Defining Globalism

(Third of a series). Globalism is the biggest idea in the world right now. The French call it Mondialisation, the Germans say Globalisiening and throughout much of Latin America, it's called globalizacion. WTO talks and demos are underway in Japan this week. Even though globalism has many humanist advocates, much of what we used to call the political left hates it. So do religious fundamentalists and extremists like the Taliban, who equate it with godlessness and blashphemy. I've been writing about it for years, and got more than 2,000 responses and e-mails about it from some columns here last week, but you know what? I still couldn't tell you exactly what it is. "It's the biggest evil facing the world," e-mailed JDRow. "It's the only hope the world really has," messaged a professor from Amherst. Neither could say what it was. Can you?

Sometimes things are easier to grasp by defining what they're not. The e-mail and posts last week were about equally divided (apart from the usual flaming yahoos) over whether globalism marks corporate evil or global modernization. Most were agreed that globalization isn't about buying computers and TV set. It's about what sociologists like Anthony Giddens of the London School of Economics call living in a "runaway world," a period of enormous transformation, affecting almost every aspect of life from technology to how government functions to employment to personal values. Globalization is spreading all over the world, yet nobody is in charge of it, and there isn't even much consensus about what it is, an economic system or an ideology.

Generally speaking, globalization today is a Western idea (although other, earlier cultures took some shots at it), fueled most recently by technology's forging of a global economy. It's a powerful offshoot of capitalism and popular culture, yet it's being debated in almost every country, and it's become almost impossible to hear a major political speech that doesn't mention it.

The subject arouses strong emotions. Directly or not, globalism is at the root of the terrorist attacks on September 11, and the resulting conflict between the United States and Islamic fundamentalists, who are articulate and open about their hatred of the changes sweeping their cultures. Every business is obsessed with it.

It's getting hard to find academics and other members of the intelligentsia who don't mistrust it, equating it, somewhat justifiably, with corporatism and the rise of the multinationals. Surely, there are more reasons to mistrust the multinational corporations who advance globalization than I could possibly list here.

But globalization is an elusive notion. Skeptics argue that it's a highly exploitive western force and profit center that represents business as usual for corporatists exploiting new worker pools and marketing possibilities, and for despoiling the rest of the environment.

Some economists argue that globalization is an old idea, similar to the way world economies operated centures ago, from the Romans to the Venetians. Those civilizations didn't have an e-economy and the Net, of course, and couldn't transfer cash all over the planet in seconds.

And there are clear differences. Globalization seems to erode the longtime primacy of the nation-state, already undercut by networked computing, which changes the potency of boundaries and enables people, businesses and banks to talk directly to one another rather than through surrogates. It also undermines dogmas, both political and religious, some of which greatly fear environments that permit the free flow of ideas. It's hard to preach a monotheistic view of the world if all sorts of ideas are available to your kids online and via TV, music and film. And the new global electronic economy -- involving fund managers, banks, corporations and millions of individual investors -- can transfer vast sums of capital from one part of the world to another in seconds, quickly stabilizing or de-stabilizing economies, as has happened recently in Asia.

Electronic information has also fueled globalism and its consequences. The World Trade Center attacks were a global, not a local event. When Nelson Mandela was released from a South African jail, he was watched by the entire world. So is the American bombing campaign against the Taliban. This kind of internationally-transmitted imagery doesn't just provide external information, but affects the internal politics and reality of our lives -- our family and religious values, our perceptions about the world. When hundreds of teenagers stormed the Berlin Wall and began to tear it down, the first thing many of them did was run to music stores and buy the videos they'd been secretly -- and illegally -- watching on MTV. And "Baywatch" remains the most popular show in Iran, to the despair of the religious leaders running the country.

Primitive cultures like the one running Afghanistan don't accept the inevitability of globalism. Most other governments do, perhaps the primary reason the Arab world isn't actively resisting the much-resented United States in its new war. Countries that don't want to join in may end up like Afghanistan, beset by tribal conflicts, cut off from capital development and economic opportunity. Would investment from multi-nationals help or harm a country like Afghanistan, where one kid after another says in TV interviews that the only available job opportunities involve shooting people?

