Globalisation — Notes

Globalisation is a process of worldwide interconnectedness produced by flows of four kinds:

• Ideas (news, films, knowledge, values)
• Capital (investment, loans)
• Commodities (goods traded across borders)
• People (workers, students, tourists)

The flows are uneven: goods, money and ideas move far more easily than people, who face visa and immigration controls. Globalisation is multi-dimensional (political, economic, cultural) and its effects differ from society to society and group to group.

• Technology is the most crucial cause: the telegraph, telephone, container shipping, microchip and internet have made worldwide flows fast and cheap.
• Awareness of interconnectedness: people see that crises, diseases and environmental problems cross borders, which encourages cooperation.
• Government choices: many countries lowered trade barriers and opened to investment.

Globalisation is not caused by one factor alone. Long-distance exchange is centuries old; what is new is its speed and scale.

Erosion of state capacity (critics' view): the welfare state gives way to a minimalist state that keeps core functions such as law and order and security, and leaves many economic and social choices to the market. Multinational companies gain influence over policy.

Enhanced capacity: technology gives governments better information about citizens and better ways to deliver services.

Conclusion: the state remains the primary political unit; its economic role has changed, but it still makes laws, keeps order and decides on national security.

• More trade and investment as import restrictions fall and capital moves quickly.
• International institutions such as the IMF and WTO influence economic policy in many countries.
• Uneven effects: some groups and countries gain far more than others; the movement of people stays restricted.

Supporters: openness brings growth, jobs, cheaper goods and technology. Critics: benefits concentrate among the better-off, small producers struggle, social safety nets may weaken, and some describe it as a new form of dependence. Middle view: with rules and protection for the vulnerable, gains can be widely shared.

Homogenisation: the culture of powerful countries spreads and local cultures fade; the world starts to look alike. Some writers call this the spread of a single global culture.

Heterogenisation: outside influences mix with local culture, producing hybrid cultures and widening choices without erasing tradition.

Cultural globalisation can be both a threat (crafts lose buyers, local stories forgotten) and an enrichment (Indian culture reaches the world, new forms emerge).

India: in the colonial era India exported raw materials and imported finished goods. After 1947 it followed protectionism to build industry and self-reliance; growth remained slow. In 1991, after a financial crisis, it began major economic reforms. Since then growth has been faster, with new service and IT jobs, but gains are unevenly shared.

Resistance: most critics oppose a particular (neo-liberal) form of globalisation, not global contact as such.

• Left: a phase of global capitalism that widens the gap between rich and poor.
• Right: fears a weaker state, wants self-reliance in some sectors and protection of traditional culture.
• Seattle, 1999: protests at the WTO ministerial meeting.
• World Social Forum: an open platform of activists, environmentalists, labour, youth and women's groups; first met in Porto Alegre, Brazil (2001); fourth meeting in Mumbai (2004).
• In India: trade unions, Left parties, farmers' and small producers' groups and some cultural groups have protested against aspects of globalisation.