Compare and Contrast the impacts of Globalisation and Regionalisation on Australia - Essay Example

Globalization has been forcing several countries to identify their core talents and Australia is no exception. Globalization, the other name for liberalization, has brought cut-throat competition along with it and several Australian companies have been increasingly finding it difficult to face the onslaught of international competition. The Australian economy is, however, guided by the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that make up 97% of the country’s establishments and employ more than 56% of the total private workforce in the country (Raisinghani, 2000, P 191).

Australia’s in-depth integration with the global economy has complicated the situation. Globalization has been directly affecting the Australian economy by causing ups and downs in export prices of goods and services, interest, and exchange rates. As a direct fallout of Globalization, the free and faster movement of goods and people, in and out of the country, has been dominating the economic activity for quite some time. It has obviously resulted in the vulnerability of Australia to nontraditional security threats such as terrorism, organized crime, environmental degradation, and diseases (Internet, Australia’s foreign and trade policy).

It is true that Globalization carries along with it terrorism too. Australian Government strongly feels that the primary tools of Globalization such as the internet, mobile phones, and satellite communications have made it easy for terrorists to exchange information and transfer huge funds for terrorist operations. In fact, Australia was once considered immune to such threats as it was geographically located and isolated at a far corner of the globe. But such an assurance was gone with the arrival of Globalization that has internationalized terrorism too (Internet, Transnational terrorism: the threat to Australia, Users of the tools of a globalized world, 2nd, and 4th Paras).

The Government suspects that the Muslim terrorists have extended their network to Australia with some Australians undergoing training in some Muslim countries (Internet, Transnational terrorism: the threat to Australia, Global goals and scope of operations, 4th Para).