Globalization and International Development 2
Studying Globalization and its effect on the economy worldwide is important but not
easy. It is imperative to first have the knowledge of what globalization is and to know that is a
two-part answer. It is important to both have the technical definition of the term but you must
also understand what that definition means in regards to the interactions of states, nations and
countries with one another. “Globalization: the process of increasing integration of the world in
terms of economics, politics, communication, social relations, and culture; increasingly
undermines traditional state sovereignty.” (Mingst and McKibben 2022) Globalization is what
causes countries to have melting pots of different things all being able to coexist with one
another in harmony. It is important to understand that globalization does not only apply in the
grand aspect of just international laws and trades but, that it is also plays a part in states having
smaller pockets of areas that are highly centered on cultures and customs that would normally
not be typical in that area. A great mini example would be the genre knows as POP music; pop
music is known as popular music which can span the entirety of the world. You think of a
musical artist such as Taylor Swift, Drake, and others that are able to travel the world touring and
having concerts with thousands of fans in attendance all singing along to the songs that they have
made. This is an example of globalization on a much smaller scale because it is a great example
of musical culture spanning across the globe and being accepted by everyone. Globalization is
not always innately good or bad, there are always positives and negatives to everything. There
are naturally going to be things that may become accepted as a norm in society that may not be a
positive and that is an example of globalization having a negative impact.
The world we live in today has globalization all throughout it, take for example the state
of New York here in the United States. The city of Manhattan has a small city that is referred to
as Chinatown that has the customs and cultures of China and even celebrates the Chinese New
Globalization and International Development 3
Year with a parade every year in the small city located in Manhattan. This is a small example of
the positives that can come from globalization as it allows Chinese immigrants to have a place
here where they can feel at home and be accepted even though they are a very long way from
home. One of the benefits of globalization is the increasing amount of tourism that can take place
in a variety of different countries. Globalization allows for countries who may have been hesitant
to allow in people from other cultures and countries to not only visit and learn about their
cultures, but some countries even mix in some of the cultures from other countries as a means to
attract other visitors and entice them to spend money. “Zhao and Li (2006)8analyze the impact of
globalization on tourism development in the third world based on the perspective of the political
economy. In their views, the mobility of capital, population, ideas, and information has been
increasing around the world in the context of globalization and concretely affects the economic,
sociocultural, and ecological fields of third world countries. Under globalization, they find that
more countries and regions in the third world have become new tourist destinations, resulting in
a large increase in foreign investment and tourism income.” (Chiu et al., 2020) This benefit of
globalization can not be overstated as it allows for traditionally poorer countries to create huge
influxes of income for their country. This increased tourism also allows for more jobs to be
created from tour guides to local goods and services being able to be offered to said tourist.
One other major benefits and justifications of globalization is the increased access to
labor. When globalization is in play this can allow for certain industries to outsource jobs to other
countries. A great example would be the ability for customer service jobs for US based
companies to be outsourced to countries such as India. This exists due to cooperation of multiple
countries working together to solve an issue. “Globalization gives all nations access to a wider
labor pool. Developing nations with a shortage of knowledge workers might, for example,
Globalization and International Development 4
“import” labor to kickstart industry. Wealthier nations, on the other hand, might outsource low-
skill work to developing nations with a lower cost of living to reduce the cost of goods sold and
pass those savings on to the customer.” (Stobierski, 2021) This second benefit is sometimes
viewed as a negative but I believe it to be more positive. There is a slight component of people
complaining that if you outsource the work then you are taking jobs away from the home country
but the problem with this theory is that there has to be a group of workers willing to do said
work. It often times is work that is not going to be high paying that people simply do not want to
do.
While there are definitely positives to globalization there are also naturally some
detractors to globalization as well. One of the biggest criticisms of globalization would be the
off-shoring of jobs in an effort to create lower wages at companies in the already established
country. “While these forces of globalization undoubtedly bring about gains for some, there has
been growing concern that they harm others in various ways. As a result of the possible
substitution of migrant workers for native workers, and the offshoring of mainly low-skill-
intensive tasks (but increasingly also more skill-intensive tasks) to low-wage countries, native
workers in advanced economies perceive not only that their employment opportunities are
dwindling, but also that their wages are being squeezed and that inequality is increasing.”
