Monkey's in action » Intellectual development
My mind is astounded as I trace the evolution of my intellectual growth this semester as represented through my blogging accounts. IN my first few blogs it seems as though I was still trying to truly grasp the essence of what precisely globalization is. In these blogs I had yet to be influenced by in depth class discussions, research, and book analysis. Gross assumptions were made as I formed uneducated claims to the nature of globalization. However as the semester progressed so did my blogging capabilities. I made “Images of globalization” which was my voice thread and a great improvement over my first image based writing “globalization: economic colonization?” Then with the advent of my completion of “What did Friedman mean”, my analysis of “The World is Flat” my eyes were opened to just how many aspects of globalization there are. This revelation fueled my curiosity and sent me delving into research. I formulated my globalization questions with a blog and then set out to find the answers in “IN Defense of Globalization”. I blogged about chapters 1, 7, 8, 10, and 15 which, I feel covered the wide spectrum of globalization elements. As with Friedman, Bhagwati further fueled my curiosity ...
[Link]Monkey's in action » Putting a speed limit on Globalization
In chapter 15 Bhagwati addresses the rapid speed in which globalization is engulfing the world and attempts to find how rapidly a smooth transition to globalization should be. He states that to minimize the downturns of globalization from too rapid of growth that “governance will have both domestic and international dimensions”. He asses the domestic governance for globalization to be lead by interest groups from an era of vast civil society growth. These interest groups will advocate against the negative specks of globalization on a domestic level which, will in turn attract the attention of international organizations which, will be able to orchestrate an international solution to the problem. Tis method of governance is assigned to checking globalizations negativities from too rapid of growth because, they will be more effective than governments impeded by “marginalized groups”.
[Link]Monkey's in action » Wages and Labor standards
In chapter 10 Bhagwati explores the economical aspects of globalization by discussing the fear of “A race to the bottom” in terms of labor standards. As in almost every chapter Bhagwati again takes a pro-globalization stance as he reveals in the following a belief that globalization is an improvement for labor ” Trade has actually helped the workers, not just harmed them insignificantly, by moderating the decline that was instead caused by technical change that economized on the use of unskilled labor”. He goes on to disprove that trade between richer nations with poorer nations will decrease wages in the richer nation. Bhagwati disproves this notion by citing the theory of ladders where as when poorer countries industrialize due to trade they do not depress the richer countries wages because the emerging poor nation curves the exports of the developing country under it on the ladder. Throughout the chapter he affirms that globalization constitutes a race to the top for labor standards with its promotions of competition and free trade.
[Link]Monkey's in action » Globalized Culture
Through chapter 7 Bhagwati discusses globalization in relation to culture. He explores the nativist stance of globalization as a threat to indigenous culture, but affirms his belief that “economic globalization is a culturally enriching process”. With the example of McDonalds in France Bhagwati argues that globalization isn’t out to destroy native cultures. In the example he brings up the idea that when you are marketing your product you want to relate it to the customer. In this sense multi-national companies are going to want to appeal to the native cultures in an effort to increase profits, as in the case with McDonalds in France. This idea attests to globalization improving culture where the new ideas are spread through cultures yet the beneficial aspects of the old culture will remain intact. Bhagwati then goes on to point out that culture is inevitably changed as ideas are spread in an almost creative destruction manner as seen in the following “Cultures will certainly change over time, as invention, organizational innovation, political change such as democratization, and globalization on many dimensions occur. Throughout the chapter Bhagwati has an optimistic outlook for globalizations affects on culture showing the benefits of the new replacing the old in ...
[Link]Monkey's in action » Watered Down Democracy
In chapter 8 Bhagwati discusses the political ramifications of globalization as he calls into question the soverignty of nations in continually globalizing world. He reveals the main theme of the chapter in the following “Integration into the world economy via trade could constrain the freedom of domestic action”. Bhagwati builds on his statment that globalization ruducess poverty from chapter five by adding financial affluence leads to democracy. He argues that globalization increases affluence through open markets which spur increased spending and lower prices; then goes on to argue the more open the market is the more it will harbor democracy. Ghagwati also points out that where globalization promotes democracy through open markets it also constrains it by reducing the soverignty of nations. In the globalized world soverignty is reduced by the interdependence of nations, rendering nations unable to make whatever decisions they want without taking into consideration the nations they are interdependent on. Bhagwati refers to this as a paradox which he assesess throughout the chapter. Ultimatly, my take on his conclusion is that Globalization spreads a watered down version of democracy.
