Globalization in World is Flat by Thomas Friedman - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review for the "World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman When one reads Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat, one will come to the conclusion that he is against the common belief that globalization is a process through which individuals lose their freedoms and this is because they cede the power to plan the global economy to multinational corporations. In fact, if Friedman is to be believed, then it can be said that the domination of the global economy by only a few corporations will bring the people of the world into a situation that is as close to equal economic opportunities as it can get. According to this book, globalization is a force for freeing the market, and one that will ensure that individuals are no longer slaves to the brands, which dominate their own regions. In fact, globalization will ensure that there will develop an instance where individuals from all over the world will not only have better choices of products, but also a better choice of the economic activities that they would like to engage in. While it is a fact that the institution of globalization has led to reductions in the expenditure for health, education and other dynamic social services worldwide, it has also resulted in all the people in the societies affected to be able to have a level playing field from which to develop themselves economically. Globalization has been blamed for the structural amendment policies recommended by the major international financial institutions as terms for loans and repayment by the governments of developing countries. Friedman disagrees with this stance stating that it is a force for good since it has led to countries opening up their economies to compete with those of the more powerful and established nations. This system is the basis upon which globalization is founded and as a result, it has worked towards destroying the historic unequal rules of trade between trading partners. The argument made by Friedman concerning the advantages of globalization can be said to be most pertinent because they are based on the realities of the global situation. The arguments that he makes are meant to justify the advent of globalization and this is because a majority of the world’s population are, because of the advent of globalization, in a better place than they were previously. According to Friedman, the power of globalization can be said to have been behind the reduction of the dominance by only a few countries of the global economy, since it has led to a reduction of the number of countries that are poor or economically stagnant. The latter have risen from being used as only a source of raw materials and cheap labor by their more advanced counterparts to becoming serious competitors for the latter. While one would agree with the fact that there have indeed been some improvements in the lives of some of the people in the world because of globalization, these improvements have by no means been universal and this is what Friedman has failed to address in his book. There are deeper and global causes of inequality which he fails to discuss because their effects are mostly indirect. Friedman’s book can easily be dismissed as among those written by the supporters of globalization, who often only state its advantages, but this is not the case because he is very objective in his observations. There is a recognition that behind the rising connectedness promised by globalization are those decisions, economic policies and practices, which are no longer typically influenced or formulated, by the rich and powerful. Friedman recognizes many aspects, which have enabled the creation of a globalized world, and among these; he stresses technological forces, with the recognition that paradoxically, the dot-com bubble may have played a crucial role. In the book, it is stated that telecommunications companies like Global Crossing had hundreds of millions of dollars of funding that was provided by their investors. With this money, these companies pursued incredibly ambitious plans to link the entire through the laying of fiber optic cables across the ocean floors and these have enabled the connection of less industrialized countries in Africa and Asia to the advanced industrial countries. Because of this huge supply of connectivity, there has developed a reduction in the costs of phone calls, internet connections and data transmission and this has had the indirect effect of ensuring that many of the companies that helped in its development have gone bankrupt. While this was the case, the fact is that the world has been connected and because of this, currently, it costs about as much to connect to China as it does to a neighboring city. The next influence in the development of globalization, according to Friedman, was the dotcom end. It is because of the stock market crash that many companies in the developed world chose to cut spending and this meant that they needed to look for ways to continue with their operations for less money. The solution that these companies came up with was outsourcing, following the example of General Electric, which had led the way in this endeavor. By the end of the twentieth century, many companies in the west recognized that engineers from the developing countries such as India and China can handle most technical jobs they needed done, at less than ten percent of the cost. Friedman states that the groundwork in anticipation of the millennium bug may have worked towards giving a huge inspiration to the development of outsourcing, since most companies in the west needed large numbers of cheap software workers to reconfigure their computers. According to Friedman, the role of countries such as the United States has changed significantly because the people in this country have to find ways to move up the value chain. This has made it necessary for these people to develop the necessary skills in order to enable them to create superior products for which they can be able to charge more. In the book, Friedman gives the example of his friend, an