The effect of Globalization - Essay Example

?Globalization refers to the concept of integration and connection of nations beyond their national boundaries, and the resultant cooperation and interaction between nation states. In the face of globalization, there is a global interchange of ideas, information, products and technologies, and this leads to significant interdependence between nations. Globalization has been attributed to the ease of transportation and telecommunications, especially in the internet age, where the whole world has been reduced into a global village. Globalization has affected hugely on nations with respect to, but not limited to the following crucial areas namely, Knowledge exchange and transfer, Mobility of resources and businesses, Mobility of labor and Trading dynamics.1 In this regard, globalization has spurred a worldwide system of social and economic interrelationships, a phenomenon that has instigated both negative and positive impacts. One of the obvious aspects of global concern that has been profoundly affected by globalization is citizenship; with global interrelationships, it is becoming increasingly hard for nations to maintain their sovereignty in the global system, and eventually national citizenship is lost. Nations in the global system are obliged to systems and decisions of mutual interest, and to a certain level, security and wellbeing of the citizenry is never assured. National citizenship is thus affected and determined by external conditions in the global system, and in this regard, entitlements of national citizenship are lost.2 National citizenship is crucial in the sense that it assures individuals belongingness, a surety that they are protected by their countries in exchange for loyalty to them. In this respect, the state is obliged to secure the rights of their citizenry within their borders, and the citizens have a responsibility to their countries. However, with the rise of globalization, national citizenship is destabilized due to movement towards integration and interconnectedness of nations on an international level. The role of globalization in undermining the citizenship of individuals can be regarded clearly from a socio-economic perspective; the global economic system presents tough conditions of trade that lead to stiff completion between nations. Economic decisions and measures are taken at a global level, and individual nations have no control on the laws governing trade and exchange in the global markets. In this regard, the states cannot protect their citizens against liabilities and risks of losses in the global economy.3 Citizens are on their own in the global markets, and their economic prospective is determined by global forces of trade, with little intervention from the individual’s countries. Largely, domestic economic policies are derived from the global market conditions, and this undermines national sovereignty and national citizenship accordingly. Countries are eventually forced to sacrifice their social-economic goals in favor of global ones, and to this effect, the preference for effective ways of production such as cheap labor directly affects the well fair of citizenship. For instance, in the case of outsourcing for labor, the countries have no power to ensure employment to the citizenry, thus leading to loss of jobs to foreigners and unemployment.4 With the ease of movement and interaction of people and businesses across boundaries, there is an obvious loss of cultural uniformity. Nationhood can no longer be defined in the global system as cultures are easily diffused and eventually abandoned all together with a preference for more superior ones. In this respect, globalization undermines the cultural uniformity of individual nations as global norms and ideals override the national ones. There is a move towards the establishment of universal citizenship, one that is one, which by cultural barriers and boarders; this means that national identities are dismantled and lost all together. Citizens can no longer identify with national values and ideals, and in this regard, many are carried away with other cultures and civilizations to the detriment of nationalism. For instance, the American pop culture has been a massive influence to other cultures in the global system, and this has led to the erosion of national identities. Many cultures have fallen apart due to the ease of information transfer, especially with the rise of computers and the internet; the popular US culture mentioned before has dominated the global system, as the ideal culture. In this regard, citizens are no longer bound by cultural bonds that inform their citizenry due to the diffusion of cultures in the global system; this undermines the concept of citizenship that is largely informed by national homogeneity. The inevitable result of globalization has been that of multiple nationality, where by individuals gain admittance into more than one country as motivated by the needs of the global system. This extremely undermines citizenship as individuals are not obliged to any country, and as a result, nationality is abandoned all together. Ease of movement of people in the global system means that individuals move freely across