Globalization is one of the trends in the world that is felt everywhere. This paper will present globalization in different meanings and explain it. It will also examine the dimensions of globalization in terms of examples and explanations. Examples of global systems and further explanations will also feature in this paper. Moreover, the aspects of identity will also be reviewed with examples. Globalization has important political, cultural and economic dimensions as well as important ethical implications. It affects the conditions of people everywhere in the world. Some countries are against political globalization while others are embracing it. The Arab Gulf States are running for economic and cultural globalization and somehow against political globalization. The impact of globalization can be assessed from the side of political identity where its weight lies especially, in the AGS states.

Definition and explanations of globalization

Different people view globalization differently. These ranges from views that it is intrinsically interesting to the view that it is inherently bad. There are others who view it as having both negative and positive effects to the world and its inhabitants. Terms like internationalization, deterritorialization, universalization and westernization are also used to describe globalization by some people. Internationalization refers to trade and investment universalization is all about cultural interchange and deterritorialization refers to compression of time and space. This new phenomenon is driven by upcoming of new and advanced technologies which among them are; cellphones, the internet, satellites etc. Scholars have come up with various definitions of globalization. Globalization can simply be referred to as the “compression of the world.” This is according to Ronald Robertson. Another scholar, Dr. Habib, defines globalization as a multidimensional process of change involving increased connectivity across societies and economies that make one aware of the globe as a point of reference (Turner and Khondker, 2010). Held (1999) gives a definition of globalization as the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world which is caused by the massive cost cuts in transportation and communication and the breaking down of any barriers to the flow of goods, services, capital, knowledge and people across borders. From the above definitions, it is clear that globalization is linked with connectivity across economies and societies by the use of technology thereby reducing the cost of transport and communication. The technologies that facilitate globalization are including the cellphones, satellites and the internet. They improve people’s knowledge of the happenings around the world without moving to the specific locations. Messages are relayed using these technologies in the form of images and texts. Globalization enhances good governance and business relations among nations.

The dimensions of Globalization

There are four basic dimensions of globalization namely economic, political, technological and cultural (Held, 1999). The economic dimension of globalization involves stretching and intensification of economic interrelations across the globe. It is characterized by increases in the financial flows as well as growth in number and power of corporations which are multinational. There is also the rise of international economic institutions like the World Bank, World Trade organization and the International Monetary Fund. Other indications are the emergence of a new economic order globally, internationalization of trade and finance, the enhanced role of international economic institutions and the changing power of transnational corporations. An example of economic globalization is the low-wage production in Asia for European and the United States markets.

The political dimension of globalization is the expansion and intensification of political interactions around the globe (Held, 1999). Facets of political globalization include the modernization state system and its changing place in today’s world, the role of global governance, and the direction of our political systems. The political globalization raises an important set of political issues pertaining to the principle of state sovereignty, the growing impact of intergovernmental organizations, and the future prospects for regional and global governance (Held, 1999). The political differences have been organized along territorial lines. These lines generate a sense of belonging to a particular nation-state (Held, 1999). The political dimension has both benefits and threats. Among the benefits is the comparative advantage. David Ricardo and his theory of comparative advantage illustrates the benefits of globalization saying that a country will concentrate on what it is best suited for so as to rely on other countries when it comes to other requirements that the country does not produce. Another benefit is the promotion of free trade among nations which increases wealth by reducing the cost of global trading. Generally, globalization will lead to growth of global GDP. On the negative effects of political dimension of globalization there erupt ethnic and religious conflicts among societies. This is mainly when one state wants to make its political interests superior and the other political organizations are resisting. Anarchy also results to violence and human suffering. Governance also lacks in weak states which results to corruption and poor public services. Terrorism, piracy and criminal organizations also come up across states. This also causes loss of lives and property. It inhibits growth in countries. Examples of criminal organizations are the organized drug cartels in Colombia, Russian and Italian Mafia, Mexico and Camorra. Drug trafficking weakens state institutions through fear, violence and corruption.

Technological dimension of globalization refers to the improvement of infrastructure. This encompasses the areas of transport and communication. In transport, there is the use of airplanes which are the fastest means of transport. This plays a big role in reducing the distances between countries. In communication facet, cellphones have facilitated communication between two individuals in different places at a particular time both verbally or though text messages. Other developments include the use of satellite and the internet. These help in the transmission of information through specialized gadgets which allow sending of information in form of images, sounds, text and videos. This dimension has greatly grown with time and continues to grow.