illustrator, who, when he realized that his business was starting to dry up as computers made routine illustrations easy to do, he chose to move on into something new. The friend chose to become an illustration advisor, and in this capacity, he helped clients conceive what they wanted relatively than solely making the drawing himself. This can be said to have been an example of how the people in the western world have been able to adjust from careers, which have become obsolete to new but related ones. Friedman points out that while this has been the case, the process of making such adjustments in the United States is not going to be easy, and that, in fact, it will take a lot of doing to ensure that it is back to its dominant position as the premier world economy. Friedman observes that there has been dramatic erosion in the American science and technology base, and this has been masked, over the years, by the fact that the United States has come to imports foreigners to do the work that its own people no longer want to do or may not even know how to do. It is estimated that among the top brains in the United States, at least of them are immigrants and this is a clear indication of the mental erosion that is taking place in this country. Friedman gives many examples of the diverse advantages of outsourcing by stating that it would be better for the companies in the United States to move their production plants where the costs of production would be much reduced, ensuring that they maintain a profitable situation. In addition, he states that outsourcing has ensured that people from developing countries have been provided the opportunity to make their lives better through working for the multinationals in their countries. When one considers Friedman’s stance in his book, one would conclude that globalization is a force that can be considered unstoppable. This phenomenon is slowly spreading throughout the world and influencing many things that were once thought to be only specific to certain regions. Globalization had not only had a huge impact on the political and economic arena of the world but it has also had far reaching effects on the development of the cultures of many countries all over the world. The globalization is one of the most fundamental aspects of the modern world and for this reason; it has come to receive the attention of many people. While some believe that globalization has had a positive impact, others believe that its effect is negative, since it is eroding long established political and economic practices in diverse regions of the world.  The process of globalization, which started out in the economic sphere where liberal economic policies were developed and adopted by many countries has come to weaken the once strong foundations upon which many of the world’s hierarchies were developed. This has ensured that people from countries which were considered to be poor and underdeveloped have been able to have the same opportunities as their counterparts in the developed world. As a result, these individuals have been able to develop themselves to such an extent that they are now working at par with people in the western world. There are many ways through which globalization has come to influence diverse aspects of the lives of individuals all over the world, and these have been both positive and negative. Globalization has intensified the economic competition among the various nations of the world and to increase this competitiveness, they have come to adopt policies, which are aimed at influencing each other socio-economically so that they can be able to create a level playing field for their products. Advertisements promoting the way of life of diverse cultures have come up all over the world, and they have influenced many people of the current generation, who have been educated. It has nowadays become a trend for the youth to adopt aspects of the way of life of the west, as a symbol of a globalised world with few barriers remaining to hinder the amalgamation of cultures. This has become a cause for concern among many people in the world, who fear that the force of globalization is slowly but surely eroding their cultures, but according to Friedman, this is a positive thing because it ensures the further development of the world in general. While this fear can be justified, one would state that globalization has also had a positive influence on most of the individuals in the world, because it has enabled the development of integration of the economies of the world, ensuring that a level playing field is created for everyone to prosper. In conclusion, it can be said that globalization has come to have a profound influence on the lives of many people in the world, and this influence has been both positive and negative. In certain regions, it can be said to be a blessing to those people which it has come to influence, because it has not only enriched these individuals, but it has also ensured that some of the characteristics of their have been spread all over the world. However, it has also been noted that globalization has led to the erosion and near extinction of some cultures and these have come to be replaced with the dominant western culture, which is considered the driving force behind globalization. It can even be suggested that globalization is a force that is inevitably going to destroy other cultures, and if not, it will change these cultures beyond recognition, and this can be positive or negative, depending on the individuals who it is going to affect. It is an irresistible force of political, social, and cultural change that cannot be stopped without the complete isolation of other cultures from the globalised, western one. This would be an impossible feat, considering the fact that globalization has made the world interdependent, with one state not being able to survive without the support of others. Therefore, it is inevitable that globalization will not only continue to influence the world, but it is likely to either change or destroy the hierarchies, which have dominated the world for centuries. Work Cited Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005. Print.   Read More