Governing Global Business: Liberalism and Globalisation - Research Paper Example

? Globalization and the Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Research Question 3 Literature Review 3 Analysis and Discussion 6 Conclusion 8 References 9 Bibliography 11 Introduction Globalisation means the opening up of the states in front of the global markets with more reliance on the market driven economies and enhancement in the process of cross country communication. The states are the composite parts of the larger global world in which each state have a definite characteristic in terms of history, culture, economic and political conditions (Clark, 1999, p. 53). The different theories of liberalism, Marxism and realism are the main issue that show a path forward for the process of globalisation. Liberalism is the most accepted theory in this regard and the main principles of globalisation are based on this theory. Research Question Since the theory of liberalism is most close to the topic of globalisation, the theory has got a wide acceptance among the research scholars who have written about the state and the effects of Globalisation. This paper makes an attempt to analyse how far the principles of Liberalism are applicable to the globalisation and how it has been actually applied in practice. Literature Review Globalisation is a phenomenon that the world experienced through the opening up of the networks of communication and trade relations across countries in different parts of the world. As a result of the globalisation the world would be a single village of people where the flow of ideas would be free and the cultural exchange between people would be more liberal (Smith, 1980, p. 119). There are several facets of the process of globalisation. First of all it means the liberalisation of the foreign policies of the state. Along with this it includes the privatisation of the government enterprises and investments in projects across the barriers of nationality (Waters, 1995, p. 11). The phenomenon would also include the easy mobility of the employable people and exchange of business ideas. But the idea chiefly includes mainly communication across cross country borders. The advent of Globalisation was seen mostly towards the fag end of the twentieth century (Appadurai, 2000, p. 82). With the inception of the World Wide Web, the people could easily establish the relations that lie at the diametrically opposite part of the globe. The time taken to carry out this communication process was also less which in turn facilitated trade across countries. The free flowing ideas and exchange of information had also brought the nations with the common interests on a same platform. On the other hand, a state in the sense of politics are a group of people living in a definite area of land and are controlled and guided by the rules laid down by a powerful body known as the government (Featherstone, 1990, p. 73). Often the term government is used interchangeably with the state. There are several states or nations in the world that have their specific set of rules and regulations. The process of globalisation would encourage the interaction of all these states from an economic, social, cultural and religious perspective on a common field. The terms that are commonly used along with the term globalization include Liberalism, Marxism and Realism. The political philosophy of Liberalism believes that a state should allow liberty and equality to all the citizens of the state. The people of the state should provide each and every citizen to take part in the election in the most open manner. The country should take part in free trade and the people should be allowed to have ownership of property (Rosefielde, 2008, p. 60). This is completely opposed to the theory of Marxism that does not believe in the possession of private property but believe that the surplus value that comes out of any production process should be sent to the government who will have the responsibility of allocating the resources according to the needs of the people. The ownership of the means of production should lie in the hands of the government and not any private entity. Realism again believes that the political forces are driven by the selfish needs of the people in power (Beck, 2000, p. 13). Thus the states are considered to be the epitome of superpower and the states must established relations with one another. In the pre-1990 phase the world was a more closed place with each of the nations maintaining its own unique economic, political and social identities. With the countries on mutual consent deciding to be part of the bigger world, exchange the cultural diversities and economic capabilities has become a more frequently undertaken phenomenon. John Locke was one of the major proponents of liberalism who believed that every human being have the right to live their life in the way they wish to. They have the right to own property. The government has the active role in helping the countrymen to accomplish these successfully. The principle believes in the democratic ways and therefore it is practised in the markets of the world (Grant, 2010, p. 180). Free markets are encouraged in Liberalism. It is a commonly observed phenomenon at the present day because the foreign investors are encouraged to invest in an economy that is trying to move forward in the process of development. The countries that are interested in the process and want to grow have removed the trade barriers. The theory also encourages ownership of private property. Marxism, as discussed before is against this practise. Therefore private ownership of property and business is encouraged in liberalism. The people who own the means of production are free to retain the surplus with them (Bakan, 2005, p. 31). This kind of liberalisation and globalisation has been portrayed by the countries like China, India and Japan. The entire process has made these countries dominant players in the international markets. From a political point of view as well liberalism implies the introduction