Kassidy Augustine

Dr. I Shoikhedbrod

Poli 1002

March 20th, 2022

Globalization is the increasing free flow of goods, resources, ideas, and services between

countries to create interdependence and contentedness (Broner and Ventura, Para 1).

Globalization has many different implications, economic, cultural, political, and intends to bring

the world together to create one dominant political culture. While globalization may be

beneficial to some countries, a lot of countries suffer. Globalization has brought more negative

effects on the world than positive due to globalization's tendency to exploit, pollute and have

increased health risks in poor countries disproportionately than rich developed countries.

The idea of Globalization is that each country produces specific products that they are

skilled in producing. That country would then export that product to other countries that do not

produce or are not skilled in producing. Then, be able to import products a different country is

skilled in producing. For example, southern countries export cocoa beans and citrus, while

Canadas main export is lumber and oil. We cannot produce citrus fruits in Canada without a lot

of time, money, and energy. Therefore, it is easier and more beneficial for globalization to take

place to benefit all countries involved, so all countries can have cost effective ways of producing

and receiving resources. To achieve maximum benefits these forms of trade would be free and

therefore making products cheaper and more accessible for all countries. This can supply more

jobs to developing countries and improve their economies. But this has some implications. A lot
of developing countries do not have human rights laws and therefore globalization can allow

countries who are developed to exploit poorer countries with inexpensive labor costs.

Inexpensive labor costs allow corporations to market their products for lower prices and thus

create a higher demand with higher profits. The problem with globalization is that theoretically it

is ethical because everyone would benefit, but globalization exploits poorer groups because there

are major power imbalances between developed and developing countries. “One study finds that

the median wage for jobs in advanced countries is two and a half times the wage level for jobs

with similar skill levels in the most advanced developing countries, and five times the level in

low-income countries. In 2008, a Chinese manufacturing worker earned about one-twentieth the

wage level of a U.S. manufacturing worker; a Mexican, one-sixth" (Dudush & Shaw, Para 2).

Wealthy countries interconnect with developing countries and turn something that is supposed to

be beneficial for both parties into something that is only majorly beneficial for the richer country.

Globalization not only disproportionately affects developing countries economically, but

globalization also allows disease and illness to spread easily. Movement of people can allow for

illness that once stayed stagnate, to move quickly, be born, and mutate. Globalization generates

wealth and better technology, meaning more people have money and the cost of living is lower.

Meaning travel and the movement of individuals becomes easier and more popular to do;

creating higher infection rates that infect mass populations. Transportation of goods also causes

infection “Transportation of certain non-human goods can present the risk of, directly or

indirectly, spreading human infections. Direct risks arise when people are exposed to material

which themselves may contain dangerous pathogens. For example, animal tissues transported for

scientific purposes may contain dangerous organisms that can spread to human handlers” (Lakers

et al. 49). Countries which are poorer and are not built to withstand pandemics can be
disproportionately affected contrasted to richer countries who have the resources, technology,

and knowledge. “At different levels, therefore, global change can bring either health benefits of

costs, depending on who you are or where you live. For poorer populations, there is substantial

evidence to suggest that, so far globalization has posed more negative than positive impacts on

health, including from infectious diseases” (Laker et al. 6). As stated in the quote previously,

globalization can bring health benefits to seemingly everyone. The spread of knowledge, ideas,

technology, and resources across borders can bring into fruition of better medical science for

vaccines, cures, and medical resources to be invented and discovered and then brought into

countries which can thus help improve world health. But the problem is devloped nations have

running water, basic knowledge about germs, populations who are overall healthier, fed, more

medical resources, people who can afford health care and populations with a higher quality and

quantity of doctors. Contrasted with developing nations with none or little of these things, which

creates huge disadvantages when comparing the positive and negatives to globalization. Yes,

globalization can be a catalyst for positive change to happen, but overall comes at a greater cost

than benefit.