[Link]Monkey's in action » Hand in Hand
As the idea of creative destruction from Joseph Shumpeter’s “Business Cycles” is outlined throughout chapter 15 one can find many similarities between this idea of change in the economy between creative destruction and the current phenomenon of Globalization. Shumpeter’s idea of creative destruction is used to describe the tumultuous ups and downs and progress of a capitalist economy. This is attributed to entrepreneurs innovating and changing the market despite resistance from already in place business practices, which eventually themselves become common place as profits go down due to mergers etc. Creative destruction was derived from the economic changes throughout the industrial revolution however; the same concept applies to globalization and is a good model for revealing the changes taking place from globalization. As creative destruction continues in the United States by means of Globalization the U.S. will only further benefit due to its global role as a leader of innovation and its ability to reap profits from investing capital in other nations. The great growth of the United States economy over the last century can be attributed to creative destruction and is only prospering more as globalization has become a catalyst for innovation and change in the economy.
Creative ...
[Link]Monkey's in action » Globalization and Government
In a political analysis of european governments, the U.K. and France in particular, I have found that the effects of globalization on these countries are leading to movements for decentralization of power and privatization of government owned buisnesses. Both, France and the U.K. are Unitary governments with regional provinces that do not share soverignty with the federal government. However, in the years since globalization has been changing the political and economical landscape of the world a new theme of decentralization can be seen. Decentralization occurs when the central government cedes unsoverigned power to regional constituents. In the U.K. the central government in London has been allotting more and more power to make regional decisions to its four provinces Scotland, Whales, England, and Northern Ireland. The same phenomenon can be seen in France where, the central government has been granting more and more regional autonomy to its 32 provinces. The power granted to these regional constituents can be taken back by the central government in Unitary systems because no changes to the constitution have been made. This theme of more power on the regional level can be seen throughout europe in both federal and Unitary systems and can for the most part ...
[Link]Monkey's in action » Phasing out of Government as we know it
In an attempt to understand globalizations affects on politics I reasearched the subject and found that by intermingling the concepts Friedman displays in his “The World is Flat” with Anthony Giddens’s essay “Globalisation” a central theme of Government being replaced by international organizations can be achieved. In my research I have discovered the forces of globalization rendered government institutions as we know them inefficient in terms of regulating the economy in this new global era. Political resistance to globalization in the forms of tariffs, job protection, trade regulations, and wealth distribution has become inhibitive of globalizing economies. These political defenses make the economy, which government was set up to regulate, inefficient. Due to the rise of organizations to combat economic problems on the global scale governments set up as nation-states are losing sovereignty and the ability to affectively manage these aspects of their domain. Or as Giddens so plainly sates in his essay “Nations have lost most of the sovereignty they once had, and politicians have lost most of their capability to influence events. It isn’t surprising that no one respects political leaders any more, or has much interest in what they have to say.” (Giddens 236)
Globalization and the ...
[Link]Monkey's in action » Bhagwati’s perspective on Anti-Globalization
Bagwhati addressed the sentiments opposed to globalization in the first chapter of his book “In Defense of Globaliazation”. He attributes most anit-globalization elements to be a a fear of the inequities involved in the spreading of capitalism and the increasing strenth of multinattional corporations as his theme argument. Many other arguments against globalization such as “social ills” and “environmental deterioration” Bahgwati dismisses as fears based on false hoods. In the “North-South Divide” section of chapter 1 hagwati sheds light on an interesting concept of most anti-globalization protests coming form the more affluent nations of the Northen hemisphere. This comcept lays claim to the emracing of globalization by less affluent developing nations, using globalization as a kcket onto the world stage, and the developed nations fighting globalization, as a force unraveling thier strangle hold on the worlds markets. Bhagwati lays clamto many valid argumnts in his first chapter on anti-globalization and seems to come to the conclusion that anti-globalization on the large scale stems from the affluent and those fearing the inequities incorporated with the spread of capitalism, which some define globalization as, and the rise fo multinational corporations.
