Globalization: Definition, Benefits,

Effects, Examples – What is

Globalization?

 Publié le 21 January 2019

 Mis à jour le 25 March 2024

Globalization – what is it? What is the definition of globalization?

Benefits and negative effects? What are the top examples of
globalization? What famous quotes have been said about
globalization?

What is Globalization? All Definitions of

Globalization
A Simple Globalization Definition

Globalization means the speedup of movements and exchanges (of human

beings, goods, and services, capital, technologies or cultural practices) all
over the planet. One of the effects of globalization is that it promotes and
increases interactions between different regions and populations around the
globe.

 Related: Traveling Today And Tomorrow: Cities And Countries With More Travelers

An Official Definition of Globalization by the World Health

Organization (WHO)

According to WHO, globalization can be defined as ” the increased

interconnectedness and interdependence of peoples and countries. It is
generally understood to include two inter-related elements: the opening of
international borders to increasingly fast flows of goods, services, finance,
people and ideas; and the changes in institutions and policies at national
and international levels that facilitate or promote such flows.”

What Is Globalization in the Economy?

According to the Committee for Development Policy (a subsidiary body of the

United Nations), from an economic point of view, globalization can be
defined as:
 “(…) the increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the
growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and services, the flow
of international capital and the wide and rapid spread of technologies. It
reflects the continuing expansion and mutual integration of market frontiers
(…) and the rapid growing significance of information in all types of
productive activities and marketization are the two major driving forces for
economic globalization.”

 Related: Planet VS Economy: How Coronavirus Is Unraveling A Dysfunctional

System

What Is Globalization in Geography?

In geography, globalization is defined as the set of processes (economic,

social, cultural, technological, institutional) that contribute to the relationship
between societies and individuals around the world. It is a progressive
process by which exchanges and flows between different parts of the world
are intensified.

Globalization and the G20: What is the G20?

The G20 is a global bloc composed by the governments and central bank
governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU). Established in
1999, the G20 gathers the most important industrialized and developing
economies to discuss international economic and financial stability.
Together, the nations of the G20 account for around 80% of global economic
output, nearly 75 percent of all global trade, and about two-thirds of the
world’s population.

G20 leaders get together in an annual summit to discuss and coordinate

pressing global issues of mutual interest. Though economics and trade are
usually the centerpieces of each summit’s agenda, issues like climate
change, migration policies, terrorism, the future of work, or global wealth
are recurring focuses too. Since the G20 leaders represent the “political
backbone of the global financial architecture that secures open markets,
orderly capital flows, and a safety net for countries in difficulty”, it is often
thanks to bilateral meetings during summits that major international
agreements are achieved and that globalization is able to move forward.

The joint action of G20 leaders has unquestionably been useful to save the
global financial system in the 2008/2009 crisis, thanks to trade barriers
removal and the implementation of huge financial reforms. Nonetheless, the
G20 was been struggling to be successful at coordinating monetary and
fiscal policies and unable to root out tax evasion and corruption, among
other downsides of globalization. As a result of this and other failures from
the G20 in coordinating globalization, popular, nationalist movements
across the world have been defending countries should pursue their
interests alone or form fruitful coalitions.

How Do We Make Globalization More Just?

The ability of countries to rise above narrow self-interest has brought
unprecedented economic wealth and plenty of applicable scientific
progress. However, for different reasons, not everyone has been benefiting
the same from globalization and technological change: wealth is unfairly
distributed and economic growth came at huge environmental costs. How
can countries rise above narrow self-interest and act together or designing
fairer societies and a healthier planet? How do we make globalization more
just?

According to Christine Lagarde, former President of the International

Monetary Fund, “debates about trade and access to foreign goods are as
old as society itself ” and history tells us that closing borders or
protectionism policies are not the way to go, as many countries doing it
have failed.

Lagarde defends we should pursue globalization policies that extend the

benefits of openness and integration while alleviating their side effects. How
to make globalization more just is a very complex question that involves
redesigning economic systems. But how? That’s the question.