Whether it's a good witch or not, globalism is much too big and pervasive an idea to go away. For all the media hysteria about bio-terrorism and other dangers, it seems probable that the United States will ultimately destroy the Taliban government, and the first such conflict of the 21st century will be over. What isn't as clear is whether this will mark the beginning of a war or the end. Or whether anybody will ever come up with a widely-accepted definition of what globalization really is.

Comments

It's also...

[Calle Ballz]

lobalizationgay in piglatin

GLOBALIZATION ON WHOSE TERMS?

[andres32a]

The main problem with Globalism is that everyone has their own idea of what it means. And most people tend to use the word as something that names what they like or dislike. In consequence, most people have an inmediate, non-analitical, and almost violent reaction towards the word "GLOBALIZATION". (At least JonKatz seems to...)

There is something that can be said about Globalism... Dont trust anyones definition on that word, specially when their definition is full of generalizations...

Having said that it can be argued either way if Multinationals have hijacked or not globalism. But you see, this is totally relative to the multinational at hand.

Investors from different countries tend to behave in different ways, frequently reflecting the different kinds of capitalist systems they come from. The most striking differences among foreign direct investors in the U.S. economy are found between West European and Japanese entities. Investments by the former are heavily concentrated in manufacturing and R investments by the latter are more evenly split between manufacturing and R&D facilities on the one hand and distribution networks on the other.

The bottom line is that international organizations today are fundamentally political, not legal or judicial, entities and will remain so into the policy-relevant future. Their staffs, moreover, will long be composed of foreign nationals dedicated to pursuing their own countries' interests. These organizations are certainly capable of fostering significant degrees of international cooperation in the technology field and others, but as is the case with issues involving globalization, interdependence, and cooperation, member states will constantly struggle to secure the best possible terms of cooperation. National representatives will continue to battle over questions such as: Who pays? Who benefits? Who benefits the most? Who is in charge?

You can't except organizations that are created for the purpose of making money (and the goverments sponsored by them) to behave otherwise. What you can hope for is that competition created by "globalization" will give consumers better products and that the free flow of technology and information within the "global village" will give people more an more choices.

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

Rich Cook.

Re:GLOBALIZATION ON WHOSE TERMS?

[Hard_Code]

Trade-based globalization will result in the shifting of power from cultural states (i.e. countries), to economic "states" (i.e. multinational corporations), transcending national law, and a lot of the social reasons governments are formed, and law is written in the first place. We need then to fill this vacuum with strong international law and cooperation of the peoples of many nations. Otherwise we are just going to end up with a cabal of extremely wealthy and exploitive corporations with no allegiance to any particular peoples, exploiting and oppressing for profit.

It's probably too late to reverse globalization(understatement of the century), both economic and cultural/social, but we can at least try to keep it on track and make sure it looks out for the many instead of just the few entrenched players.

Re:GLOBALIZATION ON WHOSE TERMS?

[Bouncings]

I think the mention of Japan is important. Japan, and what has happened to it over the past fifty years is the image of globalization. From competing with western industry in production of cars, to the integration of cultures. A few things to consider...

• Japan, although it has a suffering economy, represents a very strong concentration of economic power for such a relatively small country.
• Japan's old culture has certainly not been destroyed. Many anti-globalization voices argue globalization destroys cultures. Not exactly. Japan's old culture, old values, have been mixed and integrated with western ones. Anything American sells well in Japan, while Japanise cartoons sell well in America. The key issue being, both were altered in the process of being exported to another culture.

Japan has become modern, industrial, and an ECONOMIC superpower. Japan is the face of globalization. Thanks to billions of dollars in aid and reconstruction from the US, it has mostly avoided the negative backlash to globaization some developing countries see.

You might note that few would say American industry has exploited Japan and its workers, infact American industry has been damaged by competition. The idea that globalization has anything to do with exploitation should take note of this.

Re:GLOBALIZATION ON WHOSE TERMS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot, the way I see it, is a site for nerds to talk about science, technology, games, and toys (like legos). Politics are only discussed when something drastic happens (9/11, and war, for example). Jon Katz, a journalist with no technology background, has proven time and time again that he can't hang with the "technology" crowd, so he starts to write about topics he knows (like politics). This has no place in slashdot (nor does most of his writings). As proof, I present this article on kuro5hin about OSDN getting rid of kuro5hin.
In this article, Roblimo states : Kuro5hin's emphasis has changed since we first started working together. It is no longer as focused on Linux, Open Source, and Internet tools as it was a year ago. Kuro5hin is still great, but it is no longer a good "fit" with other OSDN Web sites. I ask this, How does Jon Katz fit with Linux, Open Source, and Internet tools?