Lastly the cultural dimension is concerned with the transmission of ideas, values and meanings across the world (Hopper, 2007). It relates to things like fashion, media, music, food and influences from one culture to another. Some common consumption of cultures has been present due to diffusion of other cultures by the popular culture, international travel and the internet. This dimension of globalization involves the formation of shared knowledge and norms with which people associate their individual and collective cultural identities. Writers like Jan Pieterse view cultural globalization as involving human integration and hybridization (Hopper, 2007). He argues that detection of cultural mixing across continents and a region going back many centuries is possible. Examples of cultural globalization include the movement of religious practices, culture and language brought by Spanish colonization of the Americas and the diffusion of the American fast food chains.

Global Systems

There are various global systems with regard to globalization. They are the economic, financial systems, political systems, social systems, cultural and the ecological systems. They are said to change each other constantly (Held, 1999). The financial systems are characterized by capital flows. Capital flows from one country to another in form of investment. For example, a person can buy shares of a company which is different from his or her country of origin. Ecological systems refer to the natural environments where we live and work. These environments are characterized by climatic changes, scarcity of resources, loss of species and severe and potentially life threatening environmental problems.

Identity and the main aspects of identity

Identity in globalization refers to the distinct differentiation between countries or societies in the world. Globalization has an impact of creating confusion in identification of some cultures due to dominance of others. There are two major aspects of identity; the social identity and the individual identity. To start with, individual identity refers to a person of interest among the billions of people in the world. There are various ways of differentiating an individual with others. Among them is the use of an email address, fingerprints, DNA face among others. Social identity, on the other hand, aims at generating an understanding of the type of a person someone is. It uses the person’s affiliations and beliefs or the social categories they have membership in. Globalization is believed to affect the cultures of different societies in varied intensities. It destroys the differences between local cultures. This in turn leads to destruction of differences between local identities.

Review of the article, “the impact of globalization on Arab Gulf States”.

Globalization has its effects felt across the world and especially in the Arab Gulf States (AGS). The AGS has experienced new changes in areas of historical juncture, world order, power relationships, opportunities and unfamiliar challenges. This process is ongoing in a fast pace in the AGS and has strong forces which are too strong to stop. However, it is not clear whether the change is negative or positive since it is happening in many activities of the AGS people’s daily lives. Globalization is found to have greater positive impact on the rich countries which makes them become even wealthier that before. It is feared, on the other hand to deteriorate the financial conditions of the other countries especially the ones regarded as poor, periphery or semi-periphery. Therefore the rich countries are embracing globalization whereas the poor ones are opposing it. Since the AGS are strong states, they find globalization as having benefits that outweigh negative impacts. Furthermore, they can reduce the negative effects by the use of policies. These countries are specific on which dimension of globalization to embrace since the impacts vary with dimensions. The AGS states are ready to accept economic globalization as opposed to the other dimensions; cultural and political. Nevertheless, opposing these dimensions of globalization is somewhat unfruitful in the AGS since their children are educated in English-speaking schools and are exposed to mind-altering adverts of consumer styles. This shows that as the older generation opposes cultural globalization, the new generation is being taught and brought up with all dimensions of globalization.

The AGS especially the United Arabs Emirates have become a regional financial and service hub due to globalization. Most of the AGS have subscribed to privatization and free market ideas that come with globalization. Politically, the AGS have maintained the controls of their destiny. With their wealth in oil the AGS have embraced technology which serves to make their oil business efficient with the outside world. The methods adopted include the e-commerce. This depicts the impact of economic globalization. They have also planned to create internet applications that will connect them with their relatives and business partners worldwide. This shows that the AGS have accepted the cultural globalization. Also, the association of Kuwait with superpowers shows that political globalization has some significant impact on the AGS. However, the AGS have not widely embraced political globalization.

Summary

The globalization has both positive and negative impacts to the AGS. To start with, economic globalization has positive impacts since they have improved and eased oil trading between these states and the outside world. Cultural globalization has enhanced connectivity among the relatives of the AGS states. Political globalization has brought some fame to AGS countries like Kuwait as they have been associated with the superpowers. However, political globalization has some significant threats to these countries. The threats include loss of power to govern whereby people sovereignty replaces state sovereignty. These threats make the AGS countries resist the political globalization. Globalization is a new transformation that comes in different dimensions to all people. This transformation can be resisted at its initial stages but eventually it has to be accepted since it reaches new generation in all ways including the places of career development. Globalization is so strong that, the new generation has to accept and live with it.

References

Held, D. (1999). Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Hopper, P. (2007). Understanding Cultural Globalization. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Turner, B. S., & Khondker, H. H. (2010). Globalization East and West. Los Angeles: SAGE

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