Impacts of Globalization in North America
INTRODUCTION
Globalization refers to the increasing interdependence of the global economies, population, and cultures; which has been caused by flows of information, people, cross-border trade, technology, and flows of investment. There are three types of globalization; economic globalization, cultural globalization, and political globalization. Economic globalization refers to the increased economic interdependence among various national economies through increased international movement of products, capital, and technology. Cultural globalization is the transmission and exchange of values, believes, ideas, and meanings across various cultures in a way that intensifies social relations. Political globalization is the growth of global political systems such national governments, international civil society, and intergovernmental organizations.
Globalizations benefits North America and the entire world as a whole, while at the same time harming certain groups of individuals or organizations. The effects of globalization are wide-ranging, complex, and politically charged. Globalization has helped spread American influence across the world and opened up a wider market for the United States; thus, helping American investors and manufactures sell their goods and services worldwide(Samimi & Jenatabadi, 2014). Globalization has therefore, helped promote economic growth by making companies more competitive, creating more job opportunities, and lowering the prices of products. Globalization has also helped promote democracy and human rights. Globalization has also enabled the exchange of cultural practices across various societies. Globalization has also helped reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.
Although globalization has many benefits to North America and the entire world, it has its negative consequences as well. Globalization has promoted terrorism in that terrorist groups can plan and conduct attacks easily because a lot of information is available online and barriers to international mobility and travels have been lowered (Pritchett & Sandefur, 2013). Increased interdependence and interconnectedness of the global economy has elevated the risk of global economic catastrophe. The rampant exchange of cultures across the world has led to the loss of identity and weakened social fabric. As a result, the society has become more disintegrated and disorganized than ever. However, globalization has many benefits than negatives to the United States as well as the entire world.
Positive impacts of globalization in North America
Globalization has opened up a global market for North America, which has helped corporations and companies sell their goods and services globally. Globalization has encouraged investors to specialize and produce mass goods and services available in the American domestic market. Economic globalization has led to an increased economic interdependence among various national economies across the world (De Vries, 2010). The globalization of economy has been centered on the principle of international trade regulations, taxes, and tariffs. Increased economic globalization can be attributed to increased cross-border movement of people, information, technology, capital, goods and services.
Economic interdependence among various national economies includes North America, has led increased availability of goods and services in the domestic market. Globalization has encouraged investors to specialize and produce many goods and services available in the local market (Samimi & Jenatabadi, 2014). International mobility and few barriers on cross-border travel has increased the availability of cheap labour and raw materials. Now North America can purchase raw materials at a low cost and produce low price goods and services while making good profits. The production of cheap goods and services enables North America to sell more products to larger markets, especially to developing countries at a compatible price.
The ability to reach international markets has extended business potentials for North American investors. American companies have penetrated to developing countries and partnered with some of their companies and merging with others. The increased mobility of technology, ideas, people, currency, and items has elevated the availability of cheap labour and wider markets. The availability of worldwide consumers also encourages companies to specialize and produce more goods and services. As a result, North America has managed to remain at the top or near the top in the global economy ratings.
The availability of cheap goods and services in the local market has led to increase in the living standards of Americans. The gap between the rich and the poor is therefore being decreased gradually (Pritchett & Sandefur, 2013). More money in the pocket of Americans translates to increased investments in the domestic market. Therefore, the citizens benefit as well as the government because more income means that more taxes go to the government. Consequently, the economy of North America is improved significantly. Therefore, the national economy maintains its global leadership position.
Globalization has also enabled the transmission and exchange of ideas, values, believes, and meanings across the world. The process of cultural exchange and transmission is marked by the common consumption of information that has been diffused by the internet through social media and international travel. The World Wide Web links billions of devices and people, thereby, providing uncountable opportunities for exchange of information, ideas, knowledge, values, and cultural products. Technological advances like computers and mobile phones have also contributed to this increased interconnectedness.
Globalization has also acted as a tool for peace and prosperity across the world. After the Second World War, the United States helped create a worldwide economic order that was governed by mutually agreed rules and regulated by multilateral institutions. The objective was to create a better world with nations striving to cooperate with one another to promote peace and prosperity. The mainstays of the system were rule of law and free trade. The aim was to help prevent economic disagreements and disputes to escalate into war or larger conflicts. Some institutions which were established include the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) (Samimi & Jenatabadi, 2014). These organizations and institutions have improved regional economy and peace.
Cultural globalization has also increased interconnectedness among diverse people and cultures. Cultural globalization allows for creation of shared norms and values which people associate with their cultural identity. Globalization has helped spread the American culture across the world. Therefore, more recreational opportunities have been created by spreading pop culture. The transmission has been made possible by the internet, satellite television, reliable international mobility, and less travel and trade barriers. However, uncontrolled cross-cultural exchange can cause cultural erosion in both developed and developing countries.
As mentioned earlier, globalization has led to economic growth through opening global markets. The economic growth has led to stiff competition in business across the globe. Competition is a crucial aspect in doing business because it pushes companies to innovate new ideas and technologies. Competition increases communication of ideas and innovations because people are continuously to find a competitive advantage for their companies (De Vries, 2010). Such competition benefits the consumers the most because they can get a variety of quality goods and services. The prices of goods and services continue to drop while their quality is improving continuously. However, this could affect investors adversely especially those in developing countries.