of the free elections and voting rights of the citizens. Any person had the right to express their opinion freely in the society even if it is against the government (Kedouri, 1960, p. 14). These principles of ideally running the state were later in found in the way the different nations of Europe and America were governed. Among the major proponents of the theory in the political scenario were Martin Luther King and Woodrow Wilson (Polanyi, 1957, p. 297). Thus the idea that enlightened one nation had an influence on the other nations and they followed the same path. Therefore liberalism moved forward with the interchange of innovative and productive ideas that helped all the nations at some phase of their development. All this had led to the globalisation that the modern day is witnessing (Scholte, 1997, p. 29). As a consequence out of the three views Liberalism seems to be the one that can be applied to the concept of Globalisation in the most appropriate manner. Analysis and Discussion Globalisation as an effect of the application of liberalism had led to several beneficial effects for the world at large (McIntosh, Thomas, Leipziger, and Coleman, 2003, p. 57). Due to the opening up of the free trade the goods and services produced by the different countries that were not so developed have got an international exposure. This in turn has allowed the countries to grow at their full potential. The goods and services of better quality are available at the markets at a cheaper rate. The competition has intensified over time with the introduction of the advanced technologies of production (Went, 2000, p. 53). The better international relations have solved a large number of political issues that the states have faced. The countries of the world could come forward in a unified manner to address the important social issues like terrorism. The problems like global warming or harmful diseases affect all the countries in the same detrimental fashion. Due to liberalisation of the international relations, the countries have been able to tackle these problems with a joint effort (Starkey and Welford, 2001, p. 25). The different international economic and political forums have come forward in this process (Frankel, 1997, p. 7). They include the United Nations organisation, the World Bank, the International Monetary fund, the UNESCO which has tried to deal with political, economic and social issues that concern the world (Reich, 1991, p. 26). In case of financial crisis of one country these forums lend their support. Liberalisation has also encouraged investments in foreign nations which have made the capital investment of the nations more mobile (Hill, 2011, p. 237). Resources are better used due to globalisation. The cross cultural communications especially through the internet have made the interactions faster. Thus the large businesses in one country have set up subsidiaries in other countries for making the untapped resources productive (Jones, 2004, p. 47). The state has a major role to play in this regard by making the regulatory bindings on the private enterprises less stringent and allowing the free market to operate (Bauman, 2000, p. 104). The citizens of a particular nation should be allowed to work for another nation. The labour market mobility is also allowed in case of a liberal state. Globalisation was not an unmixed blessing. The liberalisation process had also brought forward a host of challenges for the states that have actively taken part in it. Due to the intensive involvement of the other countries the financial markets of one country would influence the markets of the other countries. Thus the countries that have investments in other countries would have an exposure to the risks that are specific to the foreign countries (Krugman, 2009, p. 27). Along with this liberalisation would pose a lot of economic risks to the countries involved in form of unemployment and problems in the trade cycles (Dicken, 2010, p. 493). Due to liberalisation, the countries specialising in any particular good because of abundance in resources would be able to produce at a cheaper rate. Thus the competition in the foreign market would increase. The countries which are not so rich in the resources would suffer out of that competition and their domestic industries would suffer a loss (Scott, 1997, p. 19). Thus the application of liberalisation in the world would be effective mostly from the social and economic point of view. The individual states of the global village would benefit from the process of liberalisation as the economic condition would move towards prosperity and the state would have a level playing field among all the other states (Mohammadi, 2000, p. 51). The cultural diversity of the different states would also be portrayed in a single world platform. Conclusion Thus it may be concluded saying that liberalism as a theory is the most appropriately applicable to the phenomenon of Globalisation. The liberalist view of the economy and politics is applicable in the recent day scenario. Unless free exchange is allowed the internet as a media of communication would also not have been a success. From an economic point of view as well, the introduction of free trade policies by a particular state would add to the wellbeing of the constituting citizens. The introduction of privatisation would enable the productive forces of the states to work at their highest capacity. Therefore the world would be merged into a single village with collective thought for social welfare. References Appadurai, A., 2000. Globalization. Durham: Duke University Press. Bakan, J., 2005. The corporation: the pathological pursuit of profit and power. London: Constable. Bauman, Z., 2000. Globalization. New York: Columbia University Press. Beck, U., 2000. What is Globalization? Cambridge: Polity Press. Clark, I., 1999. Globalization and International Relations Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dicken, P., 2010. Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy. 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