Moderators, please consider what I said before modding me into oblivion.
Thanks.

Re:GLOBALIZATION ON WHOSE TERMS?

[jafac]

If you look as corporations as an individual person - then the act of turning to a coporation for "governmental sevices" is pretty much equivalent to paying Vito and his buddies a monthly fee to not 'bust up your place'. It's anarchy.

The first duty of a government, ANY government, is to protect it's people. Whether it's from a gang-operated protection racket, or whether it's from profit-driven exploitive multinational corporations.
The difference between a GOVERNMENT and a GANG, is that the GOVERNMENT (at least in a democratic society) is accountable to it's people. The money this government extorts is supposed to go to provide the goods and services it's people need, and the information about that money is mostly publicly availalbe. Accountability. If you pay Vito $100 per month not to hassle you, (or if you pay SecureCorp $500 a month to provide "security services" to your home, in absence of a governmnet -funded police force) - you have no idea where that money's going. Is Vito's $100 going to pay for a couple of young punks to stand outside your restaurant to make sure nobody from any rival gang comes along? Or is it going into Vito's pocket for his next snort of coke? Is SecureCorp's $500 going to pay for well trained well armed security patrols in your neighborhood? Or is it going to pay for the CEO's teenage daughter's Lexus?
At least when I pay my taxes, I know where most of it gets spent, even if I disagree with some of it, I have a right to VOTE.
In an unrestricted market economy - SecureCorp might even become a monopoly. "Vote with your dollars" doesn't work. Basically, without the government regulation to prevent monopolies or their abuses, what your "free market" is, is anarchy.

Re:GLOBALIZATION ON WHOSE TERMS?

[Bouncings]

You simply aren't being fair. First of all, the suggestion that globalization makes the size of an organization (be it a company, a government, a university, a charity, a political group) effect its voice is contrary to the evidence. A few points to make on that:

• The fall of the Soviet Union. Many scholars attribute this, and other political uprisings to the free flow of cultures and information.
• The Internet.
• Consider non-globalized cultures. Besides the standard middle-east ones we've talked about lately (Iran, Iraq, Taliban-controlled-Afghanistan), consider countries in Africa and Asia. Do you see a lot of free flow of ideas there? Fully globalized cultures like the America, Canada, (most of) Europe, some of South America, Japan, etc. -- all these cultures value freedom of speech. Free flow of ideas and information is what globalization is all about.

Just because some developing countries (PC for third world) have one component of globization (say, trade) but not the other (say, free speech), doesn't mean one won't lead to another (again, fall of the Soviet Union).

Secondly, you assert that cheap labor is exploitation and the people in third world countries embrace it because they "don't know better?" They embrace it because working, bettering your conditions, and feeding your family is desirable to poverty! A wage of $1/day may seem like exploitation, but if the cost of living is $1/day, it's not so bad. When competition and trade is fully permitted, competition for workers grows and wages go up. A government is also free to set minimum wages -- it's all part of competition, even competition between nations on who has the lower wages!

Consider this analogy. The United States passed a constitutional amendment allowing states to regulate their own inter-state trade. California decided to produce its own goods. Why? Factories in West Virginia were exploitative: they only paid their workers minimum wage, hardly enough to live in in San Fransisco, Los Angeles, or most other Californian cities. Of course, the cost of living in Cali is very different from the cost of living in West Virginia. The same is true internationally.

As for human rights. Because China doesn't give its people freedom, we America won't give its people the freedom to buy Chinese goods? That hardly seems reasonable.

What Globalization Is...

[jsonic]

Neither could say what it was. Can you?

Globalization can be classified as a polarizing issue. Often seen in politics, it is simply an issue that one can use to easily separate people into two groups; those for, and those against.

Somewhere in the middle exists a rational argument, but either sides probably aren't interested in hearing it.

Friday's gonna be hell...

[Stavr0]

Globalism means I'll be dodging rubber bullets and tear gas on my way to work Friday.
The major Ottawa bus routes (Transitway) come within 100m of the conference center where the G20/IMF summit is held.

