SUBJECT –

INTERNATIONAL, TRADE & FINANCE

PROJECT TITLE -
GLOBALIZATION AND ITS EFFECT

NAME, CLASS AND ROLL NO. –

AMAN PRAKASH SINGH
3RD YEAR– B.A.LLB. (HONS)
REGULAR BATCH
ROLL NO. 09
FACULTY OF LAW, JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

SUBMITTED TO –
DR. AAKRITI MATHUR

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 Globalization
Globalization in a literal sense is international integration. It can be described as a process
by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and functioning
together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and
political forces. Globalization, as a term, is very often used to refer to economic
globalization, that is integration of national economies into the international economy
through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and spread of
technology. The word globalization is also used, in a doctrinal sense to describe the
neoliberal form of economic globalization. Globalization is also defined as
internationalism, however such usage is typically incorrect as "global" implies "one
world" as a single unit, while "international" (between nations) recognizes that different
peoples, cultures, languages, nations, borders, economies, and ecosystems exist.

However, currently globalization has been due to North American business and trade
developments throughout the world. Thomas L. Friedman "examines the impact of the
'flattening' of the globe", Friedman argues that globalized trade, outsourcing, supply-
chaining, and political forces have changed the world permanently for good and bad. He
examines the positive and negative effects flattening has had and will continue to have on
global politics and business.1

Terms

Sometimes the terms internationalization and globalization are used interchangeably but
there is a slight formal difference. The term internationalization refers to the importance
of international trade, relations, treaties etc. International means between or among
nations; hence internationalization refers to the increased importance of relations between
nations - the basic unit remains the nation. In contrast, the term globalization refers to

1
What is globalization, available at: https://www.piie.com/microsites/globalization/what-is-
globalization.html (Last visited 8 November, 2019).

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economic integration on a global scale, into a global economy, which blurs national
boundaries. In the extreme, globalization would mean erasure of national boundaries for
economic purposes; international trade (governed by comparative advantages) would
become interregional trade (governed by absolute advantages

The terms globalisation and anti-globalisation are used in various ways. Noam Chomsky
states that

The term "globalization" has been appropriated by the powerful to refer to a

specific form of international economic integration, one based on investor rights,
with the interests of people incidental. That is why the business press, in its more
honest moments, refers to the "free trade agreements" as "free investment
agreements" (Wall St. Journal). Accordingly, advocates of other forms of
globalization are described as "anti-globalization"; and some, unfortunately, even
accept this term, though it is a term of propaganda that should be dismissed with
ridicule. No sane person is opposed to globalization, that is, international
integration. Surely not the left and the workers movements, which were founded on
the principle of international solidarity - that is, globalization in a form that attends
to the rights of people, not private power systems.

"The dominant propaganda systems have appropriated the term "globalization" to

refer to the specific version of international economic integration that they favor,
which privileges the rights of investors and lenders, those of people being
incidental. In accord with this usage, those who favor a different form of
international integration, which privileges the rights of human beings, become
"anti-globalist." This is simply vulgar propaganda, like the term "anti-Soviet" used
by the most disgusting commissars to refer to dissidents. It is not only vulgar, but
idiotic. Take the World Social Forum, called "anti-globalization" in the propaganda
system -- which happens to include the media, the educated classes, etc., with rare
exceptions. The WSF is a paradigm example of globalization. It is a gathering of
huge numbers of people from all over the world, from just about every corner of
life one can think of, apart from the extremely narrow highly privileged elites who

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 meet at the competing World Economic Forum, and are called "pro-globalization"
by the propaganda system. An observer watching this farce from Mars would
collapse in hysterical laughter at the antics of the educated classes."

History

The word "Globalization" has been used by economists since 1981; however, its concepts
did not become popular until the later half of the 1980's and 1990's.

