How Far Does the United States Benefit from Globalization - Dissertation Example

How far does the United s benefit from Globalization? In an attempt to tackle this issue, I find necessary to first define the word globalization, then I will speak about the advantages and disadvantages of globalization in the American society. In reality the advantages cover three main areas: the American culture, the American political system and the spread of the American economy. Furthermore, this essay will seek to discuss three more important advantages in America. I state, the American culture on a global scale, America and the global spread of democracy, the neo liberalism, and the critique of globalization. It is very difficult to define the term globalization because it has meant a number of things. Generally globalization refers to a group of countries joined together, through education, economy, society and policies. These countries view themselves not only through national identity but also as a part of the world. It can be said that globalization brings all people around the world more close than before, especially through joining economy, media and the internet. Moreover, the academic meaning of globalization is that it is a process of interaction and integration among the governments, companies and people all around the world and this process has the role made important by investment and international trade supported by information technology. This process has developed things on culture, economy, political system and environment all around the world. It is true that the American culture is present all around the world. Today one can find McDonald’s, Starbucks or host of American companies from London, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and China. In the wake of the end of the Cold War, the American products can be found from Montana to Montreal and even Moscow. At the end of the Second World War, the globalization of American values began to get exported to other countries especially within the economic and social devastations of the European continent. Also the social and cultural revolution in the 1960s was very important for the international exportation of the United States. Because of this, the youth culture began to change especially in the relation between different generations, as a result of which the blue jeans was only worn in the Midwestern and southern farmers but now it has become popular for teenagers, and the rock and roll music has become very important for such generations. From an economic standpoint, in the self-care for young, the industrial was few but nowadays it has dramatically increased especially in terms of hair-care, personal hygiene and flourishing industries of cosmetics. Eric Hobsbawm says that the social revolution of the 1960s was as much a capitalist venture as a social and cultural revolution. Because of this the purchasing power sharply increased and some companies developed the jeans and rock music, which are identifiers of modern youth, not only in America but also for all generations around the world. As a result the culture of America became global. Accordingly, the social revolution in America as American television shows (Baywatch), music (the late great Michael Jackson) and fast-food chains (McDonald’s) represent the global co-modification of the American culture in today’s era of globalization. The result of the globalization of the American products has been the cultural Americanization of the world. This has been a benefit to the United States and has contributed to the spread of American soft power throughout the world. The American system and policies also spread around the world. As an example, the democratic system or more specifically the American democratic system has been used in most of the countries of the world. The term democracy means a system of government in which everyone within a country can vote to elect their best leader. The citizens have the same rights to vote by the law and they have the ability to influence the decision making. There are two types of democracies – first direct democracy and the second is representative democracy. Direct democracy: The word itself comes from the Greek word {kratos} and this word means power or rule by the people, so democracy means rule by the people, under which the people can influence the decision making. Direct democracy is a political system where the voter votes in all government policy decisions, and it is called direct democracy because there are no representatives or intermediaries, so the citizens vote directly to elect their leader. In a direct democracy, the citizens have the final authority, and they can influence decisions that affect their everyday lives. Representative democracy: It can be described as a form of democracy in which the citizens elect government officials so people have the chance to elect the candidate they want to act or represent them in the Parliament. Liberal democracy is a political system found in the developed countries of the Western world and is certainly not exclusive to the United States alone. The liberal democracy is the dominant form of democracy in the 21st century. Globalization in the American society has contributed to the worldwide spread of democratic ideas and ideals. Furthermore, the presidential election in 2009 captivated the world’s attention and it was watched by millions of people around the world. As an example of liberal democracy, a political system which includes election and universal suffrage, the president election in 2009 as African-American President seemed to many as impossible. Liberal democracy creates an open society in which political power transferred peacefully. From the definition of liberal democracy, all citizens have the right to vote. The political system in place will be perceived as being legitimate and stability will be the end result. The other theories that help in the spread of democracy around the world are liberalism and capitalism. Liberalism theory is the international theory and it is established within the European Union. It means the freedom of an individual, and is also explained among nations and its entrenchment of liberal political ideals. The liberalism theory argues that democratic nations