Globalization and the Global Status Quo, Essay Example

Globality refers to the stage that follows the phenomenon of globalization, which scholars argue is the final stage of globalization. As such, it can be defined as a theoretical condition in which globalization is near completion, which means that all barriers have been dismantled, thereby resulted in the germination of a new global reality. Globalization refers to an ongoing macro-process in which integration is taking place on a global level as a result of the interchanging of products, culture, ideas, cosmogonies, etc. Technological advances and improvement in various arenas such as transportation and telecommunications have figured prominently in globalization. Steger’s discussion of globality draws on the notion that globalization has become confusing in public discourses, which is why it remains impossible to draw concrete conclusions about the causes and effects of globalization. As such, Steger argues that globality is a social condition that is associated with rigid global affairs that renders all boundaries and borders irrelevant. Such macro processes profoundly impact the status quo of the world order, and the chasms between the rich and the poor. Globalization is often conceived of as a new phenomenon that is a product of modernity, but contact amongst diverse peoples is not novel as prehistoric tribes did so in their desire to overpower nomadic tribes. It also took place in the pre-modern era when new technologies facilitated trade and communication on a macro level. Capitalism spawned during this era, and the Industrial Revolution characterized the modern period. The notion of “globality” which Stegner refers to is an abstract idea of people develop a consciousness in which they believe that they truly belong to a global community. Stegner discusses how in the present day local traditions, which Stegner refers to as the national imaginary, is often conflated with global trends, or the global imaginary. The current era is one demarked by convergence, and in order to make the world a better place, the wealth gap between the developing and developed worlds must be eradicated.

Fully understanding the macro process of globalization is of paramount importance in order to ascertain how to improve the global status quo. Stegner proffers 5 different definitions of globalization that are widely influential: 1. Globalization can  therefore be defined as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (Stegner 13). 2. Stegner also says that the very concept of globalization mirrors the sense of a profound augmentation of world communication, in addition to the enlargement of the horizon of a world market. Both of these become more immediate and palpable in contrast to the nascent stages of modernity. 3. A third definition of globalization is a process or set of processes that concretizes a transformation in how social transactions and relations are organized spatially, which are evaluated with regards to the intensity, velocity, extensity, and impact, “generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and the exercise of power” (Stegner 13) 4. The concept of globalization intimates that the world has been compressed and the world consciousness has intensified as a whole. 5. Finally, globalization is the process in which time and space have been compressed with regards to social relations.

Two different zones that have been created by the forces of globalization. The Global south is demarked by turmoil, war, poverty, and tyranny despite the fact that democracy has spread there more since the 1980s. Human rights abuses abound, and they lack well-developed market economies because of the lack of entrepeneurships and private enterprise that takes place there. The global North is the region that has gained from globalization and thrives. Political decisions set into motion global economic interconnections which has resulted in disparities between regions that have benefited and those that have suffered and lacked the ability to develop indigenous technologies. This fundamental discrepancy underscores the necessity of eliminating institutions such as the World Bank and IMF as purported correctives to developing countries lacking funds to provide necessary infrastructure for the denizens of certain companies. The Bretton Woods Conference is a financial conference in 1944 that led to the creation of necessary world agencies for an evolving economy. U.S. policymakers prompted free trade because it enhanced international prosperity in addition to international peace. Economic cooperation was the only avenue through which prosperity and peace on a global level could by fomented. The International Monetary Fund, among other agencies were created to facilitate this process. Social services were advanced through a commitment to society security on an international level. Various economic theorists penned plans they envisioned would work. Keynes viewed a world in which fixed exchange rates would be implemented in order to facilitate the expansion of world trade instead of having floating rates of exchange. However, the establishment of the IMF signified the demise of the Keynesian system and the perpetuation of a political order in which a hierarchical political structure remains in place within the global order.

The IMF is an international organization that is made up of 188 nations interesting in global economic cooperation, and it facilitates international trade, secure financial stability, advances sustainable growth and high employment and abates poverty levels around the globe. World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for financial stability. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global trading organization that establishes and regulates the rules of trade among countries across the globe. These institutions have retained immense currency within a system of free trade that has come to dominate the global order. Pros of this international free trade system include lower costs, which is good in the long run for economies by dismantling tariffs and taxes for exporting and importing products; national security is enhanced; and capital inflow increases, thereby benefiting the local economy. Cons include the economic dependency that foments between the First World and the Third World economies, thereby leading to structural inequalities; and the promotion of mom and pop shops that cannot compete on a global scale. Technological and economic changes resulted in the market economy becoming internationalized. World exports have thus vastly increased in a short period of time as a result of neoliberalism. Government spending has thus been replaced by export demand as a result. Transnational corporations have immense power in the current globalized economy as the two cannot be separated. Liberal market economies create favorable conditions for TNCs to develop. They adapt their goods and services to local tastes or preferences of the country that hosts them. In addition, they want to create a business paradigm that fits particular locales that they operate in by fusing their strategies with various development policies implemented in host nations. TNCs underscore the importance of ecological and sustainable development at the local level in order to understand the ecological needs.