Globalization Revisited

Abstract

Globalization is viewed as a centuries-long process, tracking the expansion of human population and the growth of civilization, which has accelerated dramatically in the past 50 years. The verb globalize was first attested by the Merriam Webster Dictionary in 1944, however its concepts permeated popular consciousness in late 1990s. While Pro-globalists point to the decrease in poverty and child mortality, increased trade, social and political libreties, increased life expectancy, and increased feminism, notwithstanding the notion of free trade, the anti globalists point to the highly unequal distribution of wealth, many critics, specially, in developing countries also see UN, WB and IMF as the exploitative tools in the hands of major powers. Many critics of globalization contend that it is another name of Westernization. The environmental section of the anti globalists point to the damage to the planet brought by it. The critics of globalization typically emphasize that it is a process that is mediated according to corporate interests, to them free trade is not fair trade; it benefits strong nations at the expense of weaker ones. However, anti globalists mainly object to the process of globalization and its biased nature rather than the globalization itself. Hence the disagreement is about the fairness of globalization process rather than the entity itself. One may feel inclined to believe that the real issue at stake is the demand for distributive justice. If justice is not ensured, it would threaten the system in the long-term.