Globalization in its largest extent began a bit before the turn of the 16th century, in
Portugal. The country's global adventurism in the 16th century linked continents,
economies and cultures as never before. The Kingdom of Portugal kicked off what has
come to be known as the Age of Discovery, in the mid-1400s. The westernmost country in
Europe, was the first to significantly probe the Atlantic Ocean, colonizing the Azores,
Madeira and other Atlantic islands, then braving the west coast of Africa. In 1488,
Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was the first to sail around the southern tip of
Africa, and in 1498 his countryman Vasco da Gama repeated the experiment, making it as
far as India. The Portuguese Empire would establish ports, forts and trading posts as far
west as Brazil, as far east as Japan and Timor, and along the coasts of Africa, India and
China. For the first time in history, a wave of global trade, colonization, and enculturation
reached all corners of the world.

Globalization is viewed as a centuries long process, tracking the expansion of human

population and the growth of civilization, that has accelerated dramatically in the past 50
years. Early forms of globalization existed during the Roman Empire, the Parthian empire,
and the Han Dynasty, when the silk road started in China, reached the boundaries of the
Parthian empire, and continued onwards towards Rome. The Islamic Golden Age is also
an example, when Muslim traders and explorers established an early global economy
across the Old World resulting in a globalization of crops, trade, knowledge and
technology; and later during the Mongol Empire, when there was greater integration along

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the Silk Road. Global integration continued through the expansion of European trade, as
in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Portuguese and Spanish Empires reached to all
corners of the world after expanding to the Americas.

In the 17th century, Globalization became a business phenomenon when the Dutch East
India Company, which is often described as the first multinational corporation, was
established. Because of the high risks involved with international trade, the Dutch East
India Company became the first company in the world to share risk and enable joint
ownership through the issuing of shares: an important driver for globalization.

In the 19th century it was sometimes called "The First Era of Globalization" a period
characterized by rapid growth in international trade and investment, between the
European imperial powers, their colonies, and, later, the United States. It was in this
period that areas of sub-saharan Africa and the Island Pacific were incorporated into the
world system. The "First Era of Globalization" began to break down at the beginning with
the first World War, and later collapsed during the gold standard crisis in the late 1920s
and early 1930s.

Modern Globalization

Globalization in the era since World War II was first the result of planning by economists,
business interests, and politicians who recognized the costs associated with protectionism
and declining international economic integration. Their work led to the Bretton Woods
conference and the founding of several international institutions intended to oversee the
renewed processes of globalization, promoting growth and managing adverse
consequences.

These were the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank)
and the International Monetary Fund. It has been facilitated by advances in technology
which have reduced the costs of trade, and trade negotiation rounds, originally under the

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auspices of GATT, which led to a series of agreements to remove restrictions on free
trade.

Since World War II, barriers to international trade have been considerably lowered
through international agreements - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Particular initiatives carried out as a result of GATT and the World Trade Organisation
(WTO), for which GATT is the foundation, have included:

 Promotion of free trade:

o Reduction or elimination of tariffs; construction of free trade zones with
small or no tariffs
o Reduced transportation costs, especially from development of
containerization for ocean shipping.
o Reduction or elimination of capital controls
o Reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local businesses
 Restriction of free trade:
o Harmonization of intellectual property laws across the majority of states,
with more restrictions.
o Supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions (e.g. patents
granted by China would be recognized in the United States)

The Uruguay round (1984 to 1995) led to a treaty to create the World Trade Organization
(WTO), to mediate trade disputes and set up a uniform platform of trading. Other bi- and
multilateral trade agreements, including sections of Europe's Maastricht Treaty and the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have also been signed in pursuit of the
goal of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade.

