ASSIGNMENT

NAME: AHMED IQBAL

FATHER NAME: SHAHID IQBAL
DEPARTMENT: PHILOSOPHY
SEAT NUMBER: H2069002
TOPIC: GLOBALIZATION

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
 What is I.R?
I.R. is the shorthand name for the academic
subject of International Relations. It can be
defined as the study of relationships and
interactions between countries, including the
activities and policies of national
governments, international organizations
[IGOs], non-governmental organizations
[NGOs], and multinational corporations
[MNCs].
In simple words, I.R. overlooks all of the
crucial affairs of the world that concern each
and every one of us because we are a part of
this world, this includes foreign relations,
diplomacy, war, trade, monetary system, etc.
I.R. has become an essential academic
discipline and is an ever growing sector with
increasing number of people that are
becoming a part of this field as oppurtunities
open up.
 International Relations:
History and Background
The subject matter in itself isn't new, talks of
politics and current affairs has always been on
the tongues of man and can be found in the
oldest available books written by
philosophers. Little and Buzan estimate it to
around 3,500 BC because of the interaction
between the Sumerian city-states. Thycydides'
had made analyses of foreign policies during
his time and has greatly contributed to the
subject, in particularly, to the theory of
Realism.
The subject conventionally dates back to the
early modern era starting from the Peace of
Westphalia to the French Revolution. As
Europe started to lose it's organization of
political authority that was based on a vaguely
hierarchial religious order, Empires started to
be replaced with Soverign States and a weak
structure of an International system started to
form.
 Only recently has International Relation been
introduced as a majorline subject after World
War 1. The devasting after effects of the big
war shook earth and it's inhabitant and people
were agreeing on the point that further
situations as such should be avoided at all
cost, this underlying reason caused an
increase in the need for people to understand
how states communicate with each other and
for the first time in History in 1919
International Relation was introduced as a
degree in the University of Wales.
International Relations isn't isolated and
connects vastly with many other discipline
such as Political Science, Philosophy, History,
Economy and Legal Studies which makes it an
interdisciplinary inquiry.
With the growing risks of all-life termination
as a result of a Nuclear War, it is ever
necessary that I.R. is studied so that the
chances of preventing such a fate is solidified.

What is Globalization?
Globalization has been a hot topic in the
international community for it's polarising
nature. It's a very popular and a controversial
issue which is heavily debated upon.
Starting with the definition, according to
Laurence E. Rothernberg, the notion of
globalization is the acceleration of the
intensification of interaction and integration
between people, companies and governments
from different countries.
By this we are able to understand that
globalization can plainly be told as the world
coming together in close knits uniting the
world and making it into a single community
but a global one.
The process of globalization as well isn't new,
an early example would be The Silk Road
which was an ancient network of trade routes
that connected the Mediterranean, China and
Central Asia.

Globalization in Relation to I.R.

Since International Relations covers all of the
world interactive affairs, the shortening gap
between countries and individuals
(Globalization) has largely affected
International Relations in all of it's under-
umbrella sections as well.
International Relations was able to make
tremendous advancements since a function of
it is to understand different cultures and
societies and how they interact with each
other in the form of states, and Globalization
has enabled that by providing exposure and
never before accessible details. So now we
know more about everything than ever before
and this knowledge can be further utilised to
refine old understandings and formulate new
theories to be able to better explain
phenomenon that take place in this realm of
studies that were previously not
comprehensible.

Factors Contributing to Globalization

We touched on this earlier in the essay that
Globalization was a gradual process and that it
has been occuring throughout the human
history on earth but in the past 40 years or so,
the pace of it has intensified exponentially.
There are many speculations for the reason
behind this but Bertucci and Alberti have
indentified four major factors to be the driving
forces pushing forward worldwide
interdependence and these are:
 Entrepreneurship
 Liberalization of trade and investment
 Technological innovation
 Global Social Networks

These are sometimes also categorized as:

Economic Factors, Political Factors,
Technological Factors & Cultural Factors.
Economic Factors:
A repeating example is that of The Silk Road,
which was used between 50 B.C.E. and 250
C.E. and is under the process of revival and
modification by China.
By connecting the major empires of the time,
the purpose behind The Silk Road was to grant
trade caravans quick and safe passage and
enable entrepreneurs to make compounded
profits in a comparitively short amount of
time.
Businesses create products and they sell it in
exchange for some monetary value, when the
Demand line falls below the Supply line,
business owners tend to lookout for new
markets where they can supply the reminder
of their stock. In some cases, businesses find
new markets to get comparitively higher
returns on their products than they would
have gotten in their local markets.

