Globalization and Its Effects in Different Countries.

¶ … globalization and its effects in different countries. We do this by considering the potential costs of the globalization process and the analysis of the major issues involved. We then present an analysis of how globalization has impacted the telecommunication industry.

Globalization is a term that holds different meanings to different people according to the context. Beerkens (2004, p2) defines globalization as a global interconnectedness between states that is supplemented through processes of social arrangements such as culture and ideology and then become disembedded from the existing spatial context as a result of the acceleration, flexibilisation, massification, expansion and diffusion of flow of persons, products, information, images and finance across nations. In economic terms, it can be used to refer to interdependent world economies (Pearson Education, 2010).

The cost of Globalization and the analysis of the major issues involved.

Globalization, though inevitable, is surrounded by various issues that are less likely to face away in the near future. The main ones are the creation of global economic inequality. This is attributed to the fact that globalization causes poverty and prosperity at the same time. This means that some gain while others lose (in relative terms) as a result of globalization. International corporations from rich nations exploit workers from poor nations as a result of globalization. This view is perhaps backed by the scholarly consensus that the level of global wealth and income disparities had risen in the period lying between 1970 and 1990 (Hicks, 2007). Recent data from economists does however suggest that globalization has tended to create a world that is more equal. The debate however still rages on (Birdsall, 2005 and Milanovic, 2007). The costs and potential problems of globalization have been viewed by various critics as a source of perils. This is because the costs could possibly lead to conflicts of various types and at various levels of governance and operations. These levels could be regional, national and international as pointed out by Intriligator (2003). One of the main sources of costs of globalization is the decision of who gains from the potential benefits of the process. This is compounded by the fact there are credible equity problems when it comes to the distribution of the gains from the process of globalization. This concerns the distribution of the gains amongst individuals, corporations, nations and even regions. There is substantive proof that most of the gains have been directed to the richer individuals and nations thereby leading to the creation of great inequalities and thus evolving into conflicts at different levels (Intriligator, 2003).It has indeed been suggested by some scholars that there should be a convergence of incomes on a global scale on the basis of the observation that the poor nations have a faster rate of growth as compared to the rich ones. The reality however is that the only poor nations that have been experiencing this exponential growth are the "tiger economies" of East Asia while the other least developed ones such as Asia, Africa, central and South America have a rate of growth which is slower than the rich nations'. The result is the marginalization of the poor nations. The outcome has therefore been a divergence or rather the polarization of incomes on a global scale with the rapidly growing nation-state economies catching up with the rich ones while the poor nations stagnating further behind. The increasing disparity has lead to disaffection and international conflicts.

The second cost of globalization is the potential of regional and worldwide instabilities that results from the interdependencies of the various global economies (Intriligator, 2003). This is as a result of the fact that local fluctuations in the economy of a given nation could result in regional or global impacts. Intriligator (2003) points out the fact that this is not a mere theoretical possibility as was observed in the Asian exchange rate and financial crisis that began in Thailand in 1997 and quickly spread to the Southern Asian economies. There was however a delay of its effects in Russia. A global recession or depression cold result to the need of breaking the interdependencies that are as a result of globalization as witnessed during the Great depression of the 1930s. The outcome of which was competitive devaluations escalating tariffs, beggar-my-neighbor policies as well as other forms of protectionism. The consequence of these is economic conflict which results in economic warfare and even giving rise to military warfare. The third cost of globalization is the fact that it leads to diminished sovereignty of states or the total collapse of states (Bertucci and Alberti, 2002). The capitalism and the control of nation-states by other entities are seen as a threat to sovereignty of the state. The most powerful states, multinationals as well as corporate groups has been cited as undermining the sovereignty of the poor states through the imposing of their policies on the poor states. This leads the poor nations to have a feeling of being helpless in the face of the global forces and hence cause a feeling of disaffection amongst the electorate. The outcome would be extreme nationalism as well as xenophobia. Calls for protectionist measures would also be eminent resulting in extremist as well as fundamentalist political groups. The result is conflict.

There is an allegation that unemployment is one cost of globalization in the highly industrialized states. This is however disapproved by the fact that there is a relatively low rate of unemployment in several high wage nations as well as the high rates in several low wage nations. This is attributed to the fact that technological trends coupled with national policy are major determinants of employment as compared to global factors.

The fifth cost of the globalization is global cultural, biological and linguistic diversity which are viewed as being at risk (UNEP, 2001).

The impact of globalization on the global telecommunication industry