Pro-globalization vs. Anti-globalization

Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Pro - Globalization vs. Anti – Globalization
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Chandan Sharma Roll # 12 A
What is Globalization?
We are persistently being reminded that we live in a globalized world. People in the world’s more affluent countries have become
accustomed to low cost consumer goods, access internet from any part of the globe, and worldwide travel as mundane. These benefits of
modern consumer life are all linked to globalization. On the contrary, people are scared for their livelihoods, living conditions and natural
environment, in both richer as well as poorer countries. These aspects of globalization cast a shadow over future prosperity.
Before starting to write an essay differentiating between pro-globalization and anti-globalization, we should first know what actually
globalization is all about. The term ‘Globalization’ has been derived from the word ‘globalize’ which refers to the emergence of an
international network of economic systems and can be defined as a mixture of processes by which products, people, companies, money
and information are able to move quickly around the world as decision makers desire, with few cross border impediments in their way.
Globalization is an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have united through a globe-spanning network of
communication and execution. It began in the late 19th
century however; its spread slackened during the period from the start of First
World War until the third quarter of the 20th
century. This slowdown can be attributed to the inward looking policies pursued by a number
of countries in order to protect their respective industries. However, the pace of globalization picked up rapidly during the fourth quarter of
the 20th
century. As a result of this upsurge observed in globalization, the term was more often used by economists, entrepreneurs, etc.
between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. The International Monetary Fund in early 2000 introduced the four basic facets of globalization
viz., trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people and dissemination of knowledge.
Along with these four aspects, environmental challenges such as climate change, cross-boundary water and air pollution, and over-fishing of
the oceans are also linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are affected by business and work organization, economics,
socio-cultural resources, and the natural environment.
Types of Globalization
Now, the question here comes that on what basis we will segregate globalization into two buckets i.e. pro- and anti-globalization. There
should be some parameters and views separating one from the other. Let us go through each of these one by one.
Definitions:
Pro-globalization refers to the policies that encourage increased trade, open communication, and the unrestricted movement of people
among nations. Pro-globalization companies, organizations, and individuals support policies such as free trade, offshored manufacturing,
and open borders, and oppose limitations such as tariffs, embargos, and other internationally restrictive economic and political actions by
national governments.
Anti-globalization on the other hand refers to the movement whose participants are opposed to capitalism and globalization. The
philosophy of the movement is based on the belief that individuals and organizations can achieve social, personal and economic goals
without the negative consequences associated with capitalism. The anti-globalization movement places more emphasis on economic
efficiency and human decency versus corporate competition and profits at any cost.
By looking at the definitions, we can say that the pro and anti-parts of globalization are two sides of the same coin as they represent
ideology, behavior and impact of the same point “globalization”, though in the two different ways.
To understand more about Pro-globalization, let us focus on its behavior, ideology and impacts in detail.
Pro-globalization particularly shows the positive side of the advancements and happenings which are resultant of the globalization. A few
points/impacts with the supporting postulates have been listed below:
 Proliferated International Business:
Strong and improved transport and communication system acts as an impetus for international business to grow and nurture at a
faster pace. This rapid growth was observed after the dawn of 20th
Century. International business comprises all the commercial
transactions (private sales, investments, logistics, and transportation) that take place between two or more regions, countries and
nations beyond their political boundaries. International business arrangements resulted in the formation of multinational enterprises
(MNE) also known as multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational company (TNC). These companies have a worldwide approach
to markets and production or one with operations in more than one country. Businesses generally argue that survival in the new global
marketplace requires companies to source goods, services, labor and materials overseas to continuously upgrade their products and
technology in order to survive increased competition. According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute report, flows of goods, services,
and finance reached $26 trillion in 2012, or 36 percent of global GDP, 1.5 times the level in 1990.