[Link]Pensive Persian » Page not found » Blog Portfolio Commentary
My Blog Portfolio
During this semester, I was introduced to this new concept of blogging. I wasn’t very enthusiastic at first to the idea of sharing my thoughts with everyone. But as time went on, I realized what a wonderful idea it is. I picked the blogs I did, which are tagged under the Blog Portfolio category, because they showed a sequence of change in my thinking and learning. From the first one I tagged to the last one, you can understand and see the intellectual growth that I experienced. I started off blogging about things that I thought related to globalization. In essence, I was sharing some stories, as you can view in the blog post http://mohammadmesbahi.umwblogs.org/2008/09/02/an-ordinary-day-at-the-mallin-iran/ . Looking back at it now, I can see that what I thought globalization was when I wrote that and all the things that I have learned about the phenomenon of globalization throughout the class, I realize now that globalization is more than the tip of the iceberg. It is much more complicated than what I thought at first. Then I proceeded to ask questions about this phenomenon in the blog post http://mohammadmesbahi.umwblogs.org/2008/09/16/my-questions-about-globalization/ . These questions were more or less answered ...
[Link]It's a Small World After All... » The Effects of Globalization on the Economy of Spain
Globalization has had a significant economic impact on the country of Spain. It has affected imports, exports, GDP, employment, per capita incomes, income distribution, and other economic factors. Over the past years, Spain’s amount of both imports and exports has increased. The GDP has grown rapidly in past years but the growth rate is now beginning to slow down. Employment has greatly decreased. Per capita incomes increased greatly, but like the GDP growth rate, their growth rate is slowly down. For the most part this impact has been a positive one. Spain has experienced a large amount of economic growth in the past years due to globalization. Its opening of its economy, technological advances, and its joining of the European Union, have all contributed to this economic growth.
International trade and financial flows are important to the economy of Spain. In 2007, Spain’s exports were estimated to account for $256.7 billion and imports were estimated to account for $380.2 billion.1 Main exports included machinery, motor vehicles, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, and other consumer goods.1 Main export partners were France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.1 Main imports included machinery and equipment, fuels, chemical, semi-finished goods, foodstuffs, consumer ...
It's a Small World After All... » Creative Destruction
The term “creative destruction,” originally used by Joseph Shumpeter, can most simply be described as “the process of transformation that accompanies radical innovation”.1 This process describes the relationship in which in old businesses are replaced by new ones. New technology and processes are created and replace the old ones. Companies that are more efficient with better products overrun those with outdated systems and lower quality products. Entrepreneurs take ideas and innovate them, adapting them to what is needed and find a way to market them. Companies merge, go bankrupt, or are replaced by competition. Small companies grow and overtake the larger ones. This process of “natural selection” the economy, in which the fittest companies survive while the others are destroyed and replaced, leads to long-term economic growth. There must be winners and losers for the economy to progress. While companies come and go and the economy is in constant change, the overall economy grows and strengthens as a whole.
Schumpeter uses this term to describe the dynamic growth of the U.S. economy over the last century. There are unlimited examples of how creative destruction has taken place in the United States. According to the U.S. government, in 2005 alone, 671,800 businesses ...
It's a Small World After All... » North vs. South
When looking at the globe in terms of development, it can easily be divided into two regions, between the north and south. There is an international class divide with global north as being mainly developed and the global south being in the process of developing. The south is composed of more countries and more people. Politically, the north is more democratic while the south has more dictatorships. Economically, the south’s GNI is less than a fourth of that of the north and the north has almost three times the imports and exports of the south. Technologically, the north is much more advanced. The north also has a much better and extensive system of infrastructure. As globalization spreads, the south will continue to develop and countries there will begin to catch up to the north.
[Link]Globalization on Steroids » Mumbai
When I turned on the television over Thanksgiving break I was shocked. I was flipping channels, and when I reached CNN I paused. Again. Terroism has been occuring for thousands of years, however the increase in the last decade has been tragic. What possess’ people to take others lives with such a lack for human life? This was all I could think of as I watched the terrorism unfold in Mumbai, India. When all of the insurgants had been killed, around 150 people had lost their lives. These people were of all ethnicities and nationalities, young and old both. When I heard that these insurgants had focused on hotels that catered to mostly foreign travelers and dignitaries, the reasons became evident. I feel that this attack comes from the worst effects of globalization. These insurgants were Pakistani, and apparantly were angry with the Indian presence in the Kashmir region. While this was a motivating factor for these..bastards.., the location that they attacked showed their anti-foreign sentiments as well. This attack was aimed at Americans and other foreign visitors, because the terrorists felt that their culture was being threatned. With all of the Americanization in the world presently, radical extremeists ...
