Globalization: Encyclopedia II - Globalization - Characteristics

Globalization - Characteristics

Globalization has become identified with a number of trends, most of which may have developed since World War II. These include greater international movement of commodities, money, information, and people; and the development of technology, organizations, legal systems, and infrastructures to allow this movement. The actual existence of some of these trends is debated.

• Economically
  • Increase in international trade at a faster rate than the growth in the world economy
  • Increase in international flow of capital including foreign direct investment
  • Erosion of national sovereignty and national borders through international agreements leading to organizations like the WTO and OPEC
  • Development of global financial systems
  • Increase in the share of the world economy controlled by multinational corporations
  • Increased role of international organizations such as WTO, WIPO, IMF that deal with international transactions
  • Increase of economic practices like outsourcing, by multinational corporations
• Culturally
  • Greater international cultural exchange,
  • Spreading of multiculturalism, and better individual access to cultural diversity, for example 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 also takes place.
  • Greater international travel and tourism
  • Greater immigration, including illegal immigration
  • Spread of local foods such as pizza and Indian food to other countries (often adapted to local taste)
• Development of a global telecommunications infrastructure and greater transborder data flow, using such technologies as the Internet, communication satellites and telephones
• Increases in the number of standards applied globally; e.g. copyright laws and patents
• Formation or development of a set of universal values
• The push by many advocates for an international criminal court and international justice movements (see the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice respectively).
• Some argue that even terrorism has undergone globalization, with attacks in foreign countries that have no direct relation with the own country.

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

• Promotion of free trade
  • Of goods:
    • Reduction or elimination of tariffs; construction of free trade zones with small or no tariffs
    • Reduced transportation costs, especially from development of containerization for ocean shipping.
  • Of capital: reduction or elimination of capital controls
  • Reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local businesses
• Intellectual Property Restrictions
  • Harmonization of intellectual property laws across nations (generally speaking, with more restrictions)
  • Supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions (e.g. patents granted by China would be recognized in the US))

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characteristics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki