Globalization: Impacts on Economy, Society, and Environment

The concept of globalization emerged in the twentieth century, following the crisis of the socialist bloc. However, throughout history, there have been various waves of globalization and internationalization of human relations.

Globalization has achieved much in the economic sphere. There is an unfettered freedom of capital movements, and some barriers to trade in goods and services have been removed. However, the movement of people, particularly migration, remains limited. The globalization of justice, human rights, ecology, and political decisions has been largely shelved.

The balance of the last 30 years concludes that globalization has not reached all countries. It has primarily benefited the most skilled sectors of the population in richer countries and the so-called "emerging countries".

Key Features of Globalization

• Integration of the world economy into the capitalist economic system and increased interdependence between the economies of different countries.
• Loss of the ability of states to make decisions about their own economies. The centers of economic decision-making are increasingly dependent on large multinational companies and financial systems.
• Globalization has led to a sharp increase in international trade in goods, services, and capital. It has established a global market where one can buy or sell any product made anywhere in the world.

Factors Driving Globalization

• Developments in communication and transportation: These have enabled the rapid exchange of information, finances, goods, and people, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
• Removal of political and administrative barriers: The suppression of customs and tariffs between states and the creation of treaties and agreements on free trade.
• Expansion of multinational corporations and large international banks: These have allowed the expansion of capitalism worldwide.

The crisis and demise of the socialist economic model in the USSR and its allies can also be considered a significant political factor.

Consequences of Globalization

Economic Consequences

Increased inequalities between developed and developing countries, as well as among different sectors of the population in richer countries. There is also a growing power of multinational corporations, which organize production across all sectors, employing strategies such as:

• Relocation of economic activities
• Maintenance of unequal exchange in international trade

Environmental Consequences

• Relocation of polluting industries (chemical, steel, cement, etc.) to developing countries.
• Exploitation of natural resources by multinational corporations, often due to a lack of regulations protecting the environment.

Political Consequences

• Reduced power of states to make decisions about their economies. Decisions are sometimes made based on the interests of multinational corporations or the impositions of international organizations like the IMF or the World Bank.
• Emergence of territorial disputes according to the hegemonic interests of the United States (the sole superpower today).

Social Consequences

• Increasing economic inequality between countries in the North and South, leading to migration.
• Phenomena of social exclusion, such as pockets of poverty, the "fourth world," and the crisis of the welfare state.
• Introduction of new values based on individualism and consumerism that negatively influence society as a whole, leading to a lack of solidarity and reduced participation in democratic institutions.

Cultural Consequences

Cultural homogenization occurs, based on the dominant model propagated by the US-controlled media. This favors the emergence of phenomena like "banal culture" on the one hand and the resurgence of national and/or ethnic identities as a reaction to this process on the other.