The use of the term globalization (in the doctrinal sense), in the context of these
developments has been analysed by many including Noam Chomsky who states

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Critics have observed that the term's contemporary usage comprises several meanings, for
example Noam Chomsky states that

Effects of globalization

Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways such as:

 Industrial (alias trans nationalization) - emergence of worldwide production

markets and broader access to a range of foreign products for consumers and
companies
 Financial - emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external
financing for corporate, national and subnational borrowers
 Economic - realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of
exchange of goods and capital.
 Political - political globalization is the creation of a world government which
regulates the relationships among nations and guarantees the rights arising from
social and economic globalization. Politically, the United States has enjoyed a
position of power among the world powers; in part because of its strong and
wealthy economy. With the influence of Globalization and with the help of The
United States’ own economy, China has experience some tremendous growth
within the past decade. If China continues to grow at the rate projected by the
trends, then it is very likely that in the next twenty years, there will be a major
reallocation of power among the world leaders. China will have enough wealth,
industry, and technology to rival the United States for the position of leading
world power
 Informational - increase in information flows between geographically remote
locations
 Cultural - growth of cross-cultural contacts; advent of new categories of
consciousness and identities such as Globalism - which embodies cultural

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 diffusion, the desire to consume and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new
technology and practices, and participate in a "world culture"
 Ecological- the advent of global environmental challenges that can not be solved
without international cooperation, such as climate change, cross-boundary water
and air pollution, over-fishing of the ocean, and the spread of invasive species.
Many factories are built in developing countries where they can pollute freely.
 Social - the achievement of free circulation by people of all nations
 Transportation - fewer and fewer European cars on European roads each year (the
same can also be said about American cars on American roads) and the death of
distance through the incorporation of technology to decrease travel time
 Greater international cultural exchange
o Spreading of multiculturalism, and better individual access to cultural
diversity (e.g. through the export of Hollywood and Bollywood movies).
However, the imported culture can easily supplant the local culture,
causing reduction in diversity through hybridization or even assimilation.
The most prominent form of this is Westernization, but Sinicization of
cultures has taken place over most of Asia for many centuries.
o Greater international travel and tourism
o Greater immigration, including illegal immigration
o Spread of local consumer products (e.g. food) to other countries (often
adapted to their culture)
o World-wide fads and pop culture such as Pokémon, Sudoku, Numa Numa,
Origami, Idol series, YouTube, Orkut, Facebook, and MySpace.
o World-wide sporting events such as FIFA World Cup and the Olympic
Games.
o Formation or development of a set of universal values
 Technical/legal
o Development of a global telecommunications infrastructure and greater
transborder data flow, using such technologies as the Internet,
communication satellites, submarine fiber optic cable, and wireless
telephones

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 o Increase in the number of standards applied globally; e.g. copyright laws,
patents and world trade agreements.
o The push by many advocates for an international criminal court and
international justice movements.

 Sexual awareness – It is often easy to only focus on the economic aspects of

Globalization. This term also has strong social meanings behind it. Globalization
can also mean a cultural interaction between different countries. Globalization
may also have social effects such changes in sexual inequality, and to this issue
brought about a greater awareness of the different (often more brutal) types of
gender discrimination throughout the world. For example, Women and girls in
African countries have long been subjected to female circumcision- such a harmful
procedure has been since exposed to the world, and the practice is now decreasing
in occurrence.

Pro-globalization (globalism)

Economics

Globalization advocates such as Jeffrey Sachs point to the above average drop in poverty
rates in countries, such as China, where globalization has taken a strong foothold,
compared to areas less affected by globalization, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where
poverty rates have remained stagnant.2

Supporters of free trade claim that it increases economic prosperity as well as opportunity,
especially among developing nations, enhances civil liberties and leads to a more efficient
allocation of resources. Economic theories of comparative advantage suggest that free
trade leads to a more efficient allocation of resources, with all countries involved in the
trade benefiting. In general, this leads to lower prices, more employment, higher output
and a higher standard of living for those in developing countries.
2
Functions, available at: http://www.essexcourt.net/uploads/publication/BILLOFLD.doc (Last visited
November 5, 2019)

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One of the ironies of the recent success of India and China is the fear that... success in
these two countries comes at the expense of the United States. These fears are
fundamentally wrong and, even worse, dangerous. They are wrong because the world is
not a zero-sum struggle... but rather is a positive-sum opportunity in which improving
technologies and skills can raise living standards around the world.

