Manipulation of GlobalisationWord文档格式.docx

Manipulation of GlobalisationWord文档格式.docx

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Whatarethemajorforcesforglobalisation?

Willglobalisationbringaboutmoreopportunitiesormorerisks?

Isglobalisationaneconomic,technological,cultural,socialorpoliticalissue?

Differentunderstandingofanddifferentattitudestowardsglobalisationaffecttheprocessofglobalisationdifferently.Meanwhile,thetheoriesonglobalisationarethemselvesapowerfulweapon,whichhasbeenusedtopromoteorfightagainstglobalisation.

Keywords:

globalisation,opportunities,risks,informationage,whitepaper

1.What’sGlobalisation?

Amultitudeofscholarshavesofarstudiedanddefined“globalisation”fromdifferentperspectives,butofthevariousdefinitionsIpreferthisone:

“globalisationmeansthegrowinginterdependenceandinterconnectednessofthemodernworld”（theSecretaryofStateforInternationalDevelopment,UK,2000）,becauseIbelievethat“globalisationispolitical,technologicalandcultural,aswellaseconomic”（Giddens,1999,inMohan,2000）.

2.DrivesforGlobalisation

TheBritishgovernmenthasclearlysummarisedthedrivingforcesforglobalisation:

“Theincreasedeaseofmovementofgoods,services,capital,peopleandinformationacrossnationalboardersisrapidlycreatingasingleglobaleconomy.Theprocessisdrivenbytechnologicaladvanceandreductioninthecostofinternationaltransaction,…”（WhitePaper:

15）.

Amongtheaforementionedvariousforces,Mohan（2000:

127）stressedthat“therapidincreaseinthevolumeoffinancialflowis,possibly,thedefiningfeatureofglobalisation”.Inmyopinion,itislargelythecapitalistpursuitofmaximisingprofitsthatdrivesglobalisationforward.SomeWesternscholarsmayarguethat“globalisationcannotbereducedtoaquestionofcapitalismalone”（Scholte,1997,inMohan:

121）,buttheyalsoadmitthat“thepursuitofsurplusaccumulationhasprovidedaprincipalandpowerfulspurtoglobalisation”（Scholte,1997,inMohan:

121）.Theprofitscreatedbyglobalisationdon’talwayscomefromthetraditionallydefinedinternationaltrade,asmostpeoplemayhaveimagined.Statisticsshowsthat“globalisationischaracterised,too,bythegrowthoftransnationalcompanies,whichnowaccountforaboutathirdofworldoutputandtwo-thirdsofworldtrade…”（WhitePaper:

15）.

Thus,theglobalfirmisregardedastheideal-typicalmodelofglobalproduction,becausetheglobalfirms,withtheabilitytointegrateproduction,marketingandconsumption,arebetterequipped“toexploitthecomparativeadvantagesattendantuponeachpartoftheprocess.Ifonepartbecomesuncompetitiveitcanbemovedtoanothermorecompetitivelocation.Suchintegrationallowstheparentcompanytoretaintheintellectualpropertyrights”（Mohan:

125）.

Obviously,thisfunctionalintegration,whichfacilitatesintra-firmtrade,decides“profits,however,tendtogotothecountriesintheNorthwhereTNCshavetheirheadquarters”（Rigg:

36）.Inaword,theeconomicforceisaverypowerfulincentivetoglobalisation.

3.TheWestandtheEast:

DifferentAttitudesTowardGlobalisation

Ofallthefactorsthataffectglobalisation,Ipersonallybelievethattheattitudesofnationalgovernmentstowardsglobalisationarecrucialtotheprocessofglobalisation.Ifagovernmentbelievesintheopportunitiescreatedbyglobalisation,itwillendeavourtopushglobalisationforward.Onthecontrary,ifagovernmentbelievesintheriskscreatedbyglobalisation,itwillbeeitherreluctanttoalignitselfwithglobalisationorberesistanttoglobalisation.Inthiscase,itisvitallynecessarytodiscussthedifferentconceptionsofglobalisationheldbydifferentcountries.

3.1Opportunities

It’suniversallyagreedthat“globalisationcreatesunprecedentednewopportunitiesandrisks”,inthetermsofTonyBlair（2000）,buttheThirdWorld,onawhole,arguesthattheopportunitiesareexclusivelyfortherichcountrieswhiletherisksaremainlyforthepoorones.

Inthisrespect,theBritishgovernmentclaimsthat“itdependsonthepolicychoicesadoptedbygovernments,internationalinstitutions,theprivatesectorandthecivilsociety”（WhitePaper:

15）,becauseif“managedwisely,thenewwealthbeingcreatedbyglobalisationcreatestheopportunitiestoliftmillionsoftheworld’spoorestpeopleoutofthepoverty.Managedbadlyanditcouldleadtotheirfurthermaginalisationandimpoverishment”（WhitePaper:

Thenwhataregoodpolicies?