 Boosted International Trade:
International trade refers to the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries,
such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product (GDP). Industrialization, advanced transportation, MNCs, offshoring
and outsourcing all have a major impact on world trade. The Asia-Pacific has been described as "the most integrated trading region on
the planet" because its intra-regional trade accounts probably for as much as 50-60% of the region's total imports and exports. It also
allows extra-regional trade: consumer goods exports such as televisions, radios, bicycles, and textiles into the United States, Europe,
and Japan fueled the economic expansion.

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 Increasing International Tourism:
Tourism is one of the most popular leisure activity and as per WHO estimates approx. 5 million people across the globe travel in a flight
at any one time. Modern aviation has made it possible to travel long distances quickly. In 2010, there were over 940 million
international tourist arrivals worldwide. This expenditure on travel therefore boosted the industry and in turn the economy of the
country to which the travel was made.
 Commercial Expansions via Currency Exchange and Trade:
Emergence of worldwide financial markets and easier accessibility for borrowers to have an external financing boosts the business. In
the early phase of 21st century, more than $1.5 trillion in national currencies were traded daily to support the expanded levels of trade
and investment.
 New employment opportunities:
Pro-globalists argue that globalization will create new employment opportunities in various parts of the world. For each office being
setup, companies will be requiring hundreds of people to work in them at different levels.
 Healthcare:
Global health is the health of populations in a global context that surpasses the perspectives and concerns of individual nations. Health
problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact are emphasized. It has been defined as 'the
area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide'.
Thus, global health is about worldwide improvement of health, reduction of disparities, and protection against global threats that
disregard national borders. The major international agency for health is the World Health Organization (WHO). Other important
agencies with impact on global health activities include UNICEF, World Food Programme (WFP), and United Nations University
International Institute for Global Health and the World Bank. Pro-globalists consider it to be a boon to fight against the epidemics and
deadly diseases however; anti-globalists consider international travel to spread some of the deadliest infectious diseases.
 World Culture, Sports and Music:
Growth of cross-cultural contacts, 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.” Needless to say, Olympics, FIFA world cup, music concerts, religions,
food all are globally connected. We can say that globalization also relates to a multilateral political world and to the increase of cultural
objects and markets between countries.
 Rise in Competition and Provide Better Technologies:
Survival in new global business markets calls for improved productivity and increased competition. Due to the markets expanding
worldwide, companies in various industries have to upgrade their products and use innovate better technologies in order to face
increased competition. This competitive spirit amongst the companies therefore always creates a cut throat competition to
manufacture, produce and supply the best product to be the market leader.
 Increase in Information Flow:
Increase in information flows between geographically remote locations. This is a technological change with the advent of fiber optic
communications, satellites, and increased availability of telephone and Internet. Most popular second language is English and it is
being used as language for global communication. About 35% of the world mail, telexes, and cables are in English. About 50% of all
Internet traffic uses English.
Let us now focus on the Anti-globalist part.
The anti-globalist zone is divided into two camps - one belonging to the developed countries like the US and the EU nations whose
argument is mainly based on the threat of job loss in these countries due to globalization and increase in unemployment of skilled people
and the other one is from developed and developing countries who are considering globalization as a threat to their economy, cultural &
social values and political independence. They believe that globalization or rather neo-liberalization will give access to their country's
economy to few MNCs who will use it for their own benefit ignoring the overall growth of the country.
Main issues and concerns raised by Anti-globalists are listed below:
 Exporting Poverty and Unemployment:
According to anti-globalists, globalization is the door that opens up an otherwise resource-poor country to the international market.
They emphasize on the part that where a country has little material or physical product harvested or mined from its own soil, large
corporations see an opportunity to take advantage of export poverty of such a nation. Also, the availability of cheap labor in Asia,
Africa and South America will result in companies shutting down there operations in the host country which will result into people
being laid off and forced into unemployment. Anti-globalists view the globalization as the result of foreign businesses investing in the
country to take advantage of the lower wage rate. One example used by anti-globalization protesters is the use of sweatshops by
manufacturers. According to Global Exchange these "Sweat Shops" are widely used by sports shoe manufacturers and mentions one

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company – Nike. There are factories set up in the poor countries where employees agree to work for low wages. Then if labor laws
alter in those countries and stricter rules govern the manufacturing process the factories are closed down and relocated to other
nations with more conservative, laissez-fair economic policies.