Info: Global Democracy Ottawa

Globalism

[thesparkle]

" Neither could say what it was. Can you?"

It is either a floor cleaner or a dessert topping.

Don't worry, it's both!

Concerns

[mirko]

My big concern about globalism is that it doesn't define the end-user as a global citizen but as a global consumer.

Also, why doesn't it show a myriad of global companies instead of today's fewer and fewer multinational companies?

The recent dotcom era went in this direction but soon became suffocated by these few majors.

When the concept of globalism will make abstraction of this centralism we might switch to an era of global equity but this will only occur if the press frees itself from the economical interests that endanger its objectivity and favors the actual monolithic global model.

Who's the most global?

[tcd004]

I work for a magazine called foreign policy. Late last year we did a very interesting set of rankings that rated how "global" different countries are. We worked with AT Kearney to develop a system to measure and compare things like, # of secure interent hosts, amount of foreign direct investment, # of long distance telephone calls. The results of the study were interesting and suprinsing. This year we'll be publsishing the same report in January.

the scariest thing

[nate1138]

The thing that really scares me about globalization is the homogenization that follows. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some extremist or religious nut. But every nation being different is what makes it so interesting. Once there are McDonalds on every corner, and the whole world shops at The Gap, this place will be so boring it will drive me mad. On the other hand, if you go too far protecting your national identity, you end up like the french, with their laws preventing social dilution at the expense of personal freedom, or like the Taliban, so scared that people will see western ways and abandon their twisted interpretation of religion that allows them to keep control. It really is a fine line.

Re:the scariest thing

[elefantstn]

Actually, as far as I can tell, it's exactly the opposite. Take as an example the restaurant business. Fifty years ago, for the majority of Americans, restaurants consisted of diners, hamburger shops, and upscale American-style places. Now, in the relatively small town in which I live, I am within easy striking range of multiple Indian, Japanese, Chinese (Szechuan, Hunan, etc), Italian (Genovese, Sicilian, Neapolitan, etc), Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai, and many other restaurants. And I'm not counting Olive Garden/Chi-Chi's-style ethnic food ripoff places, either -- these are restaurants owned and operated by immigrants who are cooking and selling authentic cuisine.

Globalization is not a one-way street; the cultural exchange goes both ways. The aforementioned restaurant example is not the only area this sort of thing is happening, either. Commercial diversity is rapidly growing, and globalization means that the barrier to entry to become an international business is much lower. There is a myriad of places I can go to import things from overseas now that I couldn't even five years ago.

I really don't understand the globalization=blandness argument that comes up so often both here and elsewhere. In my experience, globalization=diversity.

Re:the scariest thing

[Sycraft-fu]

A good example of something that has been 'imported' for eastern cultures, so to speak, on a large scale receantly is Buddihsm. It's still a small religion in the US, but there are sure a whole lot more Buddhists here today than, say, 1901. I read an article in a journal awhile back, I don't remember which one, about the rise of "alternative" (in this case basically meaning non-western) religions in the US in the last 30-40 years. This is a good example of culture and ideas flowing back into the US. However I certianly don't think it is destroying us as a nation, killing our national identity, making us bland or any of the rest of that nonsense. You can be American, and Buddhist too.

...

[Acheon]

Globalism is, among other things, the only way for local markets to keep expanding. Since there is nothing left beyond the world for now, I guess this is the last phase until the end of the old world and probably the beginning of a new middle age.

Don't get me wrong. Globalism in itself is the negation of any kind of territorialism being used as forms of abuse -- the fall of barriers. But those barriers still want to survive on their own ; if they're going to disappear, they may try not to go down alone and take a part of the world with them.

Therefore, any side-effect of globalism should not be attributed to itself. It is rather an opportunity to get rid of systems that do not have any use anymore, that will crash anyway on their own, and that can blow us with them if we do nothing. If we're going to globalize anyway, let's not do it half-assed.

--Martin

I knew all along...

[mikeage]

globalization is what JonKatz (tm) is/was/will be against. What more do we need to know?

