Globalization

Globalization (or globalisation) is a modern term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that result from dramatically increased international trade and cultural exchange. It describes the increase of trade and investing due to the falling of barriers and the interdependence of countries. In specifically economic contexts, it is often understood to refer almost exclusively to the effects of trade, particularly trade liberalization or "free trade" (however, see "meanings" below).

Pro-globalization (globalism)

Supporters of democratic globalization can be labelled pro-globalists. They consider that the first phase of globalization, which was market-oriented, should be completed by a phase of building global political institutions representing the will of World citizens. The difference with other globalists is that they do not define in advance any ideology to orient this will, which should be left to the free choice of those citizens via a democratic process.

Related Topics:
Democratic globalization - World citizen

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Supporters of free trade point out that economic theories of comparative advantage suggest that free trade leads to a more efficient allocation of resources, with all countries involved in the trade benefiting. In general, they claim that this leads to lower prices, more employment and higher output.

Related Topics:
Free trade - Comparative advantage

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Libertarians and other proponents of laissez-faire capitalism say higher degrees of political and economic freedom in the form of democracy and capitalism in the developed world produce higher levels of material wealth. They see globalization as the beneficial spread of democracy and capitalism.

Related Topics:
Libertarians - Laissez-faire capitalism - Democracy - Capitalism

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Critics argue that the anti-globalization movement uses anecdotal evidence to support their view and that worldwide statistics instead strongly support globalization:

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• the percentage of people in developing countries living below $1 (adjusted for inflation and purchasing power) per day has halved in only twenty years http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/jsp/index.jsp, although some critics argue that more detailed variables measuring poverty should instead be studied http://www.transnational.org/features/chossu_worldbank.html.
• life expectancy has almost doubled in the developing world since WWII and is starting to close the gap to the developed world where the improvement has been smaller. Child mortality has decreased in every developing region of the world http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=2429. Income inequality for the world as a whole is diminishing http://www.columbia.edu/~xs23/papers/worldistribution/NYT_november_27.htm.
• Democracy has increased dramatically from almost no nation with universal suffrage in 1900 to 62.5% of all nations in 2000 http://www.freedomhouse.org/reports/century.html. New Zealand women got the vote in 1893.http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/Suffragists/SuffIntro.htm
• Worldwide, the proportion of the world's population living in countries where per capita food supplies are under 2,200 calories (9,200 kilojoules) per day was 56 percent in the mid-1960s, compared to below 10 percent by the 1990s.
• Between 1950 and 1999, global literacy increased from 52 percent to 81 percent of the world. And women have made up much of the gap: Female literacy as a percentage of male literacy has increased from 59 percent in 1970 to 80 percent in 2000.
• There are similar trends for electric power, cars, radios, and telephones per capita as well as the percentage of the population with access to clean water http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VC6-4F02KWN-8&_user=10&_coverDate=01%2F01%2F2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=full&_orig=browse&_cdi=5946&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_artOutline=Y&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=273c9d354f2f52b3b14606a5a3b2d69f#bfn25.

However, not all those improvements may be due to globalization.

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Many pro-capitalists are also critical of the World Bank and the IMF, arguing that they are corrupt bureaucracies controlled and financed by states, not corporations. Many loans have been given to dictators who never carried out promised reforms, instead leaving the common people to pay the debts later. They thus see too little capitalism, not too much. They also note that some of the resistance to globalization comes from special interest groups with conflicting interests like Western world unions.

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ntroduction.

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• Joseph Stiglitz: Globalization and its discontents (2002) — A book largely sympathetic to the theory of globalization from the 2001 Economics Nobel Prize winner. However, he is sharply critical of the global institutions, the International Monetary Fund, the WTO and the World Bank, regulating the process. ISBN 014101038X
• Thomas Friedman: The Lexus and the Olive Tree (2000), ISBN 0374185522. Deals with the conflicting processes of tradition and progress, which ultimately influence the progression of globalization throughout the Middle East and the world.
• Martin Wolf: Why Globalization Works (2004), ISBN 0300107773. Wolf uses data he has collected since the 1980s to put together a comprehensive defense of globalization by showing figures which show increased standards of living and income in nations which have globalized.
• John Ralston Saul, The Collapse of Globalism. Subtitled (depending on the market) as ?And the rise of nationalism? or ?And the reinvention of the world? (2005).
• Thomas Friedman: The World is Flat (2005), ISBN 0374292884 . A "timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents."
• World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All, February 2004 http://www.ilo.org/public/english/fairglobalization/index.htm
• Jacques Sapir: Economists Against Democracy (2002); Highly critical of global institutions like the IMF or the WTO, the book arguments that the neoliberal policies recommended by these institutions are the ones to blame for the economic crisis in Russia and Argentina
• Johan Norberg In Defence of Global Capitalism (2001) — "Giving clear and verifiable sources, he nails one by one the fallacies and selective statistics that are used by the anti-capitalist protesters."