Some form of global organization has been known since time began. The world may have been more globalized 100 years ago than today.
Globalization does mean different things to different people. To a US manufacturing worker it can mean no job; to a US consumer it can mean prices. To a subsistence farmer in an underdeveloped nation it can mean either the prospect of a better life or ruinous competition from subsidized farms in the developed countries. To an investor, it means they might consider investing anywhere in the world.
Globalization is theoretically supposed to involve changes that facilitate a freer flow of labor, capital, goods and even services between national economies. Prices are to be uniform. Any price differentials would be attributable to transport and distribution costs. The theory, called neo-liberalism, requires non-intervention by governments. September 11, 2001 changed all of this. Even prior to 9/11, there was government intervention in the forms of blockades, “kleptocracies” economic sanctions, centralized planning under government control, quotas and on and on. Socialized governments began even more controls to lessen impact of unregulated business/capitalism.
Human customs and institutions constrain many advantageous international transactions. These constraints remain in place if someone is benefiting from it.
In the international economy, tariffs, import and export quotas and controls, product safety and health regulations can all be used to favor domestic products over imports. Business planners, with a lack of understanding cultural differences, have ignored Islamic fundamentalist religions andothers who feel threatened by the emerging global order. The spread of free-market capitalism aggravates hostilities between national ethnic majorities and the “market-dominant minorities.
Effects of globalization are hampered by definition of communications and the influence of the internet. Globalization is not only the creation of markets and transnational companies. It also means the extension of justice and democratic values into regions where barbarism still flourishes.