Of course, I thought it was one of the following:
a. jocks
b. columbine
c. censorship
d. hollywood
e. republicans
f. religion
g. me
h. democrats
i. microsoft
j. short articles
k. cowboyneal
l. all of the above
m. all of the above and then some

(Score:
+1 True
-50 moderator didn't like it)

Globalism is not the problem: Government is

[informed]

Globalism is never a problem for anyone -- it allows competition to level the paying field for even the poorest nations as long as they have the people who want to work for it.
Where globalism, capitalism, and "Big Business" get ugly is when the government (any government) intervenes in any way: whether its a subsidy, a tariff, an embargo, even a bailout (a la airlines). The minute a government steals from the citizens in order to help a business, the system falls apart. Those who worked hard to make their business profitable get hurt for their smarts (Look at the airline industry, there are numerous airlines HIRING right now, and some of which who are still profitable). Instead, our government takes the biggest ones, with the worst track record of profitability, and bail them out, hurting the little guy who was making it work.
Big Business will always fail with no government intervention, eventually. 10 smaller companies in a co-op situation will always do better in the long run if they have the competitive edge and no sanctions to hurt them or subsidies to help the Big Business competition.
It's evident that totally free trade can "save the world." It's more evident that our country will never allow it. Sanctions against Iraq destroyed that country (NOT Saddam Hussein as the media and government portrays as the culprit). Sanctions and subsidies destroyed the wheat crop in Columbia, then destroyed the coffee crop. What was left? Coca. Now our government intervenes to destroy that crop.
In order to have a peaceful society, we need to get government ENTIRELY out of free trade. Let businesses and people deal with whomever they want, bar none. I can understand if government may want to limit arms sales, but other than that, I can see no reason to ever limit or subsidies trade or business of any kind. In a totally free economy, there will always be winners and losers. Unfortunately, government intervention makes losers into smaller losers, and the winners into big losers. Tell them to stay out, and you'll see happy people all over the world, able to buy and sell their wares at prices that they deem proper.
We believe that without the government, prices would skyrocket (they wouldn't, supply and demand and competition prevent that), or we'd have shortages (again, suppy and demand and competition would help), or we'd see our economy fail because other countries do it cheaper (they do, and better, sometimes its even our unions that make our businesses unprofitable, not necessarily our business tactics).

Re:Globalism is not the problem: Government is

[scruffy]

We believe that without the government, prices would skyrocket (they wouldn't, supply and demand and competition prevent that), or we'd have shortages (again, suppy and demand and competition would help), or we'd see our economy fail because other countries do it cheaper (they do, and better, sometimes its even our unions that make our businesses unprofitable, not necessarily our business tactics).

I believe that without the government we would have more pollution and more danger in general (cars, food, health, workplaces, medicine, buildings). The government is certainly not perfect in this, but better than what the private industry would do. Given a choice between any public good and profit, businesses will choose profit, especially if they think that their survival is on the line. Government is needed to regulate businesses. What regulations are appropriate is the right question.

Problems with Globalism

[remande]

I understand globalism as a tendancy towards fewer and larger soveriegn governments. I see two problems with the concept. One is a problem with the theory, one is a problem with the way it is currently practiced.

The first problem (the one with the theory) is an attempt to homogenize culture. Face it, most people like their culture, no matter what it is. Culture is usually not prescribed by the government, but is certainly influenced by it. On the other hand, cultural homogenization may be inevitable--more influenced by cheap transportation and communication than any political actions.

The second problem has to do with the way globalization is being done. I am a US citizen, and consider having a say in my government to be a divine right. Current globalization efforts include, IMHO, the UN, the WTO, and the EU. These agencies, these super-governments (for lack of a better term) don't answer to people, they answer to governments. This removes the person further from the government imposing laws on him or her. I don't swear allegiance to the UN, I am not permitted to help elect its members, why should I answer to it? Why should my country's business laws be prescribed by the WTO, when I have no opportunity to vote the bums out?

This looks like a pure power steal. Global agencies are not directly accountable to people. If they were, if I could protest their policies peacefully at the ballot box rather than violently at protests (the only option we now have), I would have more patience with them.

Re:Problems with Globalism

[Sycraft-fu]

I think Canada is an even better example than you realise. I have an interesting perspective on it being a dual citizen of the US and Canada, living in the US but traveling to Canada regularly. What I have noticed is that Canada DOES have a noticably different culture from the US. A great example would be the ties with the British monarchy (they still sing God Save the Queen there for those that don't know). This despite the fact that the US and Canada share a border across which free travel is allowed and are each other's largest trade partners.