Libertarians and other proponents of laissez-faire capitalism say that higher degrees of
political and economic freedom in the form of democracy and capitalism in the developed
world are ends in themselves and also produce higher levels of material wealth. They see
globalization as the beneficial spread of liberty and capitalism. [15]

Supporters of democratic globalization are sometimes called pro-globalists. They believe

that the first phase of globalization, which was market-oriented, should be followed by a
phase of building global political institutions representing the will of world citizens. The
difference from other globalists is that they do not define in advance any ideology to
orient this will, but would leave it to the free choice of those citizens via a democratic
process.

 From 1981 to 2001, according to World Bank figures, the number of people living
on $1 a day or less declined from 1.5 billion to 1.1 billion in absolute terms. At the
same time, the world population increased, so in percentage terms the number of
such people in developing nations declined from 40% to 20% of the population.
with the greatest improvements occurring in economies rapidly reducing barriers
to trade and investment; yet, some critics argue that more detailed variables
measuring poverty should be studied instead
 The percentage of people living on less than $2 a day has decreased greatly in
areas effected by globalization, whereas poverty rates in other areas have remained
largely stagnant. In East-Asia, including China, the percentage has decreased by
50.1% compared to a 2.2% increase in Sub-Saharan Africa

 Income inequality for the world as a whole is diminishing. Due to definitional

issues and data availability, there is disagreement with regards to the pace of the

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 decline in extreme poverty. Income inequality for the world as a whole is
diminishing As noted below, there are others disputing this. The economist Xavier
Sala-i-Martin in a 2007 analysis argues that this is incorrect, income inequality for
the world as a whole has diminished. Regardless of who is right about the past
trend in income inequality, is has been argued that improving absolute poverty is
more important than relative inequality.
 There are similar increasing trends toward electric power, cars, radios, and
telephones per capita, as well as a growing proportion of the population with
access to clean water.
 The book The Improving State of the World also finds evidence for that these, and
other, measures of human well-being has improved and that globalization is part of
the explanation. It also responds to arguments that environmental impact will limit
the progress.

Although critics of globalization complain of Westernization, a 2005 UNESCO

reportshowed that cultural exchange is becoming mutual. In 2002, China was the third
largest exporter of cultural goods, after the UK and US. Between 1994 and 2002, both
North America's and the European Union's shares of cultural exports declined, while
Asia's cultural exports grew to surpass North America.

Social

International Social Forums

In the meantime, regional forums took place following the example of the WSF, adopting
its Charter of Principles. The first European Social Forum (ESF) was held in November
2002 in Florence. The slogan was "Against the war, against racism and against neo-
liberalism". It saw the participation of 60,000 delegates and ended with a huge
demonstration against the war (1,000,000 people according to the organizers). The other
two ESFs took place in Paris and London, in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

Recently there has been some discussion behind the movement about the role of the social
forums. Some see them as a "popular university", an occasion to make many people aware

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of the problems of globalization. Others would prefer that delegates concentrate their
efforts on the coordination and organization of the movement and on the planning of new
campaigns. However it has often been argued that in the dominated countries (most of the
world) the WSF is little more than an 'NGO fair' driven by Northern NGOs and donors
most of which are hostile to popular movements of the poor.

Anti-globalization (mundialism)

Anti-globalization is a pejorative term used to describe the political stance of people and
groups who oppose the neoliberal version of globalization.

Anti-globalization" may involve the process or actions taken by a state in order to

demonstrate its sovereignty and practice democratic decision-making. Anti-globalization
may occur in order to put brakes on the international transfer of people, goods and
ideology, particularly those determined by the organizations such as the IMF or the WTO
in imposing the radical deregulation program of free market fundamentalism on local
governments and populations. Moreover, as Canadian journalist Naomi Klein argues in
her book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies (also subtitled No Space, No Choice,
No Jobs) anti-globalism can denote either a single social movement or an umbrella term
[29]
that encompasses a number of separate social movements such as nationalists and
socialists. In either case, participants stand in opposition to the unregulated political
power of large, multi-national corporations, as the corporations exercise power through
leveraging trade agreements which damage in some instances the democratic rights of
citizens, the environment particularly air quality index and rain forests, as well as national
governments sovereignty to determine labor rights including the right to unionize for
better pay, and better working conditions, or laws as they may otherwise infringe on
cultural practices and traditions of developing countries.