Globalization is deeply connected with economic systems and markets,

which, on their turn, impact and are impacted by social issues, cultural
factors that are hard to overcome, regional specificities, timings of action
and collaborative networks. All of this requires, on one hand, global
consensus and cooperation, and on the other, country-specific solutions,
apart from a good definition of the adjective “just”.

When Did Globalization Begin? The History of

Globalization
 For some people, this global phenomenon is inherent to human nature.
Because of this, some say globalization begun about 60,000 years ago, at
the beginning of human history. Throughout time, human societies’
exchanging trade has been growing. Since the old times, different
civilizations have developed commercial trade routes and experienced
cultural exchanges. And as well, the migratory phenomenon has also been
contributing to these populational exchanges. Especially nowadays, since
traveling became quicker, more comfortable, and more affordable.

This phenomenon has continued throughout history, notably through

military conquests and exploration expeditions. But it wasn’t until
technological advances in transportation and communication that
globalization speeded up. It was particularly after the second half of the
20th century that world trades accelerated in such a dimension and speed
that the term “globalization” started to be commonly used.

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o Are we living oppositely to sustainable development?

Examples of Globalization (Concept Map)

Because of trade developments and financial exchanges, we often think of
globalization as an economic and financial phenomenon. Nonetheless, it
includes a much wider field than just flowing of goods, services or capital.
 Often referred to as the globalization concept map, some examples of
globalization are:

 Economic globalization: is the development of trade systems within

transnational actors such as corporations or NGOs;
 Financial globalization: can be linked with the rise of a global financial
system with international financial exchanges and monetary exchanges.
Stock markets, for instance, are a great example of the financially
connected global world since when one stock market has a decline, it
affects other markets negatively as well as the economy as a whole.
 Cultural globalization: refers to the interpenetration of cultures which, as a
consequence, means nations adopt principles, beliefs, and costumes of
other nations, losing their unique culture to a unique, globalized supra-
culture;
 Political globalization: the development and growing influence of
international organizations such as the UN or WHO means governmental
action takes place at an international level. There are other bodies
operating a global level such as NGOs like Doctors without
borders or Oxfam;
 Sociological globalization: information moves almost in real-time,
together with the interconnection and interdependence of events and their
consequences. People move all the time too, mixing and integrating
different societies;
 Technological globalization: the phenomenon by which millions of people
are interconnected thanks to the power of the digital world via platforms
such as Facebook, Instagram, Skype or Youtube.
 Geographic globalization: is the new organization and hierarchy of
different regions of the world that is constantly changing. Moreover, with
transportation and flying made so easy and affordable, apart from a few
countries with demanding visas, it is possible to travel the world without
barely any restrictions;
 Ecological globalization: accounts for the idea of considering planet Earth
as a single global entity – a common good all societies should protect since
the weather affects everyone and we are all protected by the same
atmosphere. To this regard, it is often said that the poorest countries that have
been polluting the least will suffer the most from climate change .

The Benefits of Globalization

Globalization has benefits that cover many different areas. It reciprocally
developed economies all over the world and increased cultural exchanges.
It also allowed financial exchanges between companies, changing the
paradigm of work. Many people are nowadays citizens of the world. The
origin of goods became secondary and geographic distance is no longer a
barrier for many services to happen. Let’s dig deeper.

The Engine of Globalization – An Economic Example

The most visible impacts of globalization are definitely the ones affecting
the economic world. Globalization has led to a sharp increase in trade and
economic exchanges, but also to a multiplication of financial exchanges.

In the 1970s world economies opened up and the development of free trade
policies accelerated the globalization phenomenon. Between 1950 and
2010, world exports increased 33-fold. This significantly contributed to
increasing the interactions between different regions of the world.

This acceleration of economic exchanges has led to strong global economic

growth. It fostered as well a rapid global industrial development that allowed
the rapid development of many of the technologies and commodities we
have available nowadays.

Knowledge became easily shared and international cooperation among the

brightest minds speeded things up. According to some analysts,
globalization has also contributed to improving global economic conditions,
creating much economic wealth (thas was, nevertheless, unequally
distributed – more information ahead).