While Globilazation certianly spreads culture and exposes people to foreign goods/ideas/etc that doesn't mean that traditonal values or identites are shattered or anything. Despite what some may think, Canada isn't just like a colder version of the US, it's a different country and noticably so.

Re:Problems with Globalism

[furiousgeorge]

>>they still sing God Save the Queen there
>>for those that don't know

WHAT?? No they don't. Come on.... lets stick to the face please.

(for the record... i AM canadian. The queen is on our money. Other than that nobody really gives a damn about her -- as it should be. A bunch of inbred spoiled social deviants do not role models make).

Re:Problems with Globalism

[Sycraft-fu]

Ok well I'm not sure if we are talking about the same Canada here, I'm talking about the large country to the north of the US which does, in fact, sing God Save the Queen. No, not every day, not as a ritual or anything I never claimed that. However it is sung there, I should know, I've been in a group singing it. My point was that Canada is still commonwealth, for example you can go and work in Australia fairly easy as a Canadian citizen. The point is that Canada, despite being next to the US and it's most major trade partner, is it's own distinct country with it's own identity. Generally I've found part of that is that people tend to be nicer, more laid back up there. Of course there are those like you that try to prove me wrong on that last one.

What globalism is not

[imrdkl]

This page intentionally left blank

obviously

[bindo]

And "Baywatch" remains the most popular show in Iran, to the despair of the religious leaders running the country.

Any leader who's country's most popular show is bayatch should be in despair about his people...

:)

I haven't been able to nail it down

[truesaer]

Well, I consider myself to be pretty far left, but I don't understand the big deal about globalism. It just seems like an excuse for some people to riot. Perhaps I just don't understand it....it seems like people are upset that loans to poor countries aren't being forgiven. Since they were loans and not gives, that seems like its expected.

I'm sure its much more complicated than that, but whatever their message is it isn't getting out. Protestors in seattle just looked like hooligans.

Re:I haven't been able to nail it down

[joss]

> but whatever their message is it isn't getting out. Protestors in seattle just looked like hooligans.

Yes. Entirely true. Everything from CNN to West Wing protrayed them as a bunch of clueless whining disorganised morons. But, do you remember seeing an interview with any of the protestors' spokesmen on mainstream media, or did you just see a bunch of studio jockeys vaguely paraphrasing what they were unhappy about. Did you actually see any air time given to someone explaining what they were unhappy about and what they were trying to achieve ?

The media always portrays it as: look at these silly people, they don't understand the benefits of free trade.

Consider the possibility that the people who went to all the trouble of travelling to Seattle, risking arrest, etc, have actually looked into these issues rather more carefully than the average couch potato. Then the media invites all "regular folks" to feel contempt and scorn for these ignorant fools.

So, your impression is perfectly understandable, but you have probably only heard one side of the story. Or, more accurately, you have heard various conflicting opinions on one side of the story. To get another side, try here:

http://www.zmag.org/ZMag/articles/jan2000albert. ht m

Pick one

[LazyDawg]

Globalism is:

1. Putting all your eggs in one basket.

2. Trying for harmony when everyone sings the same tune.

3. Letting everyone make the same mistakes, all at once.

4. Making sure the free market never decides anything.

5. Saying "Businesses have been a discriminated minority for too long."

6. Trying to disprove the myth that humanity doesn't scale.

"Globalism" always includes gun control...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder why? I suspect because wars on self-defense or different-ways of thinking (drugs) make governments more-powerful. What did the Taliban first do? Take all the guns. What will be the US/UN's first objective? Take away all the guns from individuals. It makes taxation easier, and the constituency is 100% for that in the UN or any group of thugs who want protection-money. I'm sure this comment will induce whines from lefties, but they NEED to whine!
odds@dragoncon.net gets me.
www.jpfo.org gets my viewpoint on gun control.

Globalisation must be an effect, not a cause

[Chocky2]

Too often people (governments, coporations, etc) attempt to employ the drive towards globalisation as a means to achieving particular ends, rather that accepting that stable globalisation only comes about as a consequence of other factors.