AzizandWestcott（1997）arguedthatwhatmattersisthecomplementarityofwiththreeseparateelementsneededincombination:

“tradeopenness,macrostabilityandarelativelylowdegreeofgovernmentinvolvementineconomicactivity”（Mosley:

613）.Asamatteroffact,“goodpolicytakesonadifferentmeaningineachdevelopingortransitionalcountrycontingentonitsstructure,itsstageofdevelopmentandtheexternalshocktowhichitissubject.Inparticular,policyresponsevariesbyregion”（Mosley:

614）.TheBritishgovernmentconcludedthat“opennessisanecessary---thoughnotsufficient---conditionfornationalprosperity”（WhitePaper:

17）.It’struethat,afterthedevelopingcountriesinsertedthemselvesintotheglobalmarket,they“haveseenasubstantialincreaseintheirtrade/GDPratios”（Kaplinsky:

119）,butironically,atthesametime,“itsshareofglobaloutputfellmarkedly（Kaplinsky:

119）.ThisphenomenonwastermedbyKaplinskyas“immiserisinggrowth”,describing“asituationwherethereisincreasingeconomicactivity（moreoutputandmoreemployment）butfallingeconomicreturns”（Kaplinsky:

120）.

It’sundeniablethat“globalisationhasseenamassiveincreaseinglobalwealth”（Rigg,2001）.ButtheThirdWorldcountriesareconcernedwithhowthewealthcreatedbytheglobalisationisdistributedamongcountries,andwhethertheglobalisationhasincreasedtheinequalitybetweencountries.Alsoironically,drawingonthesamefacts,therichcountriesandthepooroneshavecometooppositeconclusions.

TheBritishgovernment（2000）assertedthat“thebestevidencetodatesuggeststhatthere’snosystematicrelationshipbetweenopennessandinequality,orbetweengrowthandinequality”（WhitePaper:

15）.Oneoftheirmajorevidencesisthatin1990theaveragerealincomeinthecountriescontainingtherichestfifthoftheworld’spopulationwas18timesgreaterthaninthecountriescontainingthepoorestfifth;

“bythelate1990s,thishasfallento15timesgreater”（WhitePaper:

Meanwhile,Rigg（2001）,basedontheWorldDevelopmentIndicators（1999）releasedbytheWorldBank,argueswhileworldGDPgrewsharply,“therehasbeenawideninggapbetweenawealthyeliteofcountriesandamessofpoorcountries”（Rigg:

36）.“Atthesametimeastheworldhasbecomericher,thenumberofpeoplelivinginpovertyhasincreased—toaround1.2billiononthebasisoftheWorld’sBank’sdefinition,whichisthoselivingonUS$1adayorless”（Rigg:

37）.EvenaWTO-sponsoredreportpublishedin2000acknowledgedthefact:

“Whilethereisnosimplerelationshipbetweentradeandpoverty,theevidenceseemstoindicatethattradeliberalisationisgenerallyapositivecontributiontopovertyalleviation…”（Rigg:

37）.ThisseemsstrikinglycontrarytotheBritishgovernment’sbelief:

“economicgrowthisanindispensablerequirementforpovertyreduction”（WhitePaper:

18）.

Itisthewriter’sviewthattheaforesaiddiscoverybythepoorcountrieshas,infactthoughnotexpressed,causedthemtosuspectthattheWestseemstohavebeentryingtomaskthetruth,andmoreterribly,thiswillcausetheThirdWorldtosuspectwhateverconclusionstheFirstWorldwilldraw,atleastintermsofglobalisation.Thedifferentunderstandingofglobalisationisnotonlycausedbydifferentinternationalpoliticalideologies,butalsocausedbydifferentmethodologies.Forexample,employingdifferentstatisticalandanalyticmethods,wemaycometodifferentconclusionsaboutthesamephenomenon.Therefore,tolabeltheissueas“ideological”couldn’tputanendtothedebate.

Forinstance，intermsofthedifferentresultsofglobalisationachievedbytherichcountriesandthepoorones,theWesternpowersdeclaredthisdependson“initialcircumstancesandonthepoliciesthatgovernmentpursue”（WhitePaper:

35）.Buttherealityisthattheinitialeconomicandtechnologicalcircumstancesinthepoorcountriesareabsolutelyinferiortothoseintherichcountries,whichmeansthatmostof（ifnotall）thepoorcountriesaredoomedtoimpoverishmentandmarginalisation,evenaftertheyhaveturnedtotheglobaleconomyatimmensecosts.Confrontedwiththisreality,theBritishgovernmentclaims“allprofoundeconomicandsocialchangeproduceswinnersandlosers”（WhitePaper:

18）.AndaWTO-sponsoredreportechoed:

“Howevertradereformswillcreatesomelosers（someeveninthelongrun…）”（Rigg:

37）.

3.2Risks

Nobodycoulddenythatglobalisationwillcreatesomeunprecedentedrisksandchallenges,asTonyBlair（1995）admits:

“Whatiscalledglobalisationischangingthenatureofthenation-stateaspowerbecomesmorediffuseandbordersmoreporous.Technologicalchangeisalreadyreducingthepowerandcapacityofgovernmenttocontrolitsdomesticeconomyfreefromexternalinfluence.”（Mohan:

121）

Butforthepoorcountries,therisksareevendevastatingsometimes,whichtherichcountriesdon’tseemtobothertotakeintofurtherconsideration.Anyway,Iwilltrymybesttosummarisethemajorriskssensedbythepoorcountriesasfollows:

PoliticallyGlobalisationrequiresafundamentaltra