borders and contribute to cultural diversity to the detriment of national unity of individual countries. The cross border migrations and immigrations result to diversification of societies in all the perspectives mentionable like culturally, ethnically, socially, and more others. The resultant effect is that countries are obliged to respect universal entitlements and rights, as opposed to national rights entitled to their citizenry. Bound by universal restrictions and expectations of the global society, nations have been forced to abandon their sense of national citizenship all together. Citizenship has gradually become transferable from one place to another I.e. Citizenship is no longer bound by national borders, it can as well be exercised at a global level.5 The idea of limitless citizenship has been a serious blow to nations as many losses have been incurred especially in terms of migration of professionals and technicians, and capital investments. Individuals have lost their sense of nationhood and citizenship and eventually; they are no longer obliged to their national responsibilities. Legality of citizenship in countries has been seriously affected by globalization forces, as it is no longer clear what should be the criterion of judging the authenticity of citizenship. In many nations, conditions for citizenship have been modified to cater for the demands of the global system, especially concerning the migration and immigration of individuals across borders. For instance, citizenship in the US has traditionally been determined by one’s belongingness in any of the American communities by birth or residence.6 However, with the move towards a global system of operation, these premises are insufficient in defining the American citizenship; the globalization context has resulted to other breeds of citizenship. This has eventually disqualified the traditional basis of American citizenship as now one can gain American citizenship through naturalization and dual citizenship policies. The legal basis of American citizenship has gradually been eroded by globalization demands, and in this regard, it is increasingly becoming difficult to ascertain the legality of one’s citizenship in America. One of the most debatable case in point is perhaps the US president’s citizenship that has continued to spur controversial opinion among debaters up to date. The legality of President Obama’s citizenship has always been emerging in the US political scenes, with critics contenting that the President’s citizenship might not be legally grounded. Global integration has technically led to the evolution of ‘global citizens’, a premise that is informed by the fact that individuals become citizens of the world as opposed to being citizens of their nationalities. In Australia for instance, dual citizenship is not permitted, and in this case, one loses their Australian citizenship once they become citizens of foreign nations.7 In the global society, the respective national rights and entitlements are foregone, and individuals are subjected to global conditions, with an inevitable detachment from their nationalities. There is a risk of lack of belonging, as one eventually becomes a citizen of many worlds without a national identity, and a sense of belongingness to any country. This eventually leads to the devaluation of citizenship; in other words, national citizenship is increasingly being disregarded in the face of globalization. This has been instigated by the global conditions that have led to a shift from the national consciousness to international consciousness in the global system. Ultimately, globalization has vastly undermined the concept of citizenship, as it is no longer beneficial to be a citizen of any country; the value of national citizenship has declined due to the forces of globalization.8 This is especially concerning the total erosion of privileged lawful status of citizens; currently, duo citizenship and universal rights accord aliens and non-citizens the same privileged entitlements in total disregard of national citizenship. Bibliography Smith, Peter J. "The Impact of Globalization on Citizenship: Decline or Renaissance?." Journal of Canadian Studies 36.1 (2001): 116. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a63ae85a-4cb7-44cf-8aef-75c3c57de290%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=128 Kim, Rubenstein. "Let's face it, Today we're Citizens of the World." The Australian Newspaper Source. (n.d.): Web. 16 Dec. 2012. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=5c384dfb-a3fd-4026-a20f b50f9a06c6dc%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=nfh&AN=200105221011734311 Reddy, Allan C., and Niren Vyas. "The Globalization Paradox: A Marketing Perspective." International Journal of Management. 21.2 (2004): 166-171. Business Source Premier. Web. 16 Dec. 2012. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2006e01d-03cd-433a-b50e-1b4a295ebabd%40sessionmgr104&vid=2&hid=112 Stoker, Gerry et al.“Diminishing Returns? Globalization and the Limits of Citizenship”. Bloomsburyacademic.com. (n.d): Web. 16th Dec 2012. http://www.bloomsburyacademic.com/view/ProspectsCitizenship_9781849662444/chapter-ba-9781849662444-chapter-008.xml Read More