Globalization refers to the increasing integration and interdependence of economies, societies, and cultures around the world through reduced trade barriers and improved communication technologies. While globalization has increased prosperity in many ways, it has also contributed to economic inequality, environmental degradation, and a loss of culture and community in some areas. There are reasonable arguments on both sides of the debate around how to balance the opportunities and risks of an increasingly globalized world.

1. Globalization: the integration of
regional economies, societies, and
cultures through globe-spanning
networks of communication and
development.
The “Global Village”

2. Globalization has changed the world
permanently, for both better and worse.

3. Path to globalization:
• After World War II, politicians wanted to
break down borders hampering trade, to
increase prosperity and interdependence
thereby decreasing the chance of future
war.
• They formed a framework for
international commerce and finance...

4. • ...and founded several international
institutions intended to oversee the
processes of globalization, to mediate
trade disputes and set up a uniform
platform of trading, in pursuit of the goal
of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade

5. Examples:
• The World Bank
• The International Monetary Fund
• The World Trade Organization
• Europe's Maastricht Treaty
• The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

6. Globalization has various aspects which
affect the world in several different
ways

7. Ecological impact: cross-boundary
water and air pollution, over-fishing of the
ocean, and the spread of invasive species.
Since many factories are built in
developing countries with less
environmental regulation, globalism and
free trade may increase pollution, leading
to climate change.

8. Discussion topic:
Economic development historically has
required a "dirty" industrial stage, for
example the industrial era in the U.S.
which contributed to its becoming a
superpower, and it is argued that
developing countries should not now, via
regulation, be prohibited from similarly
increasing their standard of living.
Agree or disagree?

9. These global environmental challenges
might be solved with international
cooperation

10. Cultural impact: growth of cross-cultural
contacts, cultural dispersal, the desire to
increase one's standard of living and enjoy
foreign products and ideas, adopt new
technology and practices, and participate
in a "world culture".
Some complain about the resulting
consumerism and loss of languages...

11. ...while others consider multiculturalism to
promote peace and understanding
between peoples.

12. Social impact: development of the
system of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) as main agents of global public
policy, including humanitarian aid and
developmental efforts.

13. Economic interdependence:
• The decision of a commodities trader in
New York affects a farmer in Africa.
• The parts of a single car come from many
different countries.
• The banking crisis in one market wreaks
havoc in another.

14. Globalization has generated significant
international opposition over concerns
that it has increased inequality and
environmental degradation.

15. Global trade liberalization has enticed U.S.
corporations to relocate to poor countries
where employees agree to work for low
wages, with low labor and environmental
standards. It allows them to manufacture
products and to cheaply extract natural
resources from these countries without
having to pay the costs which wages and
environmental regulations demand.

16. In the Midwestern United States,
globalization has eaten away at its
competitive edge in industry and
agriculture, lowering the quality of life in
locations that have not adapted to the
change.

17. The laid off manufacturing sector workers
are forced into the service sector where
wages and benefits are low, and turnover
is high. This has contributed to the
deterioration of the middle class which is
a major factor in the increasing economic
inequality in the United States.

18. Discussion topic: People in the lower
class will have a much harder time
climbing out of poverty because of the
absence of the middle class as a stepping
stone.

19. In poorer countries, opportunities in richer
countries drive talent away, leading to a
phenomenon called brain drain. Brain
drain or human capital flight is a large
emigration of individuals with technical
skills or knowledge, normally due to
conflict, lack of opportunity, political
instability, or health risks.

20. • To fill the human resource gap created by
brain drain, Africa employs up to 150,000
expatriate professionals at a cost of
around $4 billion a year
• Brain drain, coupled with the loss of
trained professionals due to HIV/AIDS,
severely erodes the valuable human
capital critically needed for economic
growth and human development

21. Another example often used by anti-
globalization protestors is the use of
sweatshops, for example by clothing and
sports shoe manufacturers. They set up
factories in a poor country, then if labor
laws alter in those countries and stricter
rules govern the manufacturing process,
the factories are simply closed down and
relocated to other nations with more
conservative, laissez-faire economic
policies.

22. Ideas for change:
• Anti-sweatshop campaigns and education
• Supporting legislation that would legally
require companies to respect human and
worker rights by prohibiting the import,
sale, or export of sweatshop goods.
• Legislation for core standards including no
child labor, no forced labor, freedom of
association, right to organize and bargain
collectively, as well as the right to decent
working conditions.

23. Ideas for change:
• Stand in opposition to the unregulated
political power of large, multi-national
corporations that have the power to
leverage trade agreements-- which in
some instances damage the environment
(particularly air quality index and rain
forests), and local governments’
sovereignty to determine labor rights,
health and safety legislation

24. Ideas for change:
• Change regulations which do not allow
countries to grow food for their own
people (but rather for export)
• Expose dishonest practices (example: a
factory in Central America which is
accused of harsh working environments,
low wages, forced overtime, and illegal
working conditions for minors-- gives
propaganda tours to convince visitors that
workers are well-treated and taken care of
in their plants)

25. The Winners: Corporations & The Rich
• The world’s largest 500 corporations
control over 70% of world trade.
• For example, in the 1990s, 80% of the
entire production of world grain was
distributed by just two companies.
*source: UN Food & Agriculture Organization, "Trends in World and
Agricultural Trade"

26. The Winners: Corporations & The Rich
• Individuals seem to be benefiting from the
global economy too. Between 1994 and
1998 alone, the 200 richest people in the
world more than doubled their net worth
to more than $1 trillion.
• Meanwhile, disparities continue to grow:
In 1960, the income gap between the
richest fifth of the world's population and
the poorest fifth was 30 to 1; in 1997 it
was 74 to 1.
*source: UNICEF, "State of the World's Children 2000"

27. The Losers:
• Workers
• Small farmers
• The environment

28. Where do you stand?
• Proponents of laissez-faire capitalism, and
some libertarians, say that higher degrees
of political and economic freedom in the
form of democracy and capitalism in the
developed world are ends in themselves
and also produce higher levels of material
wealth.
• They see globalization as the beneficial
spread of liberty and capitalism.

29. Where do you stand?
• The Global Justice Movement describes
the loose collection of individuals and
groups who advocate "fair trade" rules
and are critical of current institutions of
global economics such as the World Trade
Organization.

30. Is it possible to be both pro- and
anti-globalization at the same time?
• Support the globalization of communication
• Support increased opportunity for development
• Encourage increased direct transborder collaboration
between governments; diversity and innovation in world
politics
• Support closer ties between the various peoples and
cultures of the world through, for example, foreign aid,
assistance for refugees, and global environmental issues
• Oppose the global expansion of corporate power
• Oppose unequal distribution of resources

31. The process of globalization, "while opening up new
possibilities for progress, poses urgent questions
regarding the very nature and purpose of economic
activity. It calls for ethical discernment aimed at
protecting the environment and promoting the full human
development of millions of men and women, in a way
that respects every individual's dignity and makes room
for personal creativity in the workplace.”
"It is my hope and prayer that your association, by
advancing these eminently human goals, will enable
future generations to enjoy a prosperity which is not
merely economic but spiritual as well, corresponding to
the deepest aspirations of the human heart.”
- John Paul II to the members of the European
Automobile Manufacturers Association, 2001

32. “Globalization is an opportunity to create a network
of understanding and solidarity among peoples,
without reducing everything to merely commercial
or pragmatic exchanges."

33. How Vincent expanded the circle of solidarity:
- rely on God’s transforming power
- allow God to change attitudes and persons
- thereby open the door to the possibility of
changing society’s structures