What is Globalization Essay

Total Length: 921 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 2

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1) Globalization is the process of the increasing degree of integration that nations are experiencing as the result of changes to communication, transportation, and economic development paradigms (Investopedia, 2017). There are differing views, for example, whether the definition should include a merely passive understanding or should include the fact that these processes are to some extent driven by actors specifically seeking to increase the interdependence between nations.

2) It would be odd to contest the concept of globalization. There will be differing definitions, of course, but it would be difficult to contest the notion that globalization exists. If `contested concept" as a phrase is being used to refer to the fact that people hold different opinions regarding the processes or merits of globalization, the reason is that in a world with 7 billion people, nobody is going to agree on much of anything. Every concept is contested by definition.

If the intent of the question is to ask about the nature of the contestation, then there are many reasons why people have issues with the processes by which globalization has been occurring. For the most part, globalization has actually been an organic process due to technological change, but doubtless the economic aspects have been specifically driven by particular interests. The outcomes are inequitable – as outcomes of every activity are – and certainly there are people who would prefer different outcomes.
There is a view that the drivers of globalization have tended to favor the people with the most power, as those people have held the strongest influence over the course that globalization has taken (e.g. negotiating trade deals, focusing on investment flows over freedom of movement of people, abrogating rights of some peoples in favor of rights of others).

3) Scholars seeking the evaluate globalization have naturally come to disagreement over the definition of the term. For example, Keohane & Nye (2000) question whether globalization simply means interdependence, or if there is a distinct concept of globalization. They also note that such interdependencies would have to be global in nature, though this can easily be contested. The example of a regional alliance between the US and Canada was cited by the authors (p.105). Well, that may seem regional, but Canada just signed a trade deal with the EU – Canada and the US do not exist in a vacuum, but are linked throughout the world, and those linkages can sometimes bleed through to the other nation.

Further, Keohane and Nye were writing in 2000, and thus focused on what is ultimately a somewhat artificial understanding of interdependence as something we….....

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