This undoubtedly was the fuel that gased The

Age of Exploration, European explorers like
Christopher Columbus would go on voyages
seeking new sea routes towards a potential
market. This also explains colonialism after the
Industrial Revolution where the production
rapidly increased and new markets was
needed where the products could be sold,
labour was needed, raw materials were
needed since the local resources had been
used up, etc.
Political Factors:
In earlier times, cities were enclosed with
boundary walls and heavily guarded with the
restriction of entry and exits and close checks
near the gates. This suffocated Interaction of
cities amongst each other and effectively
turned them into a self-dependant closed
systems. As time passed these cities were
forced to interact with their neighbouring
ones due to either need to share resources in
extreme periods facing shortages or either
due to established ties of either friendship or
communion. This step opened up doors to not
only cities but to growth and Globalization.
This exact principle can be applied to
understand the modern International
institutions or organization. Traditionally the
responsibility fell on the shoulders of the
government to make sure that all of their
citizens are well looked after, however by the
end of WW2, governments started to join
International Institutions, such as the United
Nations and the European Union as members
in a move to collectively divide the overall
responsibility by agreeing on an international
guideline.
Another vital moment that gave Globalization
a boast was the collapse of Communism, this
meant that the divide of the cold war
remained no more and that the ex-communist
country would convert themselves into
democracies in an attempt to be part of the
Global economy and benefit from it.
Technological Factors:
The most major role in the globalization
process in the world is played by the
advancements made in the information and
transportation technology.
Wheels and Roads were the product of
advancements in transportation which
drastically cut short the time of travel and the
uplifted the overall comfort of the journey.
Through the advancement in metallurgy
humans were able to create coins and the
invention of coins renewed the whole
transaction system that was based on bata, as
a result of which buying and selling rose to
new heights and transactions sky-rocketed.
Advancement in the agriculture sector
allowed increased produce that surpassed the
needs of the community and now was ready
to be sold to others in the localities of the
time. The advancements also enabled longer
preservance of the produce allowing to store
them for future needs and encouraging long
travels without the fear of them perishing.
Similarly, technology was behind the
flourishment of the maritime trade routes that
were between the newly discovered
continents and the old one. The key to the
explorer's success lied in their ability to create
new ship designs that could endure the
punishment of the big oceans allowing them
to travel long distances for longer periods of
time and in the creation of the magnetic
compass by means of which navigation
became a lot easier and standardized no
longer requiring specialisation.
The industrial age that led to colonialism was
powered by the invention of factories,
railways, steamboats, cars, and planes.

However, the age of technology has sent

globalisation on overdrive with the invention
of computers and modern communication
satellites. The world has entered into a new
era with the advancement in the
communication technology and has forever
changed our concept of being 'connected'.
Cultural Factors:
Culture has always brought people together
and closer dictating what they should wear
and eat, how they should act in a certain
situation, creating homogeneity.
Festivals and Cultural Events are known
factors that bring people from far-away closer
and build a sense of unity. The Roman Arena
where the gladiators battled, The Colosseum
are standing witness to it. The Muslim
Pilgrimage to Makkah and the Gathering of
The Kumb Mela are also an exhibition of how
cultural festivals bring incredibly huge
amounts of people closer.
In the modern times, new forms of
entertainment such as Music, Film, and
celebrity culture in general draw global
audiences which can be scaled by the number
of movie and concert ticket scales.
The organising of global sporting events has
also done it's share of bringing people from
across the world closer together, events such
as the Olympics, Fifa/Cricket/Formula 1 World
Cups, etc have millions of attendees.
To conceptualize the global reach that games
and celebrities have in today's world, take the
example of Crisitano Ronaldo for instance, he
is an incredibly talented footballer and is
currently the most followed person on
Instagram on the planet with 300 million
followers from across the globe that are of
different nationality, ethnicity, age, sex.

