Is Globalisation a State-Authored Process - Essay Example

? Section/# An Analysis in Favor of Globalisation as a ed Process Introduction: The events of the past several years have provided yet even further shift with regards to the overall level of interconnectivity and globalisation that defines the current world. For years, economists and businessmen have focused upon the way in which integrated economies create a globalized world; one that is ultimately dependent upon other economies and other nations as a means of providing the goods and services that it requires a function. This increased level of globalisation has necessarily meant that cultures and individuals that otherwise might not integrated with one another have come to the in closer contact and sharing a great many more similarities than they have any previous time within recorded human history. The example of the way in which social media has integrated many otherwise disparate individuals throughout the world is a good example of the way that this fundamental shift has been witnessed throughout the current model of media proliferation and globalisation. However, from even a cursory unit of analysis and a discussion into the view that has thus far been put forward, it must be understood that the proliferation and globalisation throughout the world is not an authorless process. Oftentimes, powerful individuals, and indeed states, within the developed world have a strong impact with regards to the way in which globalisation takes place and the particular manner through which the internationalization effects that globalisation is capable of engendering take place. As a function of understanding this “state authored impact” that globalisation is capable of bringing to bear, the following analysis will approach current levels of globalisation from three distinct perspectives: trade interaction, the impact of technology, and the proliferation of globalized media. It is the hope of this author that through such a distinctive and nuanced approach, the reader will be able to come to a more appreciable view of the way in which current levels of globalisation are illustrated and affected. An Analysis of Globalisation in Tade: Whereas globalisation can be understood in a litany of different mechanisms, perhaps the most effective towards understanding globalisation and the power that it has over individuals throughout the world is to engage it based upon its monetary value (Schoen et al., 2013). In seeking to engage globalisation from a monetary value standpoint, the first rational approach that can be engaged is to approach it from the standpoint of trade. Whereas globalisation is represented throughout the world and impacts upon individuals in a litany of different situations, the power that globalisation has over trade and the means through which different nations choose interact with one another is ultimately the driving force that helps to spread globalisation and increase its impact throughout the world. However, even though globalisation can be understood as a universal concept, it must also be appreciated that globalisation is state specific and ultimately a state authored process (Corstjens & Umblijs, 2012). What is meant by this is the fact that regardless of the nation that is analyzed with a particular economic system that is considered, it must be understood that globalisation exists within a given region only due to the fact that trade agreements, domestic legislation, tariffs, barriers, and a litany of other financial issues have already been determined and directed in such a way so that globalisation is able to integrate with a given economy (Cook & Underwood, 2013). As such, if it were not for regional and domestic governance and choices that these institutions were able to make, the level and extent to which a globalized economy and the impact of global trade could affect a given region would understandably be minimal (Lapido et al., 2013). An example of this can of course be seen with respect to the way in which the United States, the most dominant nation in global affairs and politics for the past several decades, had complete control over the way in which economic and world policy was delineated after the Second World War (Koc et al., 2013). The United States engaged in a radical neoliberal restructuring of the world; both as a means of ensuring its own future power and as a means of seeking to prevent a repeat of the Second World War from taking place (Negrea, 2012). From this desire to control, design, and author globalized theories and approaches, the United States promoted Breton Woods and engaged other nations as a means of integrating with the new approaches and neoliberal ideology that has formerly been referenced. Further evidence of this can be seen with regards to the way in which global institutions such as the WTO (World Trade Organisation), the IMF (The International Monetary Fund), the World Bank and a litany of others were the original cognition of dominant states and eventually found their way into the current era (Kale & De, 2013). A further example for the way in which globalisation within the current era is ultimately a state authored process can be understood with regards to the litany of different trade blocs that have developed over the past several decades. Whereas it is inarguable fact that globalisation impact on the lives, prosperity, and culture of a litany of different regions around the globe, it should not be understood that globalisation in and of itself is a blind process that merely integrates people without any form of consideration for consensus. Feeling the impacts that greater level of globalisation could have to their domestic economy, nations around the globe have understood the fact that they are ultimately powerless against this trend (Cohen et al., 2008). However, a measure of helplessness has been ameliorated due to the fact that nations have come to the realization that they can in fact impact upon globalisation merely by integrating with it on a macro or micro scale. In other words, the nations that came to impact their own destiny and integrate with globalisation in a way that would benefit them have noticed that the most effective means of doing this is to engage with globalisation to a limited degree with stakeholders of a similar culture and/or geographic region. As a function of this, trade blocs and entities that cooperate around the globe have come to be born. Rather than this particular issue proving that globalisation is not and impactful force and/4 that the nation itself is powerless to make decisions against it, the example that is been provided helps to prove the fact that globalisation, regardless of its scope, is a state authored process that can in fact be changed and molded to the particular needs of a given region and/or the domestic/state or entity (Finley, 2012). An analysis technology: Further, even though