never go to war against one another. This has been used to quickly spread the peaceful democracy in global contexts. Another reason of the spread of democracy is the collapse of the Soviet Union which is represented in the American system over the Soviet Union in the twentieth century, in other words, the American liberalism and liberal democracy over the communism and socialism. Liberal democracy is not only a political system; it includes free and fair elections, an impartial judiciary and an active media. Because of these reasons the Western culture became unique and was replicated in different countries around the world. Neo liberalism is a system that exists from the classical economic liberalism. In chapter three of the book Globalizing World, it describes the globalization as the process of markets in different countries became smaller and joined together as one market or as smaller goods and services. Today, globalization depends on the global spread of capitalism as economic systems throughout the world. Also globalization depends on the capitalist neo liberal economics which now exist all around the world. This is an important system for the American society to develop their economics and the US is one of the most important supporters for this system to be spread throughout the world (Dunne 89-107). The capitalism term means the economic and social systems which now exist all around the world. Under this term the production and distribution of goods are owned and controlled by the small minority of people. Also capitalism is responsible for the economic growth and the globalization of international trade. The capitalism system is one of the most factors that support the free market between countries. The most important advantages of capitalism is that it helps to produce the economic globalization and the strong economic growth, and it started from the Western countries to stop the expanding of the European countries with the support of US. The USSR is responsible for tremendous economic growth on a global scale. One of these countries which is an extremely capitalistic economy is UK after the Second World War. Because of this the US strongly supported the neo liberalism as a unique form of capitalism which increases the forces of globalization in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (Dunne 89-107). Today, as before 1914, the US economy is one of the biggest markets in the world and now it is much important a market then it was earlier. For example, if the price of one product decreased it will affect everyone around the world, or if it goes up, it would lead to raising the product value globally. As an example of product or car factories in America, there are many American factories around the world because of which the workers and their wages, they employ workers with low wages, that if they employ American people, the wages must be higher than those from poor countries therefore American investors will get more benefit by doing this and helping people to develop their countries. Furthermore, the globalization helps poor countries and people to develop their countries and increase the standard of living. Other advantages of globalization are that it allows to access technology in developing countries, and makes the transfers for people, good and services between countries more easy. Because of this, countries that used the same system all around the world became friendlier than before or it can be said that globalization has promoted world peace in essence. Some argue that globalization helps women and children rights between countries because some countries have different religions that do not allow women to work but with free market and global mass media increasing, the knowledge for these countries allows or give more rights for women and child care. In the case of globalization, it has led to increase in technology between countries it allowed to raise life expectancy which allows doctors to know how to use higher technology than before, especially in healthcare (hospitals), so it can be said that it allowed high birth rate and low death rate. Globalization has several advantages and disadvantages on social, technological, cultural, economic and other fronts. The first advantage of globalization is that mass media became global, for example cinema, TV shows, and music, as one can see programs in China that other one sees the same programs in US, and other TV shows such as cultural programs can be seen all around the world. Moreover, anyone can get experience (cultural experience) from just TV shows. As an example, a person can see what kind of food they eat and what clothes they wear so mass media tries to make world closer. The most important advantage of globalization is that the world has become as one country in market, relationships between them and some policies so the world has become more peaceful than before. People and goods between countries are transferred more easily and speedy, the trade between them will increase also the same production can be seen in many places, and the information flow between geographically remote locations has become faster and quicker. Globalization will affect the international travel and tourism between countries as it will increase the market suppliers, and the financial markets will dramatically increase throughout the world. Globalization and sport events will be held between countries like the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games, etc. The most significant effect of globalization is that environmental protection in developing countries will be higher than before; also companies have greater flexibility to work and operate across borders. Also in the liquidity of capital terms the globalization will increase, besides that all investors in developed nations will invest in the developing nations. Another major benefit of globalization is the spread of English language of the US throughout the world and it can be said that the English language of US is used all around the world. It remained as a second language for all countries, for example in the Middle East the first language is Arabic and the second language is English. In the military and healthcare, there are many organizations between countries