Anti-Globalization - Essay Example

While it can be argued that there shouldn’t be much fuss about globalization because it has been happening from the time of the East India Company, one should be aware the globalization has already evolved, far from the kind of globalization one had when the Dutch East Indies company was trading with Indonesia. One of the main differences between today’s globalization compared to the old globalization is that globalization back then was primarily motivated by technology. Today’s globalization, aside from the obvious evolution of technology, is motivated primarily by the policy change. Globalization today has much to do with government intervention for decreased blockages to trading. In fact, nowadays, the author observes, the government has such an effect on globalization that they have the power to actually accelerate or reverse it. Aside from this, the evolution of technology has also speeded up the process of globalization. Goods and capital move faster now due to the prevalence of the computer and the Internet. The downside to this, however, is the fact it also becomes easier to move capital in and out of the country, making it possible for the East Asian financial crisis to happen again. More than this, there is also a sense of economic insecurity and vulnerability now. What’s more is the fact that in the past, there was a wide technological gap between the two, given that England was far ahead in industrialization. Now, all countries usually have access to the same general pool of resources.6
Economic globalization usually has two main kinds of detractors. These are what Bhagwarti terms as the 'hardcore protesters' and the 'mainstream critics.' The hardcore protesters are those who come from different intellectual backgrounds, but share one thing in common--extreme dislike for globalization. The mainstream critics, on the other hand, are those who do not advocate globalization, but are still open to reasonable discourse. While Bhagwarti believes that the most of their arguments are gigantic non sequiturs, at least, they are unlike the hardcore protesters who are fixed in their beliefs despite contrary evidence proving otherwise. ...Show more