Whilst the dimmishment of the powers of centralised national governments, in favour of more decentralised power structures, may be a positive factor in the continuing development of advanced liberal democracies, for weaker and less prosperous nations it can be disasterous and is too easily perceived as an attack on their sovereignty. Similarly, the enforced acceleration of the economic development of weaker nations, without regard for the resources and equity of those nations can have terrible consequences on their lon term ability to survive independently of the international community (ie - for poorer nations the journey to a globalised community is one way).

You only have to consider the different manners in which Russia and China have responded to the West-driven globalism to see (relatively) how much better (stable, prosperous) China will be in the near future than Russia; Russia dove headfirst into westernised democracy without the social and economic infrastructure to support such liberalised globalism, China however, though it's record in many areas is wretched, has been focusing more on developing it's social and economic infrastructure, so that as it progresses a culture that can support liberal globalism will arrise naturally.

Defining globalization is an important first step

[Goronguer]

. . . to any meaningful debate on the subject. Those who are in favor of globalization seem to define it in very different terms than those who support it. This is an issue that those who have protested at recent WTO meetings have failed to adequately address. They have successfully conveyed their message that "globalization is bad," but without further clarification, this will strike different audiences as either self-evident or as an absurdity, since "globalization" means entirely different things to different groups of people. If you take it to mean the exploitation of indigenous peoples by large multinational corporations, then of course it's bad. But if you take it to mean greater mutual understanding among people of different nations, it is long overdue. The problem is, globalization can, but does not necessarily, encompass all these things, and a lot more.

Globalization may well be inevitable, as Katz correctly points out, but what form it will take is yet to be determined. Therefore, rather than getting into a shouting match over whether globalization is Good or Bad, it would be much more productive to discuss how to take advantage of the opportunities that globalization presents us while avoiding the the dangers it presents. This is the challenge for our age.

You can't escape the benfits of globalism

[darkov]

Namely peace and prosperity. Commerce and communication have essentially brought us these. People who aren't hungry and have jobs tend not to fight each other. Knowing the facts and understanding what's going on around you makes you less able to be manipulated by leaders with their own agenda. It may sound stupid but TV has actually brought around world peace. It's reduced ignorance and brought new points of view to poeple who might not be exposed to them, and along with that understanding.

Globalism is merely more of the same. More commerce and more communication. It means that countries left behind by the prosperity that has benefited the west are more likely to share in it, even if the west gets fatter in the process.

There is of course the dark side of globalism. MacDonald's and any other given multinational, /bin/laden calling for death to the infidels, but how can you fault the benefits? I shake my head when I see people protesting against globalism. Largely they are healthy, middle class youths. Wearing Nike sneakers, Levi jeans and driving to the protest in Fords, etc. If they are serious, why aren't they living in caves, growing their own vegetables?

Globalism is here. We should stop talking about wether it's good or bad and start asking how we can reduce its bad aspects and increase it's benefits.

Re:Globalization without rules == Corporate Heaven

[Paradox !-)]

This ensures that no region will be rich and other poor. Because people can migrate.

There will ALWAYS be rich and there will ALWAYS be poor. The trick is to do our best to make sure the middle class holds the deciding vote between them.

(ObHistory: The entire history of western civilization, up to and including "globalization" can be summarized in one phrase: "The Rise of the Bourgeosie.")

I have a real issue with folks who have Internet connections and the ability to speak freely saying we should be transferring more of global wealth to the "poor." If that's the case, please, set an example, sell your computer and donate the $$ from your college tuition to Food For the Poor. But if your contribution to the fight against global poverty and dispair is to bitch on a /. message board about how a global government should fix the problem, then I have issues.

Face it folks. WE are that global government. WE are the ones who can make a difference. Set an Earnings Tax on yourself. Vote in favor of stockholder resolutions that require companies in which we hold stock to act in socially conscious ways.

Funny thing about the open, competitive system that has yielded this globalization trend. It evolves from within, through debate and action. We don't need a global government. We don't need a world revolt against "corporations." Those corporations are us folks. We hold their stock, buy their products and take their money. (And if you don't think so, please cash out your 401(k), or if you're a student, please, only go to a school that refuses corporate help.) The "system" responds to the incentives we give it every day. Change the incentives, change the system. Change our individual choices, by an act of will not coercion, change the world.

