Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalisation

Essay by freakyfrogUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, October 2006

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Globalisation is defined as the integration, interaction and interdependence of people and organisations all around the globe.

Globalisation can be separated into three Periods. The first began around 1492 with the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and was signified by the trade between the old and the new world. This area was about countries and government and manifested itself in colonialism.

The second period began in 1800 and lasted until the end of the nineties of the last century, interrupted by the two world wars and the great depression. Here the main factor were multinational companies operating with little regard for borders.

We are living in the third phase of Globalisation signified by the access of nearly everyone all around the world to the world wide web, which allows them to work together and compete with each other in rapidly changing groups.

Globalisation has been attributed with several disadvantages, foremost that globalisation is creating a growing gap between the rich and the poor countries and individuals participating in it.

David Dollar and Aart Kraay negate this argument in their study for the worldbank and reach the "conclusion that there simply is no good evidence that countries that trade more [...] on average have rising income inequality." Furthermore they conclude that "the balance of the evidence suggests that, on average, greater globalisation is a force for poverty reduction" ("Trade, Growth and Poverty", p26 ff.)

The next arguments against globalisation are that it is a negative influence on the environment and that it leads to an exploitation of workers in poor countries.

The negative influence on the environment is true. The influence of the rising transportation alone leads to more pollution and rising energy demands. Additionally countries in the developing world can offer companies moving their factories into their country less...