Globalization Benefits – A Financial Example

At the same time, finance also became globalized. From the 1980s, driven
by neo-liberal policies, the world of finance gradually opened. Many states,
particularly the US under Ronald Reagan and the UK under Margaret
Thatcher introduced the famous “3D Policy”: Disintermediation,
Decommissioning, Deregulation.

The idea was to simplify finance regulations, eliminate mediators and break
down the barriers between the world’s financial centers. And the goal was
to make it easier to exchange capital between the world’s financial
players. This financial globalization has contributed to the rise of a global
financial market in which contracts and capital exchanges have multiplied.

Globalization – A Cultural Example

Together with economic and financial globalization, there has obviously
also been cultural globalization. Indeed, the multiplication of economic and
financial exchanges has been followed by an increase in human exchanges
such as migration, expatriation or traveling. These human exchanges have
contributed to the development of cultural exchanges. This means that
different customs and habits shared among local communities have been
shared among communities that (used to) have different procedures and
even different beliefs.

Good examples of cultural globalization are, for instance, the trading of

commodities such as coffee or avocados. Coffee is said to be originally from
Ethiopia and consumed in the Arabid region. Nonetheless, due to
commercial trades after the 11th century, it is nowadays known as a
globally consumed commodity. Avocados, for instance, grown mostly under
the tropical temperatures of Mexico, the Dominican Republic or Peru. They
started by being produced in small quantities to supply the local populations
but today guacamole or avocado toasts are common in meals all over the
world.

At the same time, books, movies, and music are now instantaneously
available all around the world thanks to the development of the digital world
and the power of the internet. These are perhaps the greatest contributors
to the speed at which cultural exchanges and globalization are happening.
There are also other examples of globalization regarding traditions
like Black Friday in the US, the Brazilian Carnival or the Indian Holi Festival.
They all were originally created following their countries’ local traditions and
beliefs but as the world got to know them, they are now common traditions
in other countries too.
 Why Is Globalization Bad? The Negative Effects of
Globalization
Globalization is a complex phenomenon. As such, it has a considerable
influence on several areas of contemporary societies. Let’s take a look at
some of the main negative effects globalization has had so far.

The Negative Effects of Globalization on Cultural Loss

Apart from all the benefits globalization has had on allowing cultural
exchanges it also homogenized the world’s cultures. That’s why specific
cultural characteristics from some countries are disappearing.
From languages to traditions or even specific industries. That’s why
according to UNESCO, the mix between the benefits of globalization and the
protection of local culture’s uniqueness requires a careful approach.

The Economic Negative Effects of Globalization

Despite its benefits, the economic growth driven by globalization has not
been done without awakening criticism. The consequences of globalization
are far from homogeneous: income inequalities, disproportional wealth and
trades that benefit parties differently. In the end, one of the criticisms is that
some actors (countries, companies, individuals) benefit more from the
phenomena of globalization, while others are sometimes perceived as the
“losers” of globalization. As a matter of fact, a recent report from Oxfam says
that 82% of the world’s generated wealth goes to 1% of the population.

 Related: Globally, Business And Government Lack Trust, A New Survey Shows

The Negative Effects of Globalization on the Environment

 Many critics have also pointed out that globalization has negative effects on
the environment. Thus, the massive development of transport that has been
the basis of globalization is also responsible for serious environmental
problems such as greenhouse gas emissions, global warming or air
pollution.

At the same time, global economic growth and industrial productivity are
both the driving force and the major consequences of globalization. They
also have big environmental consequences as they contribute to the
depletion of natural resources, deforestation and the destruction
of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. The worldwide distribution of goods is
also creating a big garbage problem, especially on what concerns plastic
pollution.

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Globalization, Sustainable Development, and CSR

Globalization affects all sectors of activity to a greater or lesser extent. By
doing so, its gap with issues that have to do with sustainable
development and corporate social responsibility is short.

