Globalization Essay

Globalization can be defined as the integration of the world’s economy. The director
is pro-globalization. He believes that globalization has many long-term benefits and
that the anti-globalization movement is extremely ignorant to a dangerous extent.
The reason why globalization has previously been considered bad is because it has
been claimed to create poverty. This is a wrong claim because only after
modernization the countries have started to escape poverty. Therefore, countries
have to be integrated into the global economy in order to grow and develop. A good
example of that is Sweden because they are in a much better situation now after
they allowed themselves to globalize. Due to globalization, three billion people have
been lifted out of poverty in the last 50 years.

Furthermore, globalization brings wealth and freedom to everyone due to capitalism.

If there is more of a free market, there are fewer restrictions and therefore, more
money. Finally, the director believes that globalization is good. His thesis is that
globalization would solve the problem of poverty if it were to increase and be
unrestricted. The director is very pro-capitalist.

The good effects of globalization can clearly be seen in Taiwan. Thirty years ago,
Taiwan was a very poor country, until they allowed themselves to globalize. Within
the first ten years of globalization, more than half of the poverty there was gone. An
example of how the government changed was the land reform. In the 1950s, the
Taiwanese government began buying land from the elite and giving it to the
population, and therefore distributing the wealth. Once the people owned land they
could do whatever they wanted such as farm crops. The reasons why globalization
affected Taiwan to a positive extent was because just by the definition of
globalization, it is easy to start a business because of little bureaucracy and
regulation. Furthermore, the country is able to specialize in sectors where they can
produce wealth and import from others where they cannot. Globalization also
exposes businesses constantly to competition which means that they have to be
more productive.

Another good effect of globalization is democracy, which is good for the country.
Critics of globalization have claimed that this process is called Americanization;
however, if people had protested against globalization in Taiwan, they would still be
poor. The reason why globalization may be linked to the United States is because
they are an extremely globalized society. However, it cannot be forgotten that they
are the richest and most powerful nation in the world, which proves the thesis that
globalization is good and diminishes poverty.

Globalization can also be seen positively in a country where the economy has
doubled in the past fifteen years, Vietnam. Even though the vast majority of Vietnam
is still poor, this is changing due to globalization. First of all, globalization has clearly
made the workers’ lives better. For instance, child labor was outlawed in 1988 and
now it is considered an outdated myth. At the Nike factory, workers need to be older
than 18 to work at foot wear, and at least older than 16 to work at apparel. The
average age of a worker there is around 24 to 25 years old. The reason why so many
children had to work before was because their parents needed them to in order to
help support the family, but since they are now able to make more money, this is no
longer a necessity.

Therefore, the number of children working dropped by 2.2 million in ten years. This
means that these children now have a chance to go to school and make a career for
themselves. Another way in which the workers had their lives improved at Nike after
globalization is financially. Nike pays about $54 per month for their workers which is
a high salary for their standards and can be compared with the payment a teacher or
doctor receives. This salary is also very high when compared to the minimum wage
in the country which is of $15. The workers that work for Nike also have some other
benefits such as healthcare subsided, free meals, commerce close to the factories, a
park for workers to relax during breaks and restricted working hours. Many people
left and came back. They preferred to work at Nike rather than at a farm because at
the farms they had to work fourteen hours a day and it was not as clean and did not
have food. Globalization has given people the chance to buy and decorate their own
houses which would be unthinkable beforehand. Despite all that, anti-globalists have
scary visions of the future for what multinationals must do. They fear the monopolies
that they could create within a country. However, multinationals are actually less
powerful because free trade controls them in a way because of competition. It is also
those multinationals which are helping Vietnam get wealthy. For example, Nike gives
micro loans to people who want to start businesses but that do not have the capital
to do so. Local companies are benefit from multinational companies arriving because
they boom and grow because they have the multinationals to copy.

Finally, Nike has opened their factory doors to outsiders so that they can see for
themselves what Nike is doing in Vietnam. There have been over one thousand
visitors in the past year including college students, diplomats and other businesses.
This is a good move because it enables people to be able to see for themselves how
globalization is affecting positively the lives of the people in Vietnam.

Finally, another area in which globalization has played an important role is in Africa.
For instance, Kenya would have been prospering if they were allowed to own land.
However, Kenya cannot grow because capitalism cannot take place and people
cannot start their own businesses. One of the reasons why people cannot start
businesses is because they simply to not have enough money in order to do so and
also to buy machines. Another reason is because there is a really large corruption
within their politics. After there was a boom in the Kenyan market, small changes
can be visualized. One of the changes mentioned was that before people used to
have only around four different changes of clothes but now they can afford having
different clothes. The problem within the Kenyan economy is that in their country
they can grow crops and have cows and others but they cannot export to Europe.
The reason for that is because the European Union imposes taxes. The only area in
which taxes are not imposed are in the flower business. It is predicted that if the EU
did impose tariffs of the flowers as well the country would be greatly affected and
there would be a social impact and farms would have to close down.

On the other hand, if the EU allowed all other goods into Europe the Kenyan
economy would do really well. Therefore, in a way it can be said that Europe is
shitting Kenya out from global capitalism. Another problem with the issue that no
one is allowed to own land is because there is no motivation. The reason for the lack
of motivation is because if you do not own land, you cannot expand. Another reason
as to why Kenya should open itself up for globalization is because Taiwan used to be
just as poor as Kenya, but now after their economic boom and their democracy, they
are 20 times richer than Kenya.

Therefore, it can be concluded that the director was proving a thesis that
globalization is good and it would solve the problem of poverty if it were to increase
and be unrestricted. The examples of three different areas have been given. These
areas are Taiwan, Kenya and Vietnam. Taiwan used to be extremely poor until they
opened themselves up for globalization and now they have been prospering a lot
more. Vietnam is also receiving many new advantages by letting multinationals, such
as Nike, into their economy and by adding a capitalistic economic system. Kenya, on
the other hand, is still not part of this globalized society and a clear line can be
marked between their economy and their lifestyle and the economy and lifestyle of
countries that have allowed globalization into the system. The one area of products
that Kenya is allowed to export to Europe, the flower business, plays a very
important role in their economy and it would not be the same without it.

Therefore, it can be concluded that globalization has been increasingly, and will
continue to play an important role for countries that are under development. In order
for them to grow and prosper, there needs to be a capitalistic system which is as un-
restricted as possible.
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