Introduction
Globalization can be found in five diverse areas which include cultural, economic, religious, political, and social systems. Globalization can be defined as the ever-increasing interconnection of people and places as a consequence of advances in transportation, communication, and information technologies that cause economic, political, and cultural union. Globalization is also defined as the internationalization of everything shared by different countries. The rise of multinational corporations outsourcing has taken a crucial part in globalization.
Trade and industrial globalization have had a greater force on the worldwide integration of diverse cultures. The first period of globalization in the fullest sense was during the 19th century. This was due to the rapid growth of international trade between the European imperial powers, the European colonies, and the United States. Past World War II, globalization was restarted and was motivated by major advances in technology, which led to lesser trading costs (Gad, 2003).
Globalization nowadays
Nowadays, globalization is viewed as a century’s extensive process, following the expansion of the individual population and the augmentation of development, which has to hasten dramatically in the past five decades of years. Early forms of globalization subsisted during the Roman Empire and other regions such as the Parthian empire, and the Han Dynasty. The early globalization in the economy across the Old World resulted in a globalization of crops, trade, knowledge, and technology. It later continued to the Mongol Empire, which gave a greater integration along the Silk Road. Since then unto date, global integration has continued to expand to another area like the European trade. After World War II, globalization resulted in the planning by economists in business interests.
Politicians recognized the costs associated with protectionism and declining international economic integration (Sachs, 2005). They released that the world was increasingly confronted with problems that could not be solved by individual nation-states acting alone. Such problems included examples like over-fishing of the oceans, water pollution, global warming, global trade, and international terrorist networks and these still poses threat to the new generation. Resolution to these problems necessitates new forms of cooperation and the creation of new global institutions. Ever since the end of World war II and following the dawn of the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions, there has been a sudden increase in the reach and power of multinational corporations and the rapid growth of global civil society. This work has led to the Bretton Woods conference and the founding of several international institutions intended to oversee the rehabilitated processes of globalization, promoting growth and managing adverse costs. These formed corporations were the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as today known as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Originally under the support of GATT, corporation formations led to a series of agreements to remove restrictions on free trade.
The Uruguay round from 1984 to 1995 led to a treaty to create the World Trade Organization to mediate trade disagreements and set up a homogeneous platform of trading. Other bi- and multilateral trade agreements, including sections of Europe’s Maastricht Treaty and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have also been signed in pursuit of the goal of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade (King, 2007)
International laws are referred to in three distinct legal disciplines: public international law, private international law, and or conflict of laws. Supranational law of the European Union is the primary and only example of a supra-national legal framework, where sovereign nations have pooled their authority through a system of courts and political institutions. International laws comprise a new legal order in international law for the communal social and economic benefit of the member states. Today, firms are increasingly competent in changing capital and employment supply manacles across boundaries, as well as trading within a foreign country corporation. This amplifies the number of rows of an inter-state nature outside an integrated legal skeleton and raises issues of the enforceability of standard practices. Increasing numbers of companies use commercial negotiation under the New York Convention.
Politics have also played a major role in facilitating globalization. Political globalization is defined as the formation of a world government that controls the relationships among states and assures the rights arising from social and economic globalization. Politic affects globalization both positively and negatively. Politically, a state may enjoy the position of power among the other world powers because of its strong and wealthy economy. A good example being the United States, with the influence of globalization and with the help of The United States’ economy, China has experienced some tremendous growth within the past decade. If China continues to grow at the rate projected by the trends, then it is very likely that in the next twenty years, there will be a major reallocation of power among the world leaders. China will have enough wealth, industry, and technology to rival the United States for the position of leading world power (Ankerl, 2002).
Meaning of globalization
Globalize world has been facilitated by advances in technology which have reduced the costs of trade, and trade negotiation rounds, world. Industrialization leads to the emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of foreign products to consumers and company’s financial stability in one state also may enhance the emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external financing for corporate, national, and sub-national borrowers through the electronic transfer of money.
Through technology methods, there is economic growth. There is the realization of a global common market, based on the freedom of exchange of goods and money through the internet. Globalization, when judged from a sociological perspective, has increased economic inequality throughout the world and within the continents. Shoddier countries are at disadvantage due to unavailability of the new technologies.
Job search is one of the factors facilitating globalization. However, globalization has attached negative effects like the exploitation of foreign impoverished employees. Jobs are being applied through the internet which seemingly looks to be excellent means of job opportunities. (Stilglit, 2002)The weakening of protections for weaker states by stronger developed powers has resulted in the exploitation of the people in that state to become cheap labor sources. Due to the lack of protections, a corporation from powerful developed nations can compel workers to endure tremendously long hours, hazardous working conditions, and just sufficient salary to maintain them working. The profusion of cheap labor is giving the states in power incentive not to rectify the inequality between nations. If these nations developed into industrialized nations, the army of cheap labor would slowly disappear alongside development. With the world in this current state, the exploited workers can’t escape poverty. The workers are indeed free to leave their jobs, but in many shoddier countries, this would indicate starvation for the worker, and possibly even his/her family.
Non –governmental organizations are legally constituted organizations formed by classified persons or organizations with no participation or representation of any government.NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, with the NGOs maintaining their non-governmental status insofar as they exclude government representatives from membership in the organization. NGOs are non-profit public benefit corporations organized for public and charitable purposes. Their specific purpose is to support the underprivileged people nationally or internationally bringing them opportunities for healthier lives. The most important purpose of an Advocacy NGO is to defend or promote a specific cause. Some have operational project management, while other organizations typically try to raise awareness, acceptance, and knowledge by lobbying, press work, and activist events. They provide key support materials and services that are a requirement for globalization. They provide essential services such as education, health, and wellness, food, shelter, and disaster management services.
Non-governmental organizations need healthy relationships with the public to meet their objectives. Foundations and charities use sophisticated public relations campaigns to raise funds and employ standard lobbying techniques with governments. Interest groups may be of political importance because of their ability to influence social and political outcomes. At times NGOs seek to mobilize public support such as the Hot Women Campaign by the NGO Global Warming Alliance. NGOs are concerned with cultural activities. They also deal with the growth of cross-cultural contacts, the advent of new categories of realization and identities such as globalism which exemplifies cultural diffusion, the desire to consume and enjoy foreign products and ideas, and the acceptance of new technology. Global environmental challenges that can not be solved without international cooperation, such as climate change, cross-boundary water, and air pollution, over-fishing of the ocean, and the spread of persistent species are dealt with according.
Summary
So, NGOs affect all the other factors of globalization. For instance, The Third World Network is an international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to environment development and the Third World and North-South issues. It has its international it covers a wide range of topics including environment, economics, biotechnology, north-south relations, etc.
References
- Ankerl, G. (2000), Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: First volume of Global Communication without Universal Civilization. INUPRESS,
- Geneva. Gad, B. (2003): Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities. University of Michigan Press
- Thomas L. F. (2006): The World Is Flat, Farrar.
- Jahn, D. (2006): Globalization as Galton’s Problem: The Missing Link in the Analysis of the Diffusion Patterns in Welfare State Development.” International Organization 60: (2): 401-431.
- King, R. J. and King, K. V. (2007), It Is Globalization, True Democracy, and World Morals. Global Public Publishing
- Kitching, G. (2001), Seeking Social Justice through Globalization. Escaping a Nationalist Perspective
- Köchler, H. (2000), Globality versus Democracy? The Changing Nature of International Relations in the Era of Globalization; International Progress Organization
- Sachs, J. (2005): The End of Poverty. New York, New Penguin Press