Effects of Globalization
Every action in our world is bound to have a
reaction and this principle of causality applies
for globalization as well.
Globalization has enhanced the flow of
information within and across the boarder
even in areas that are geographically
considered remote.
A common global market has emerged that
has the freedom to exchange of goods and
capital, countries are now in better position to
import and export products that allows the
consumer access to a range of purchase items,
this has also changed the global consumption
patterns especially with the introduction of
online shopping. This oppurtunity mixed with
curiosity has lit the desire to adopt new
practices by using foreign products, in an
attempt to be a part of world culture.
The process of containerization has allowed
transfer of goods via ships which has largely
decreased transportation charges which are
further reduced due to freezones and no
tariffs position established by the
governments successfully promoting
businesses.
Globalization has also launched the concept of
International crime courts and International
justice movements to ensure worldwide
safety and security against global threats and
violations. They also define world trade
agreements and enforce copyright laws in
recognition of intellectual property.
The aviation and tourism sector has also
grown with the increase in international
travels. The ease of travelling and moving has
given way to mass immigration between
countries increasing cross-cultural contact
that promotes multiculturalism.
The environment of our planet is effected on a
large scale due to pollution, over-hunting and
wastage of valued resources.

Advantages of Globalization
International relations are getting better
between countries due to the increased
relation in the economic sector, what is more
is that richer nations now are able to come to
the aid of poorer nations that are in crisis.
The sharing of knowledge and idea has paved
the way for scientific development in various
sectors and has made it easier to carry out
daily functions, to communicate with other
people around the world. We no longer see
conflicts over resources as it has become
easier to acquire basic neccessities through
convenient transactions both locally and
aborad.
Countries have become diverse and this
exposure to culture has made people more
welcoming and celebrative of each other. The
Increase in toleranace and cosmopolitan
attitude of the world community has created a
sense of world wide 'us' in this 'Global Village'
of ours.

Disadvantages of Globalization
Globalization has secretly created a safe
environment for large-scale organised crime
with complete anonymousity.
People have moved away from agricultural
sciences and field because technology and
information have more appeal.
The mixing of external ideologies with
personal ideologies have created a sense of
disorientation and confusion within societies
that have resulted in chaos, not knowing one's
role and responsibility in their community.
This indecisiveness has caused the
deformation of languages and culture and
pushed humans towards a more selfish society
where everyone is in competition with
everyone to acquire more power or
happiness.
There is an emerging global risk
consciousness: 'we will get terminated and
need to work towards preventing it.'
Pandemics: Global Transmission of Disease.

Conclusion
The extensive research on the topic has
illuminated what the nature of Globalization
is, it's history, process and background. With
this knowledge we are able to come to the
conclusion that Globalization is a complex
process with far-reaching impacts on how the
world works and the product of it's future
hard to predict.
We understand that Globalization on it's own
has a lot of gains and benefits which is why I'm
of the view that Globalization itself should not
be hindered, but we must control the extent
and the pace of it's progress, to ensure the
world adapts to the change in a healthy
fashion and that we do not lose definition in
the tumultuousness of it's happening.
In this way, we can hope to enjoy the
desirable outcomes of Globalization and be
safe from it's unwanted consequences.

Bibliography & Reference

 Introduction to IR [B.A. Hons 1st Year]

Dr. Arif, Sir Faisal Awan, Sir Sumair, Sir

Ameer Farooqui

 The Oxford Handbook of International

Relations

 National Geographic: Globalization

 Giddens, Sociology, 2009

 World Commission on the Social

Dimension of Globalization

 The Effects of Globalization

 The Guardian
 Wikipedia: International Relations &

Globalization