By promoting large-scale industrial production and the globalized circulation

of goods, globalization is sometimes opposed to concepts such as resource
savings, energy savings or the limitation of greenhouse gases. As a result,
critics of globalization often argue that it contributes to accelerating climate
 change and that it does not respect the principles of ecology. At the same
time, big companies that don’t give local jobs and choose instead to use the
manpower of countries with low wages (to have lower costs) or pay taxes in
countries with more favorable regulations is also opposed to the criteria of
a CSR approach. Moreover, the ideologies of economic growth and the
constant pursuit of productivity that come along with globalization, also
make it difficult to design a sustainable economy based on resilience.

On the other hand, globalization is also needed for the transitioning to a

more sustainable world, since only a global synergy would really be able to
allow a real ecological transition. Issues such as global warming indeed
require a coordinated response from all global players: fight against CO2
emissions, reduction of waste, a transition to renewable energies. The same
goes for ocean or air pollution, or ocean acidification, problems that can’t be
solved without global action. The dissemination of green ideas also
depends on the ability of committed actors to make them heard globally.

 Related:
o What Are The Benefits Of Having A Network Of CSR Ambassadors?
o 5 Tips For Organizations To Develop Their CSR Strategy In 2020
o Top 10 Companies With The Best Corporate (CSR) Reputation In 2020

The Road From Globalization to Regionalization

From a globalization perspective, regionalization means a world that is less

interconnected and has a stronger regional focus.

Regionalization can also be analyzed from a corporate perspective. For

instance, businesses such as McDonald’s or Starbucks don’t sell exactly
 the same products everywhere. In some specific stores, they consider
people’s regional habits. That’s why the McChicken isn’t sold in India,
whereas in Portugal there’s a steak sandwich menu like the ones you can
get in a typical Portuguese restaurant.

Politically speaking, when left-wing parties are in power they tend to focus
on their country’s people, goods and services. Exchanges with the outside
world aren’t seen as very valuable and importations are often left aside.

 Related: Why Is It Important To Support Local And Small Businesses?

Globalization Quotes by World Influencers

Many world leaders, decision-makers and influential people have spoken
about globalization. Some stand out its positive benefits and others focus
deeper on its negative effects. Find below some of the most interesting
quotes on this issue.

Politic Globalization Quotes

Globalization quote by the former U.S President Bill Clinton ??

No generation has had the opportunity, as we now have, to build a global

economy that leaves no-one behind. It is a wonderful opportunity, but also a
profound responsibility.

Globalization quote by Barack Obama, former U.S. president ??

Globalization is a fact, because of technology, because of an integrated

global supply chain, because of changes in transportation. And we’re not
going to be able to build a wall around that.

Globalization quote by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former International

Monetary Fund Managing Director ??

“We can’t speak day after day about globalization without at the same time
having in mind that…we need multilateral solutions.”

Globalization quote by Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada ??

“We have to remember we’re in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal

stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies but to
help the global economy as well, and that’s why it’s so critical that
measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism.”
Globalization quote by Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia ??

“My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared. We can create wealth
together. The global economy is not a zero-sum game.”

Other Globalization Quotes

Globalization quote by the spiritual leader Dalai Lama ??

“I find that because of modern technological evolution and our global

economy, and as a result of the great increase in population, our world has
greatly changed: it has become much smaller. However, our perceptions
have not evolved at the same pace; we continue to cling to old national
demarcations and the old feelings of ‘us’ and ‘them’.”

The famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck also spoke of globalization ??

“Globalization is not only something that will concern and threaten us in the
future, but something that is taking place in the present and to which we
must first open our eyes.”

Globalization quote by Bill Gates, owner and former CEO of Microsoft ??

“The fact is that as living standards have risen around the world, world trade
has been the mechanism allowing poor countries to increasingly take care
of really basic needs, things like vaccination.”

Globalization quote by John Lennon, member of the music band The

Beatles ??

Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for.
And no religion, too. Imagine all the people. Living life in peace. You, you
may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will
join us. And the world will be as one

Image credits to map on Shutterstock, environment pollution on

Shutterstock, cultural interaction on Shutterstock, economic globalization on
Shutterstock, globalization on Shutterstock and connected world on Shutterstock