Most people who are labeled "anti-globalization" consider the term to be too vague and
inaccurate Podobnik states that "the vast majority of groups that participate in these
protests draw on international networks of support, and they generally call for forms of
globalization that enhance democratic representation, human rights, and egalitarianism."

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Critics argue that:3

o Poorer countries are sometimes at disadvantage: While it is true that

globalization encourages free trade among countries on an international
level, there are also negative consequences because some countries try to
save their national markets. The main export of poorer countries is usually
agricultural goods. It is difficult for these countries to compete with
stronger countries that subsidize their own farmers. Because the farmers in
the poorer countries cannot compete, they are forced to sell their crops at
much lower price than what the market is paying.
o Exploitation of foreign impoverished workers: The deterioration of
protections for weaker nations by stronger industrialized powers has
resulted in the exploitation of the people in those nations to become cheap
labor. Due to the lack of protections, companies from powerful
industrialized nations are able to offer workers enough salary to entice
them to endure extremely long hours and unsafe working conditions. The
abundance of cheap labor is giving the countries in power incentive not to
rectify the inequality between nations. If these nations developed into
industrialized nations, the army of cheap labor would slowly disappear
alongside development. With the world in this current state, it is impossible
for the exploited workers to escape poverty. It is true that the workers are
free to leave their jobs, but in many poorer countries, this would mean
starvation for the worker, and possible even his/her family.
o The shift to service work: The low cost of offshore workers have enticed
corporations to move production to foreign countries. The laid off
unskilled workers are forced into the service sector where wages and
benefits are low, but turnover is high. This has contributed to the widening
economic gap between skilled and unskilled workers. The loss of these

3
Art. 4 (2).

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 jobs has also contributed greatly to the slow decline of the middle class
which is a major factor in the increasing economic inequality in the United
States. Families that were once part of the middle class are forced into
lower positions by massive layoffs and outsourcing to another country.
This also means that people in the lower class have a much harder time
climbing out of poverty because of the absence of the middle class as a
stepping stone.
o Weak labor unions: The surplus in cheap labor coupled with an ever
growing number of companies in transition has caused a weakening of
labor unions in the United States. Unions lose their effectiveness when
their membership begins to decline. As a result unions hold less power over
corporations that are able to easily replace workers, often for lower wages,
and have the option to not offer unionized jobs anymore.

The critics of globalization typically emphasize that globalization is a process that is

mediated according to corporate interests, and typically raise the possibility of alternative
global institutions and policies, which they believe address the moral claims of poor and
working classes throughout the globe, as well as environmental concerns in a more
equitable way. The movement is very broad, including church groups, national liberation
factions, peasant unionists, intellectuals, artists, protectionists, anarchists, those in support
of relocalization and others. Some are reformist, (arguing for a more humane form of
capitalism) while others are more revolutionary (arguing for what they believe is a more
humane system than capitalism) and others are reactionary, believing globalization
destroys national industry and jobs.

One of the key points made by critics of recent economic globalization is that income
inequality, both between and within nations, is increasing as a result of these processes.
One article from 2001 found that significantly, in 7 out of 8 metrics, income inequality has
increased in the twenty years ending 2001. Also, "incomes in the lower deciles of world
income distribution have probably fallen absolutely since the 1980s". Furthermore, the
World Bank's figures on absolute poverty were challenged. The article was skeptical of

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the World Bank's claim that the number of people living on less than $1 a day has held
steady at 1.2 billion from 1987 to 1998, because of biased methodology.

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