(Landesmann & Leitner, 2022) This is one of the biggest detractors of globalization and also
international development as a part of globalization. The rationale behind this is that for
countries that were already big and thriving such as the US they use the development of these
smaller countries as a means to force workers into unfavorable working conditions. When a
company in the US knows it can outsource its work to a country that will be willing to work for a
fraction of what the workers here wants it creates a conundrum. The workers in the developed
Globalization and International Development 5
country are put in a predicament where holdouts for increased pay may be necessary to keep up
with the cost of living, but the problem becomes is it worth the risk. The workers may not be able
to afford a strike, or more importantly the company sending their jobs to a less developed
country that is looking for an opportunity to create new jobs. This is the biggest drawback to
international development for already proven countries but there is technically an argument that
can be made that it is also one of the biggest justifications for international development in
globalization. The fact is when it comes to international relations and development is what is
good for one country is not good for another. A second disadvantage of international
development in terms of globalization is that it can cause smaller countries and or states to suffer
if they do not work together. “The strategic dimension of organizational models based on
network coordination led to the development of a stream of research devoted to the investigation
of how participation in one or more networks affects business performance. At a conceptual
level, merely belonging to a network can affect individual firm performance. However, as some
scholars (Hoang and Antoncic 2003; Bodnaruk et al. 2013; Carini and Muzzi 2016) have argued,
the contents of network relationships, governance and structure are vital strategic dimensions
that should be taken into explicit consideration. These factors can help us estimate and
understand the potential competitiveness of both networks and their member firms. Taking the
above into consideration, this paper proposes the first empirical investigation into the effects on
performance of southern Italian firms that have signed one or more network contract over the
period from 2011 to 2015.” (Pastore et al., 2019) These market alliances become increasingly
important when globalization is rapidly growing due to the little guys not wanting to be casted
aside. When big countries begin to work together to put work in the countries that are desperate
for work some people may confuse that as being helpful when its reality it is simply a ploy. The
Globalization and International Development 6
big countries simply use the little country and provide them with work that nobody wants to do
but they know the smaller country needs and it takes some smaller countries that were
established and slowly squeezes them out. It is not that the smaller country with their own
economy is against said work they are just against unfair wages for horrible working conditions
and when they have those situations, they try to stand up for what is right.
As a Christian it can be a little difficult to understand the best way to understand all of
these things and rather or not, they fall in line with Christian beliefs. As a Christian I would love
for all countries to grow in work in peaceful harmony with one another but that is not always the
case. “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the8Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.”
(Proverbs 19:17 ESV) This is critical when we are talking about globalization as it lends to the
idea that bringing up the poorer countries to be able to start to slowly sustain themselves and
build better lives for the inhabitants of said countries. If globalization is going to help for these
poor countries than it is of the lord and the Christian way. This makes me lean towards the
support of globalization if it is going to help bring people out of poverty and improve their
livelihoods. No matter as a Christian how we feel about globalization we do understand that God
is the ruler of all nations. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations. (Psalm
22:28)
Globalization and International Development 7
References
Chiu, Y.-B., Zhang, W., & Ding, K. (2020). Does globalization influence inbound tourism?
evidence from a dynamic panel threshold analysis. Journal of Travel Research, 60(5), 1074–
1084. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520919514
Mingst, K. A., & McKibben, H. E. (2022). Essentials of International Relations (Ninth). W. W.
Norton & Company.
Stobierski, T. (2021, April 1). 6 pros and cons of globalization in business to consider. Business
Insights Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/pros-and-cons-of-globalization
Landesmann, M., & Leitner, S. M. (2022). Immigration and offshoring: Two forces of
globalisation and their impact on employment and the bargaining power of occupational groups.
Review of World Economics, 159(2), 361–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10290-022-00470-5
Pastore, P., Ricciardi, A., & Tommaso, S. (2019). Contractual networks: An organizational model
to reduce the competitive disadvantage of small and medium enterprises (smes) in Europe’s less
developed regions. A survey in Southern Italy. International Entrepreneurship and Management
Journal, 16(4), 1503–1535. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-019-00616-2
English Standard Bible
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Nations
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