An animal called globalisation ..and the six blind men

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An animal called globalisation..and the six
blind men
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The inclusive definitionHigh degree of social,
cultural and economic interactioni.e. societies,
cultures, economies, worldwide, with people
centre-stage
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Facilitated by enormous growth in transport
and communication technologies the IT
revolution flexible economies
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• This is win-win, feel-good globalisation.
• Also a one way street.
• Every one stands to gain
• This globalisation does not require policing.
• Rules are not needed, and if they are there, they
  are nicely tucked away, just to keep
  globalisation ticking.

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But there is a counter view. Globalisation is
asymmetric and hegemonic. It has specific rules
of engagement and a framework. These are the
creation of international centres of power.
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Sociological critiques centre on cultural and
social homogenisation, where the terms of
discourse are dictated by densely packaged
notions of modernisation and westernisation
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Economic Globalisation refers to the density of
economic interactions across national frontiers,
and a high degree of integration of the national
economies in the world economy
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Economic critiques of the neo-liberal
construction of globalisation emphasise that

• Globalisation has a centre the US economy.
• It has a global institutional framework,
  underpinned by the World Bank, IMF and WTO.
• It has an economic ideology (neo-liberalism)
  promoted by the centres of power (global
  institutions and the powerful OECD economies).

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They argue that the institutional framework of
globalisation builds upon and reinforces
asymmetries
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This is best exemplified by the treatment of
movement of -- goods, services and
capital,and-- people, and technology
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Globalisation is associated with

• Some winners and many losers.
• A growing gap between and within countries.
• Increasing vulnerabilities of the poor and the
  unemployed (and poor working people in general).
• A general loss of economic sovereignty of the
  nation state, especially material to poor
  countries

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The central issueThe current pattern of
globalisation is a reflection of a global
democracy deficit political and economic.And
there is no inevitability about one set of rules
of engagement between nations and peoples.