such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the nuclear weapons organization that the six countries try to stop the spread of these weapons between countries and the US is one of them. Therefore this is one of the greatest advantages of globalization. Each term or system has positive and negative aspects. So far I mentioned the advantages of the globalization; lets now mention the disadvantages of globalization. Globalization like the World Trade Organization (WTO) will effect the infringement on national and individual sovereignty which led to some problems between nations. Also diseases unintentionally between people will increase as the people and goods transfer quickly between countries. In terms of the job sector there will be more jobs in countries which will lead to increased skilled and non killed jobs from developed nations to developing nations and the companies searching for the cheapest possible labor. In addition, economic disruptions in one country will affect all countries in the world as one market trade. The most important disadvantage of globalization is that some cultures get lost in terms of global mass media and economic powers. Such countries have more economic power and will damage other countries, because of the strength and wealth. Countries produce many things that will affect the culture of the developing countries. Another major damage is that the competition between countries has been limited because of globalization with trade between countries removing the competition between them; as a result there must be some role to keep the competition between countries to maintain continuity and development between the nations. Another major damage of globalization is the increasing number of the loafer and unemployment. After the industrial revolution, some countries became the powers in industry and the production decreased but in other countries, there was an increase in the unemployment and the reasons for this are the need for less manpower, fewer workers because companies use machines and indeed technology instead of manpower. Moreover, world system theorists argue that the economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) impoverish the masses for the benefits of the few. Some argue that globalization does things more than entrenching the dominant economic position of the developed nations of the West while perpetuating an unequal global distribution of wealth thus ensuring the continued subservient status of the developing nations of the world within the current global economic system (Harvey 4-27). Pessimistic globalists argue that globalization increases the gap between the world countries, for example between the rich and poor countries. Rich countries get richer and the poor countries get poorer. The most fundamental damage costs to all citizens and to the US government domains that terrorism increases dramatically in America which affects the economy of America and the government has expanded its power worldwide to deal with it thereby often affecting the rights or freedom of US citizens. The final major damage of globalization is the world media which is controlled by a handful of companies which limits cultural expression. Conclusion This essay states the advantages and disadvantages of the American globalization. The first part of this was on the American culture such as food, music and TV shows while the second part was on the American politics especially on the spread of democracy. Globalization in American society is an important word that has been developed by many things in the world on the economic, cultural and political systems. Many people argue that globalization has more advantages than disadvantages for the American society, for example one of the advantages is that all people around the world see it as a major benefit that American food is now present all around the world, such as McDonald’s. As this essay shows, globalization is the internationalization of American culture for all people around the world. The US benefits from the collapse of the Soviet Union to spread the American economic system and the American culture around the world. It is true that many people argue whether American globalization is good or bad but the fact is that the United States still retains its pre-eminent position in international affairs which is a proof for that statement (American globalization). Also American culture quickly spreads in the world through Coca-Cola, Michael Jordan sneakers and Hollywood movies that people watch throughout the world. Globalization benefits the US economic growth, opens new markets overseas which allow the US companies to provide or produce more services therefore allowing more jobs for American workers. Culturally, American products still remain as the highest products in the world. The globalization of the world has allowed for the United States to spread the capitalism and neo liberal thought in the world. This essay shows that globalization is indeed a difficult term. Globalization occurs when different countries join together economically and culturally and this affects all parties and challenges the argument that globalization is 100% Americanization of the world. The US is still spreading the social, economic and political values all around the world and this is what makes the USA unique. There are many people who argue that the advantages of the American globalization are more than the disadvantages, therefore, globalization has benefited the American society, in other words globalization is very good for the American society only. This essay discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the American globalization which in my opinion I answered the question being asked nowadays How far does the United States benefit from globalization? References David McKay, American politics and society, 2005, Oxford, Blackwell. Dunne, T. International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Gillian Peele, Christopher J, Bailey, Bruce Cain and B. Guy Peters, Developments in American politics 5, 2006, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Harvey, D. A Brief History of Neo liberalism. London: Oxford University Press., 2007. Hed, D. (ed.) A Globalizing World? Workbook 4. London: Routledge, 2004. Read More