN as the only legitimate way to regulate the use of force between states and points out that
unless we begin to respect international law, we will never have a truly secure and prosperous
world.
Though now dead, for years bin Laden humbled the greatest superpower that the word
has ever known by remaining hidden and continuing to broadcast his jihadist views to the rest of
the world. In 2004 he gave a speech on American public policy, in this, bin Laden explains the
motives behind his attack by linking is back to America aiding Israel in the 1982. He recalls the
scenes of destruction that he witnessed first-hand in Lebanon and how they ultimately convinced
him that the only way to resist violence was with violence itself. He goes on to criticize the
hubris and hypocrisy of the United States. Saying that, instead of spreading freedom they only
create destruction, that instead of giving democracy, they only promote oppression.
Although not entirely unjustified, bin Laden’s actions have not only harmed the lives of
many Americans, but also that of countless Muslims as well. To truly understand why he
concluded that violence was the only solution to violence, we have to look at the globalization of
the Middle East and its effect on Islamic fundamentalism. Too many in the Arab world,
globalization is synonymous to westernization, as the ideas, customs, institutions and attitudes
that are spread by globalization are predominantly western in origin. Since Islamic culture is
such a fundamental part to the identity to many Arabs, it is not surprising that many feel
threatened by change and react defensively. In a sense, you could argue that Al Qaeda is a
reaction to rampant Americanisation. But Instead of imposing western values, they impose
fundamentalist Islam. In this case, globalization has created a conflict between modernity and
traditionalism.
Conclusion:
Now over a decade into the twenty first century, globalization is a household term.
However, despite the widespread use the definition of globalization is far from clear and the
concept is often defined by many different people, in many different ways. Globalization
incorporates numerous elements, including economics, politics, culture, health, war, peace, the
environment, and travel, but what it means for all of these things is more complex. Our review of
a vast array of literature on the concept and process of globalization has revealed a variety of
consequences of an increasingly globalized world. The texts provided insight into the multitude
of implications globalization has on the lives of people all over the world, such as through the
spread of infectious disease, increasing economic disparity between and within countries, and
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also affecting and even permanently altering cultures. A majority of the authors took a
cautionary approach to the course of globalization, while acknowledging the process itself as
inevitable in an increasingly connected world. Evidence of globalization is present in almost
every aspect of people’s lives around the world in the twenty-first century, the implications of
this must be considered in order to off-set threats to human welfare.
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