Globalization

Essay by supersaadiUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 2011

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Complex interdependence and globalization

Complex interdependence and globalization have become core concepts in most academics' minds. Nonetheless, disagreement on working definitions has led to conceptions centering mostly on the ideas of economic, cultural, and technological interdependence and interconnectedness.

Most scholars acknowledge that the concept of globalization has the merit of amalgamating social organizations unto one global society. As a matter of fact, highly intricate relations of push and pull forces are producing simultaneous integration, degeneration and divergence, order and chaos at the interregional or transnational level.

These are unifying and conflict-ridden forces within globalization, which can generate remarkable opportunities for affluence, peace, and democracy but also threats for divergence, business supremacy, and lack of consideration for world citizens and civilizations.

Globalization: A Theory of Expectations

Globalization has always been equated by many analysts with economic interdependence (Bhagwati, 2007). Indeed, nowadays, the extent and level of global economic relations appears to be unparalleled in world history, mainly in terms of the immense quantity of capital flows.

Emergent countries, also, are progressively becoming a part of global business and investment flows. Modern-day economic globalization models imply a new international division of labor reflecting the new global economy, whereby economic and financial integration do not remain solely concentrated amid the industrialized countries of North America, Europe, and East Asia (Amin, 1996). As a matter of fact, global capital has not stimulated enough policy homogenization, and significant differences in economic structuring subside.

Multinational corporations, for instance, which are seen by many as globalization's leading agents, remain mostly active in their country of origin. The debate as to whether economic globalization will aggravate economic inequalities or contribute to advancing economic justice lead to a considerable amount of literature on the impact of globalization on wealth distribution amid both most-developed countries and less-developed countries (Friedman &...