the moderating influences of globalization are felt throughout the world, the fact of the matter is that domestic competition and the means through which a particular state is able to integrate with the rest of the economy is oftentimes constrained by the degree and extent to which domestic forms of technological development exist. In other words, states that are able to support and subsidize the greatest level of technology are invariably the ones that experience the greatest rates of economic/trade growth. Moreover, rather than viewing technology as somehow divorced from the process of globalization, the reader would be better served to integrate with an understanding of the fact that technology, and the support thereof, is a state authored process that sees the greatest globalizing powers promote their own forms of technology over those that are promoted and/or “created” elsewhere. In order to see an example of this, one need look no further than the way in which GPS has not only been designed and engineered for use and everyday application within the United States and throughout the globe, it can also quickly be realized that that United States government has taken an active role in promoting this technology and ensuring that it became the global standard. This not only has a direct level of tangential benefits militarily with regards to the means by which precision guided weapons and tactics rae employed, it also has a direct bearing on the overall level of profit that the United States and its respective firms can accrue from global use and reliance upon a technological system that they have employed. As a means of seeing the United States government’s involvement to an even further degree, it can readily be noted that continuous actions in order to deny technology that might pose a challenge to GPS are also engaged. An Analysis of Globalisation in Media: It must also be understood that the new representation of globalisation that exists within the current model represents several key drawbacks as well as clearly delineating the power that the state wields over it. Within the old system of media, it was very easy for a level of propaganda to be represented to a given group of people (Samimi et al., 2011). Due to the fact that large news corporations ultimately held the reins of power with respect to what information was presented to the population, the potential for a slanted, biased, and warped view was exponentially increased (Hemer, 2013). Evidence of this can of course be seen with regards to the past and the ways in which historical interpretations and reporting of wars were represented to people within a given geography. With such an understanding presently in mind, the reader might be encouraged to believe that the proliferation of media and globalisation that currently exists within the world would necessarily encourage a further level of fairness and equity with regards to the information that is represented (Elmawazini et al., 2013). However, using the Arab Spring as an example of this, due to the fact that it was the focal point that the peer reviews and articles read’s were concentric upon, key concerns regarding the efficacy and fairness of social media can immediately be delineated (Finley, 2011). Whereas much of this analysis has been concentric upon reducing the level of impact that one might be able to infer from an overly optimistic view of the way in which media globalisation is able to create a more fair and equitable world, it must be said that this approach and development is not unlike many of the developments that have taken place throughout the past (Qing, 2013). What is meant by this is the fact that social media and a closer level of media globalisation can ultimately help individuals throughout the world to realize that the existence of one dimensional conflicts in which good and bad are represented on opposing sides do not exist any longer. With this in mind, it should also be remembered that social media is a powerful tool that governments will utilize and continue to utilize with respect to shifting public opinion (Khan, 2013). As long as this is understood and known, the impact that stakeholders can affect based upon this subject of realization is somewhat diminished (KUNELIUS & REUNANEN, 2012). However, with that being said, merely because social media exists should not be a cause for the stakeholder to assume that government propaganda no longer is represented in the media. Rather, this is merely changed forms and is now represented via a litany of different manners within current social media and the globalized media that exist throughout the world (Swiatkowski, 2011). Conclusion: From the information that is thus far been put forward, it can definitively be noted that even though globalisation portends that many universal concepts and necessarily reduces the power and effective choice mechanisms that a given region/domestic governmental entity can effect, it nonetheless exist upon the back of regional sovereign governments. Accordingly, the degree and extent to which these governments choose to integrate with globalisation and the degree and extent to which they provide mechanisms by which globalisation can be redefined is ultimately the more powerful question with regards to the way in which globalisation exists throughout the world. Further, it is without question that state author tactics, such as media control, legislation that defines the way in which a particular region will integrate with trade, tariffs, barriers, quotas, and a litany of other economic factors all define the way in which globalisation, regardless of its scope or regardless of the region or area in which it is being applied, is a state author process that can be integrated with to a varying degree. From such a level of realization, the faceless entity of globalisation is continually rebranded, redefined, and repackaged so that it is able to meet the specific needs and desires of a particular region. Rather than reducing the overall impact of globalisation can have upon the lives and culture of individuals around the world, the preceding analysis is perhaps best directed at uncovering the fact that globalisation is not the faceless entity that absorbs and converts the economies, cultures, and practices of the entire world; rather, it is a process through which the world is able to integrate, defined, and promote their own best interests to varying degrees. Bibliography Cohen, J, Tsfati, Y, & Sheafer, T 2008, 'The influence of presumed media influence in politics', Public Opinion Quarterly, 72, 2, pp. 331-344, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 3 November 2013. Cook, N, & Underwood, R 2012, 'Attitudes toward economic globalization: Does knowledge matter?', Global Economy Journal, 12, 4, p. -1, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 November 2013. 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