Climate change, another negative factor of globalization, can also cause birth to illness

and affect overall health. Water contamination, pollution, melting of glaciers, can all be

detrimental to health while also creating contractable diseases. Vector borne diseases are

increased and made more severe by climate change. Warmer weather caused by climate change

is responsible for tick Borne illness, Schistosomiasis, Onchocerciasis, African Trypanosomiasis,

and other viral infections that can pose health risks (Laker et al. 22). Not to mention how other

effects of climate change can be detrimental to health, water contamination, drought, heat waves,

natural disasters, diminishing air quality, rising water levels and many more climate change
caused health risks to affect the overall world's population in a negative way. But developing

nations see these effects more severely. A substantial portion of developing nations reside along

coast lines, in the south, or rely on natural resources to hold their economy and country together

economically. Climate change has both health, quality of life and economic implications. When a

country is destroyed by climate change, especially one whose economy is reliant on natural

resources, their economic standing is affected. As cited in Environmental International by Furini

and Ashrafuzzaman “Poor countries are more vulnerable when exposed to health problems,

including those caused by global warming, and in the case of climate change the inequitable

situation between core and periphery makes the last even more vulnerable (Terry, 2008). The

ecological environment of periphery countries has become very fragile due to the overuse of

natural resources while their capacity to deal with the damage is very limited (Mullen, 2008).”

Not only are developing countries more effected by climate change, but they also have less of a

means to dealing with these issues thus once again showing the imbalance of positive and

negative implications globalization has with developed richer countries contrasted to delvoping

poorer countries.

A common argument for globalization is that it prevents war due to countries being

interdependent on one another, thus creating economic consequences if war were to erupt.

Although true, this is not necessarily a good thing. War occurs due to power imbalances which

globalization inherently creates. Although it may seem that war is ceasing due to globalization, it

is happening for the wrong reasons. War should cease because there is a sense of equality and

understanding between countries, but globalization creates tensions. As cited in Globalization

and African Political Economy: The Nigerian Experience by Adjuwon and Majekodunmi

“Globalization is a very uneven process with unequal distribution of its benefits and losses. This
imbalance leads to polarization between the developed countries that gain, and the developing

countries that lose out (Obadan, 2001).” Globalization has a negative impact on the world and

mostly developing nations, meaning that these inequalities will grow even more; creating even

higher tensions which will thus lead to war.

Overall globalization has seemingly positive effects, but, it has more negative effects than

positive; mainly for developing nations. Globalization has negative effects on the world due to

increased health risks, climate change and the exploitation of developing countries

disproportionately to developed countries which thus creates a power imbalance. To make

globalization positive, it must affect all individuals equally the same. It should not just benefit

the few.
 Works cited

Ashrafuzzaman, Md, and Gustavo Luis Furini. “Climate Change and Human Health Linkages in

the Context of Globalization: An Overview from Global to Southwestern Coastal Region

of Bangladesh.” Environment International, vol. 127, 2019, pp. 402–411.

Broner, Fernando and Ventura, Jaume, Globalization and Risk Sharing (August 2006). NBER

Working Paper No. w12482, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=926061

Dadush, Uri, and William Shaw. “Globalization, Labor Markets, and Inequality.” Carnegie

Endowment for International Peace, 2 Feb. 2012,

https://carnegieendowment.org/2012/02/02/globalization-labor-markets-and-inequality-

pub-47028.

Majekodunmi, Aderonke, and Khehinde David Adjuwon. “Globalization and African Political

Economy: The Nigerian Experience.” International Journal of Academic Research in

Business and Social Sciences, vol. 2, Aug. 2012, pp. 189–206.

Saker, Lance, et al. Globalization and Infectious Diseases: A Review of the Linkages.

“What Is Globalization? Examples, Definition, Benefits and Effects.” Youmatter, 6 Oct. 2020,

https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definitions-globalization-definition-benefits-effects-

examples/#:~:text=Globalization%20means%20the%20speedup%20of,and%20populations

%20around%20the%20globe.