GLOBALIZATION

The word globalization has no commonly accepted mean

ing, although it is used constantly by politicians, Journalists and
academics. Globalization generally refers to an expansion, be-
yond national borders, of all aspects of human life and culture,
particularly of business, science and technology. It means an
increasing integration of dlifferent national economiesand s0
cieties. It puts an end to the isolation of the countries through
the powerful means of communication and electronic media like
TV, Internet, satellite and so on. Above all, it aims to establish
a borderless society. But in actual practice, globalisation is a
process of capitalist aggression and exploitation. It employs vari-
ous strategies such as techno-globalism, liberalisation,
privatisation and market economy to serve the interests of capi-
talism. It also embraces a cultural project to establish the he
gemony of the 'core powers over the 'peripheries'and 'semi
peripheries."
The two terms generally related to globalisation are "Plan-
etary" and "global village". Some thinkers speak of the "new
planetary age" that is dawning, in which we are becoming citi-
zens of the entire globe ratheY than of a particular country, cul-
ture or religion. In a book published in 1958 Marshall Mc Luhan
described the world as a "global village". MC Luhan argued that
the medium of communication determines the characteristic of
an age in history. He asserted that electronic media has come
to influence the lives of people on such a large scale that In-
dividualism' and 'national boundaries' have lost their meaning.
 have accel-
Communications through satellite and computers
distance
erated the process of integration. Now the geographical
has ceased to be a barrier. Borders have become porous, the
are talking about an
"end of
sky is open and the technologists
geography".
of
Globalization is describedby many as a new version
their loss
colonialism. It is a whiteman's invention to compensate
of resources from the old colonial empires. As the colonies
became free, the imperialist powerS now wanted to find out new
resource bases to compensate the loss. This persuaded them
to put forth a system, that would facilitate once again, the en-

largement of their markets ànd the free flow of wealth Thus

the globalisation is nothing but colonialism in disguise. The new
multinational corporations are, in tact, a continuation
colonial companies (East India Companies). Most of the val
of the old
ues behind globalisation are the same as those of colonialism.
However, it cannot be termed colonialism now as no colonisation
is involved in the process.
Globalisation is essentially linked with world capitalism.
Capitalism always has a globally aggressive character. The
globalising urges of capitalism grew powerful during 1990s and
it started a ruthless penetration on economies throughout the
world, particularly those of the Third World. The collapse of
the East European Secialist systemsthe reorganisation of World
Bank and IMF on the philosophy of free markEt economy, artd
the emergence of new capitalist powersTikë Gérmany and Ja-
pan created a favourable cilimate for the global expansion of
capitalism.
All the important elements of globalisation (like liberalisation,
privatisation, free market economy etc.) are essentially capital-
istic and designed to serve the interests of capital. Globalisation
can, therefore, be considered as a logical and inevitable prod
uct of world capitalist system. Globalisation as a capitalist
outside (as in the case of the
process may be imposed from
ThirdWorld countries) or induced within the country (as in the
case of Developed countries.)
the free
The main trends in the process of globalisation
are
market economy, liberalisation, privatisation, commercialisation,
capitalisation, internationalisation, transnationalisation and
financialisation. Globalisation is generally accompanied by the
dominance of giant multinational corporations (MNCs). There
has been a proliferation of multi-national enter prises, expecially
inthe 1970s. The mult-nationals found it advantageous to set
up production units in places where their goods were in demand,
taking advantages of the available raw materials, cheaper labour
power etc. Consequently a new era of global production, based
on international division of labour emerged. The "MNC family"
now consists of about 40,000 'parent firms' mostly in developed
countries and some 250,000 'affiliates', located mainly in de-
veloping countries. This gave them the leverage to convert global
commerce into a means of accumulating huge profits (by de-
termining the prices of goods). Amore destructive conscquence
of the entry of MNCs in a country can be found in the capture
of domestic markets.
Globalisation is not merely an economic project. It also
involves globalisation of culture and ideas. It is marked by the
capitalist strategy of colonising the mind and ideas of the people.
This "internal or intellectual colonisátion" is achieved through
the media. There is a continued projection of western and Eu
ropean civilization and its values. It is western, particularly North
American culture, which is being termed as global culture. All
other cultures are termed 'ethnic' which has replaced the term
'native' of the colonial days. Thus globalisation is westernisation
or to be more precise,
Americanization.
Another aspect of the cultural project of globalisation is the
conditioning of human mind to the interests of market by en-
couraging consumerism. This process is also achieved through
the media. Each country is being flooded with unnecessary luxury
goods by the MNCs and they bring an undersirable distortion
in the life-styles through the media. Looking at the advertise-
ments on TV, one naturally gets the impression that all that the
country needs today is more soap and detergent, better soft
drinks and smarter undergarmetns. GBobal consumerism creats
a craze for material luxuries, sensual
pleasures and accumu-
ation of wealth through fair or foul means. Moreover, our age-

old culturalvalues and traditions are sought to be rejected. For

nstance, if most of the young people are persuaded that only
he music and songs of Michael Jackson are worth watching
or

istening to, there will be less and less patronage for Indian clas-
Sical music, Nazrul's or Ghalib's ghazals or Tagor's songs.
Scholars like prof. Anthony Giddens argued that the world
does not have any options in the case of globalisation. You like
Å or not. globalisation has come to stay and there is no running
away from it. No economy can remain uninfluenced by the rest
of the world. Even the most closed society cannot escape the
fiow of ideas. The thing is to endure it, adopt it to our needs
and to learn to live with it. But the available statistics show that
the impact of globalization on economy is disastrous. As UNDP's
Human Develepment Repor, 1999, has pointed out, in economic
cevelopment and trade, the top 20 percent of rich countries have
cornered 80 to 90 per cent of the benefits acruing from
glopalisation, the bottom 20 per cent countries have benefited
only one percent. Thus there are winners and losers: the win-
ners were always the rich countries and losers the poor. Hence
the problem is not how to adopt globalization but to escape from
e cancers of globalization.