There are several agencies that have been set up worldwide specifically designed to focus on anti-sweatshop campaigns and education
of such.
 Environmental Degradation:
The removal of forests to make way for cattle ranching was the leading cause of deforestation in Brazilian Amazon from the mid-1960s.
Recently, soybeans have become one of the most important contributors to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The World watch
institute said the booming economies of China and India are planetary powers that are shaping the global biosphere. In 2007, China
overtook the United States as the world's biggest producer of CO2. A major source of deforestation is the logging industry, driven
spectacularly by China and Japan. Thriving economies such as China and India are quickly becoming large oil consumers. State of the
World 2006 report said the two countries high economic growth hid a reality of severe pollution.
 Global Sharing of Environmental Resources:
The advent of global environmental challenges that might be solved with international cooperation, such as climate change, cross
boundary water and air pollution, over-fishing 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. On the other hand,
economic development historically required a dirty industrial stage, and it is argued that developing countries should not via,
regulation, be prohibited from increasing their standard of living.
 Emerging Economies:
Depending on the paradigm, economic globalization can be viewed as either a positive or a negative phenomenon. Economic
globalization comprises the globalization of production, markets, competition, technology, and corporations and industries. Current
globalization trends can be largely accounted for by developed economies integrating with less developed economies by means of FDI,
the reduction of trade barriers as well as other economic reforms and, in many cases, immigration. In 1944, 44 nations attended the
Bretton Woods Conference with a purpose of stabilizing world currencies and establishing credit for international trade in the post-
World War II era. While the international economic order envisioned by the conference gave way to the neo-liberal economic order
prevalent today, the conference established many of the organizations essential to advancement towards a close-knit global economy
and global financial system, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Trade Organization.
 Easier spread of Diseases:
Globalization, the flow of information, goods, capital and people across political and geographic boundaries, has also helped to spread
some of the deadliest infectious diseases known to humans. International travel has contributed it to a larger extent. In 2009, H1N1
virus and in 2014, EPV (Ebola Virus) has been spread from the African subcontinent to the developed and developing nations across
the globe.
 Drug and Illicit Goods Trade:
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a report that the global drug trade generates more than $320 billion a
year in revenues. The international trade of endangered species is second only to drug trafficking. Traditional Chinese medicine often
incorporates ingredients from all parts of plants, the leaf, stem, flower, root, and also ingredients from animals and minerals. The use
of parts of endangered species (such as seahorses, rhinoceros horns, taiga antelope horns, and tiger bones and claws) has created
controversy and resulted in a black market of poachers who hunt restricted animals.
 Tax havens:
A tax haven is a state, country or territories where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all, which are used by businesses for
tax avoidance and tax evasion. Individuals and/or corporate entities can find it attractive to establish shell subsidiaries or move
themselves to areas with reduced or nil taxation levels. This creates a situation of tax competition among governments. Tax havens
have been criticized because they often result in the accumulation of idle cash that is expensive and inefficient for companies to
repatriate. The tax shelter benefits result in a tax incidence disadvantaging the poor. Many tax havens are thought to have connections
to "fraud, money laundering and terrorism.”
 Brain Drain:
An opportunity in richer countries drives talent away from poorer countries, leading to brain drains. Brain drain has cost the Asian and
African continent over $20 billion in employment of ~3 million expatriate professionals annually. Indian students going abroad for their
higher studies costs India a foreign exchange outflow of $10 billion annually.
 Food Security:
The head of the International Food Policy Research Institute stated in 2008 that the gradual change in diet among newly prosperous
populations is the most important factor underpinning the rise in global food prices. From 1950 to 1984, as the Green Revolution
transformed agriculture around the world, grain production increased by over 250%. The world population has grown by about 4
billion since the beginning of the Green Revolution and most believe that, without the Revolution, there would be greater famine and

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malnutrition than the UN presently documents (approximately 850 million people suffering from chronic malnutrition in 2005). It is
becoming increasingly difficult to maintain food security in a world beset by a confluence of "peak" phenomena, namely peak oil, peak
water, peak phosphorus, peak grain and peak fish. Growing populations, falling energy sources and food shortages will create the
"perfect storm" by 2030.