[Link]Globalization » Good Golly Google
Before I even knew what globalization was, google.com was there doing a great job at helping me learn anything about the world in a matter of seconds. I remember hearing about something called google earth when I was in middle school. It baffled me and my entire family when we saw a bird’s eye view image of not only our home in Virginia but of my dad’s crumbling childhood home in the tiny village he grew up in in Egypt. It was crazy; plugging in addresses and getting pictures of those exact locations was something we started doing daily. I felt like I could be anywhere in the world that I wanted to be down to the very last detail. If I felt like visiting the Pyramids I would, then I would travel all the way to the Great Wall in China. In addition to that, Google had an ingenious 3-D setting so you could visualize the topographies of different places. When I found that out, I went straight to the mountains of Machu Picchu. In addition to that, you can search using 40 different languages and Google can do a pretty good job of translating pages in different languages. Any ...
[Link]Globalization » Globalization and Genetics
I’ve been wondering. For the past few months we’ve been learning about the effects of globalization on economies, the environment, and the overall connectivity of the world. Well along the lines of the human species you could say that along with the possibility of homogenization of culture could come the homogenization of human genes. With so many foreign ties and travel, I feel that human genes are becoming more mixed especially in the United States. I don’t know much about genetics or the complex science of it but I found it to be an interesting thought. I myself feel like I’m somewhat a result of this “globalization of genes” in a way that I’m half Egyptian and half American. Looking back hundreds of years ago before the age of speedy and safe travel, I highly doubt there were as many mixing of cultures. In addition to that, I don’t think it is looked down upon now as it would have been then.
I’m not saying we could all someday become one unified race but I have read that the red hair gene is in decline and could be all but gone by 2100. I don’t know if I believe the “all ...
[Link]Chelsea's rambles » Love it or hate it?
Now that it is the end of the semester, I look back on what all I have learned about Globalization, and realize that I’m still not sure if I love it or I hate it. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I guess I’ll go with saying it’s a good thing, although I know that everything that comes with globalization is not good. However, I believe that in the end, we have more; we can live more comfortably, and become a “closer” or smaller world. & I believe that this is a good thing.
What do you say?
[Link]Chelsea's rambles » movie time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtmvksvSvtc&feature=related
What do you think?
Agree? Disagree?
[Link]horsejumper12341 » If infrastructure could be improve, could countries compete in the real world economy?
Infrastructure is an extremely important entity, it is essential for the development of a country. It helps to maintain the basic standard of living by maintaining important services to the local population such as a clean water supply, roads, sanitation, telecommunication and electric. These services lead to improved health, access to education, and are ultimately the “motor” for economic growth. Other countries will not be as interested in investing in a country that does not have a good railway or road system, because of the lack and ease of accessibility to move around goods and supplies. For most countries, investments allow for that economic growth to happen.
A reason, also, as to why countries with lack of infrastructure are struggling to jump on to the globalization train, is that they are just trying to find the means in order to survive. Without living with clean water or sanitation, people are more likely to become ill, and therefore unable to work. Then for those who are able to, have a difficult time getting to their place of occupation due to the lack of sufficient transportation systems and roadways.
If more governments in areas, such as in the Third World, were to invest ...
[Link]horsejumper12341 » If everyone reached the same standard of living as the US, would there be enough resources to sustain us?
• If everyone reached the same standard of the US, would there be enough resources to sustain us?
I argue, that if it were possible for all of the countries around the world to reach the US standard of living, and live in such a consumerist society as we, that there would not be enough resources to sustain us.
Already 83% of the earth’s surface is influenced by humans. If everyone were to start demanding more “stuff”, the population would not only explode because of the better healthcare and food avaliable, we would have to use the rest of this untouched space. The earth can only hold so many people.
Just as an example, if the world were the size of a picknick table, and there was a banquet of food on top, there is only a limited supply of resources. A few ants discover this plentiful area, and they build homes on and around it, gradually eating up all of the food on the table. Eventually, the area will become over populated, all the while the food supply is steadily decreasing. When there is nothing left, although we are just talking about a picknick table, say there was no where ...
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