Globalization has also led to increased job opportunities across the world. As more companies are expanding to international markets, more human resource is required for labour. Increased mobility facilitated by improved means transport has enabled people to search for jobs in a wider perimeter, thus, increasing the likelihood of success. The internet has also opened up more business opportunities because people can work remotely, transact business online, and enable advertisement (Coulibaly et al., 2018). Students can even work part-time jobs online; therefore, enabling them to gain experience about the job market in advance. The job market is therefore, flooded with knowledgeable workforce which does not require intensive onboarding.
Globalization has also helped reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. As mentioned above, globalization has helped create more job opportunities for people in developing and developed countries. More people in North America have access to job opportunities. As a result, their living standards have improved. As more people acquire education, a significant number of people have stopped working as casual labourers. Young educated people do several jobs concurrently, which enable them to acquire enough money to take care of themselves and their families. Consequently, the difference between the rich and the poor has been reducing considerably.
Globalization has also led to advancement of technology due to the constant need for innovations to meet emerging necessities. Various inventors have tried to meet the needs of the modern societies by making innovation that make things easier and better (Coulibaly et al., 2018). As North America penetrates to more international markets, the need for technological innovation has been pressing. As such, the need for innovation, specialization, and mass production has led to technological advances so as to meet the demands of the market. More swift means of transport and communication are still being invented to ensure information, goods, and people travel faster.
Globalization has also enabled people to know what is happening in other countries. Satellite television and the internet broadcast live events happening in various parts of the world. Instances of political violence and human rights violations have been highlighted by media services. Those who violate human rights can be arrested and convicted by intergovernmental courts. Human rights advocates also become aware of some human right violations in a given place and call for legal or mediation actions. Globalization has therefore, helped bring world peace and respect for human rights.
Globalization has helped reduce crime across the world. Technological advancement has made the apprehension of dangerous criminals easier because one can be tracked from any part of the world. The internet has made community policing easier because criminals can be tracked in social media by help of the subscribers. Technology has also made security easier to manage because of some devices like the CCTV. In addition to making the tracking of offenders easier, technology has helped deter aspiring criminals because the risks of being caught have increased with advancement in technology. Therefore, world peace and stability is easier to maintain now than ever.
Negative impacts of globalization in North America
As discussed above, globalization has brought many benefits to North America and the entire world as a whole. However, globalization has come with its own disadvantages like encouraging terrorism, job displacement, and increased risk of global economic catastrophe. Globalization has increased the ability to communicate real-time, and move easily across borders. Terrorists have taken advantage of this to plan attacks in various parts of the world. For instance, the September 11th attack was planned by Al-Qaeda members using the internet and mobile phone technology. The terrorists were able to move easily across borders due to lowered barriers on international travel. Availability of information about firearms and violence has also enabled terrorists to conduct fatal attacks easily.
Although globalization has led to creation of many job opportunities in North America, it has also led to job insecurity. Americans have lost jobs to foreigners who are willing to provide cheap labour under poor working conditions. The American workforce is now forced to compete with foreigners who have flooded the job market and willing to work for less. Workers reduction of wages and employers threaten to export jobs to developing countries. Many middle-class workers live in constant fear of losing their jobs to foreigners. Globalization has therefore, led to exploitation of labor, which translates to violation of human rights.
Globalization has also increased the risk of global economic catastrophe. Economic failure in one country could lead to financial crisis in other countries (De Vries, 2010). Many American companies have invested in other countries across the world. If the economy of those countries collapse, the impact could be experienced in North America too. For instance, during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, financial failure in the US subprime mortgage market caused worldwide economic meltdown (Lang, 2006). When economic crises become internationalized, it becomes very difficult to manage the situation. In such a situation, the survival of the world population is placed at stake.
Globalization has led to erosion of culture and lose of cultural identities. As discussed earlier, globalization has led to transmission of cultural values, believes, ideas, and practices. Many people especially from developing countries have copied the American culture, and in the process, they have abandoned their own cultures. Diverse people have copied the American style of leadership, fashion, language, and lifestyle. As a result, individual cultural identity has been lost and more societies have become more dysfunctional and disintegrated. Such loss of cultural identity has led to rise of crimes like divorce, and domestic violence.
In conclusion, globalization is the increasing interdependence of the global economies, population, and cultures; which has been caused by flows of information, people, cross-border trade, technology, and flows of investment. There are three types of globalization; economic, cultural, and political globalization. Globalization has brought positive impacts in North America like economic growth due to increased mobility of people, information, and products. Globalization has also led to advancement of technology due to the constant need for innovations to meet emerging necessities. Globalization has also helped create more job opportunities and reduced poverty. However, globalization has brought negative effects like abandonment of culture and exploitation of labor. Globalization has also increased the risk of global economic catastrophe. Conclusively, globalization has brought more benefits to North America than negatives.
References
Coulibaly, S. K., Erbao, C., & Mekongcho, T. M. (2018). Economic globalization, entrepreneurship, and development. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 127, 271-280.
De Vries, J. (2010). The limits of globalization in the early modern world. The Economic History Review, 63(3), 710-733.
Lang, M. (2006). Globalization and its History. The Journal of Modern History, 78(4), 899-931.
Pritchett, L., & Sandefur, J. (2013). Context matters for size: why external validity claims and development practice do not mix. Journal of Globalization and Development, 4(2), 161-197.
Samimi, P., & Jenatabadi, H. S. (2014). Globalization and economic growth: Empirical evidence on the role of complementarities. PloS one, 9(4).