 Negative effect of economic liberalization:
A flood of consumer goods such as televisions, radios, bicycles, and textiles into the United States, Europe, and Japan has helped fuel
the economic expansion of Asian tiger economies in recent decades. However, Chinese textiles, clothing and electronics exports have
recently encountered criticism from Europe, the United States and some African countries. In South Africa, some 300,000 textile
workers have lost their jobs due to the influx of Chinese goods. The increasing U.S. trade deficit with China has cost 2.4 million
American jobs between 2001 and 2008, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
 Concentration of wealth in the hands of few dozen people:
Anti-Globalists in developed and developing countries have been protesting against the concentration of wealth in the hands of few
dozen people. This unequal distribution of wealth is voiced by anti-globalist as frightening and dangerous for the society.
 Cultural Export:
Anti-globalists view the effect of globalization on culture as a rising concern. Along with globalization of economics and trade, culture is
being imported and exported as well. The concern is that the stronger, bigger countries such as United States may overrun the other
smaller countries' cultures leading to those customs and values being faded away. This process is also sometimes referred to as
Americanization or McDonaldization.
 Social Inequality:
The World Bank defines inequality as the disparity of income and standard of living among nations and their citizens. The income gap
that exists between rich and poor countries has become substantial. Although great strides have been made in improving income from
poor nations, many regions of the world have 25% or more of their population living off less than $1 per day (World Bank, 2005). Anti-
globalists think that with the poor people having limited earning capacity, they also have limited access to the world’s wealth. The UN's
Human Poverty Index is a measurement of poverty that factors in illiteracy, malnutrition among children, early death, poor health care,
poor access to safe water, vulnerability to famine or flooding, lack of sanitation, exposure to disease, a diet poor in nutrients, and the
absence of education. Inequality among rich and poor nations exists in terms of income and living conditions. Rich nations have tried
to address this issue by distributing aid packages aimed at specific needs of each poor country. These aid packages ranged from literacy
programs to food handouts and health programs. Poor nations need more than aid packages; they need economic conditions that can
sustain growth.
As per the adage, ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’, we conclude that pro- and anti-globalization go hand in hand. If one section of the society
considers it to be advancing for good, other section will always pick the bad out of it.
Pro-globalists debate that globalization brings about much increased opportunities for almost everyone, and increased competition is a
good thing since it makes agents of production more efficient, the anti-globalists, on the contrary, argue that certain groups of people who
are devoid in terms of resources are not currently capable of functioning within the increased competitive pressure that will be brought
about by allowing their economic to be more connected to the rest of the world.
Many of the developing and under developed countries are poor and have an unequal distribution of wealth within the country itself due to
corrupt government leaders that view international aid as a source of personal income. Therefore, citizens should be wise and judicious
enough to choose their correct representatives in the parliament. Several of the poorer nations do not want to open up to international
trade due to fear of losing their own identity, when in fact they are losing an opportunity for its people to move out of poverty. Many of the
poorer nations have an agrarian economy that is labor intensive, without technology. Those nations are changing over to an industrial
economy that is not as labor intensive. During this transition, they will provide cheap labor markets for MNCs, and wages for these people
will increase. It increasingly affectively the way we live and work positively and negatively, while industrial countries enjoy the merits of
globalization, developing countries have to learn how to compete, otherwise, will remain dependent on others.
However, considering all the above mentioned points, focus should be on progress and development of the countries and their economies
by traversing the path that doesn’t let us go in dark as resources are limited and human wants will never satiate. Environmental
conservation and health safety should be of prime focus across the globe irrespective of that fact in which court does the ball of
globalization drops.

Pro-globalization vs. Anti-globalization

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