Does Globalization Have a Purpose

A) i) McGrew, A. 2011. Globalization and global politics. In: Baylis, J.

& Smith, S. & Owens, P. (eds). The Globalization of World Politics, 5th Edition, Oxford University Press, pp. 16-29A) ii) McGrew starts off by offering a definition of globalization calling it a “historical process that denotes a ‘shrinking world’ and pointing out that it is associated with “significant transformation in world politics”. In the first paragraph he introduces two opposing views on globalization and its purpose.

The “skeptics” he says “argue that states and geopolitics remain the principal agents and forces shaping world order”. However he embraces the ‘transformationalist perspective’ arguing in favor of global politics where there is hardly a distinction between domestic and international affairs.McGrew goes on to depict the different aspects of globalization emphasizing the economic factors that drive it. In this chapter he identifies five contrasting definitions for the word 'globalization' as used by a number of the subject's commentators and critics - internationalization, liberalization, universalization, western/modernization and deterrioralization.

It comes as no surprise that the skeptics find a solid ground for their scrutiny considering the globalization thesis as merely a buzz-word to denote the latest phase of capitalism.McGrew’s main argument is encapsulated in his view of the purpose of globalization. He argues that “globalization reconstructs the world as a shared social space”. (p.29) In conclusion he calls for a “post-Westphalian world order” as a result of transformed sovereign statehood by the dynamics of globalization.

(p.29)B) i) Katz, R. ; Lawrence, R.Z.

; Spence M. 2011 Manufacturing Globalization: Is globalization to blame for rising unemployment and income inequality?, Foreign Affairs Magazine, 90(6), pp. 166-172.B) ii) The Foreign Affairs journal has been published for nearly a century by The Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

With its first issue published in 1921 it is one of the oldest and most prestigious journals on foreign affairs still in print. CFR choose Professor Archibald Cary Coolidge of Harvard University as the journal's first editor and Hamilton Fish Armstrong a Princeton alumnus and a European correspondent of the New York Post as a co-editor. Since its inception the journal has been edited and published by academics from the top universities in the world and prominent public figures.The immediate past managing editor of Foreign Affairs was Fareed Zakaria, now the editor of Newsweek International. In the May–June 2007 issue the then-opposition leader and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko caused a stir by publishing an article entitled "Containing Russia" accusing Russia under Vladimir Putin of expansionism and urging the rest of Europe to stand against him. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov wrote an article in response.

Tymoshenko's party went on to win the 2007 elections and she became Prime Minister once again. This illustrates the extent to which this journal is embedded in the research and practice of professionals and the impact it has on public opinion and proves its scope and significance.B) iii) In this article Richard Katz and Robert Lawrence argue that not globalization but other factors are at fault for rising unemployment and income inequality thus challenging a transformationalist view of ‘integration of the world economies’. Katz is testing Spence’s claim that “it is misleading to argue that the most important forces operating on the structure of the economy are internal, not external” (The Impact of Globalization on Income and Unemployment, July/August 2011). In his part of the article Katz argues that globalization does not result in fewer jobs as many would insist today. “The primary culprit in the United States rising inequality level is not globalization as Spence argue, but political and social conditions at home.

” (p.167)Katz concludes by saying that globalization “plays undeniable role (although not the primary role) in job and wage trends for workers but the government policies compound its harm.” (p.168) Katz hands the baton to Lawrence in the second part of this article to argue in support of the ‘skeptics’ that McGrew mentioned in point A. Lawrence carries further the idea that “globalization conceals the reality of a world which is much less interdependent than it was in the nineteenth century and remains dominated by geopolitics and Western capitalism.

” (p.170)In the third part Spence is defending the transformationalist perspective; according to him “the shifting structure of the global economy driven by the growth and changing structure of the emerging economies is having an impact not only on income and employment distribution” (p.172) but also other aspect such as cultural environmental and political ones. The ‘purpose’ of any type of globalization is improved economic efficiency and bigger spending power through reduction of the price of products he argues. Since a state is a collection of its individuals, with less spending power, it has less money, so it needs to take more.

This results in tax increases, taking a larger piece of the earnings of the ordinary citizens. This is one of the negative and most visible aspects of globalization on a tax system. Some of the effects of globalization are only now becoming noticeable and thoroughly analyzable in terms of its effects on domestic economies.C) i) Masson, P. (2001) Globalization - Facts and Figures, A summary of the economic dimensions of globalization. IMF Policy Discussion Paper.

Available at: http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/academic/papers (Accessed: 07 December, 2011)C) ii) YaleGlobal Online is a publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. The magazine explores implications of the growing interconnectedness of the world by drawing on the resources of the Yale University community, scholars and experts from around the world. It analyzes and promotes debate on globalization.

The source of information is reputable as it is sourced from the International Monetary Fund and it is published on the website of one of the top five academic institutions in the world.C) iii) Masson’s paper starts by outlining the economic dimensions of globalization - increase in the flows of trade, capital and information. It has been argued he says that globalization has proceeded throughout the course of recorded history though not in a steady or linear fashion. It has been driven in many cases by significant technological advances, and has, as such been associated with the vast improvements in prosperity that the world has experienced in recent centuries. In search for purpose and explanation Masson goes on to trace back the economic and sociopolitical factors that led to a more global world.