Development is never balanced. It's not driven by structure or conditions. It's driven by individual people deciding to build a better life for their children. That's it. Why is Singapore rich and peaceful, but unfree, while Uruguay, which arguably has better natural conditions for development, is slipping backwards every day? Because of individual decisions about greed and power.

Build a world your children in which your children have a better opportunity, by making small changes to the way you live your life.

Don't burn down a McDonalds for 15 minutes of fame. Because that, my friends, is hypocrisy.

Whoah, bit of a rant here.
IMHO.

You had me, then you lost me

[jenniedo]

I understand the point Jon Katz is trying to make, and to be perfectly honest, I don't even disagree with it. But he'd make that point a lot better if he didn't try to pretend he knows something about Germany while making it. First of all, it's 'Globalisierung', not 'Globalisiening'. Second, "hundreds of teenagers" did not "storm the Berlin Wall and bring it down" -- if you'd taken a mean age of the folks dancing and drinking on and around the Wall on November 9th, 1989, they'd probably have been somewhere in their mid-to-late twenties. Third, these "teenagers" did not all run first thing to music stores and buy videos on the morning of November 10th when the shops opened in West Berlin -- most people went instead for things like bananas and kiwifruits. And fourth, even those who *did* run to music stores weren't gung-ho about buying "the videos they'd been secretly watching on MTV". MTV is an American channel which even twelve years later is only available on cable television in the now-unified Germany, and certainly was not watched by *East* Germans *before* the fall of the Wall. Mr. Katz, you're a very good writer. You really are. But I'd like to see you use a little more of your brain and research skills behind that rhetoric instead of making things up on the spot just for the sake of being able to embroider detail onto your arguments. -J

The Global Corporation

[Alien54]

It's global govenment -- meaning the whole globe. With global government, the world doesn't have to contend with democracy causing problems for commerce.

We need to look at this as seen from outside of the USA.

In this column in the Indian Online Magazine Tehelka, Swami Agnivesh warns the West that it would be dangerous to attempt a global, unilateral regime of the sort envisaged by the World Trade Organisation without a corresponding willingness to give up its parochial mindset. As he notes 'the Western commitment to equality remains suspect to the rest of us because they have not upheld this, in any real sense, in dealing with our societies. In its transactions with non-Western societies, the West has operated on the privileges and profits of inequality."

He warns the West that it would be dangerous to attempt a global, unilateral regime of the sort envisaged by the World Trade Organisation without a corresponding willingness to give up its parochial mindset.

The whole article is insightful, but rather unsettling to a usian who has never been out of country.

The idea that somehow the USA is better than everyone elsemight even have some truth in it, but too often it breeds a certain contempt and disrect.

In a similar area, look at Microsoft. They argue they have the best in the world, but this does not always promote respect from users of other technologies.

And so it is probably for the better that the US does not become the equivalent of Microsoft in the nations of earth.

It's not globalization, it's who controls it.

[Wesley Everest]

The problem isn't globalization. What's wrong with people from different countries trading, communicating, and working together? Nah. The problem is that "globalization" is being carried out by unelected bodies of government appointees and corporations.

It's like saying leftists are against the idea of cities just because we think mayors should be elected by the people that live in them instead of appointed by General Electric and Microsoft.

And then, of course, there are the results of corporations determining the course of globalization -- "free trade" means corporations are free to go whereever they want and do nearly whatever they want, but the people who work for them get stopped at borders and are forced to endure corrupt, despotic governments that limit their actions. Corporations can shop around for the country with the lowest wages and oppressive anti-worker laws, but the workers in those countries are forced at gunpoint to remain.

And anyone that knows anything about how a "free market" works can see that this is anything but a free market. Given that corporations have the right to move into any country regardless of human rights, and given that all other countries are forced to accept the products, you have a situation where corporations are always seeking more and more oppressive and corrupt governments, and have a financial incentive to make them worse. Government leaders, on the other hand, have a financial incentive to cooperate. And when a worker in one of those countries tries to improve their situation, by moving to a better country, by organizing a union, by trying to change their government, etc. they are met with soldiers with guns keeping them back.

Final result -- lower wages, longer hours, and less rights for everyone around the world, higher profits for corporations.

Now what would happen if globalization was controlled democratically by the people whose lives it will affect? Short of revolution, we won't know.