Globalization is a term that is frequently used to imply the fading physical boundaries between countries, nations or states and how it affects the cultural, social, political, economic and many other aspects of human life in the world (Pieterse, 2015). Globalization is highly contributed to social and economic independence and sovereignty of nations. A lot of concerns have been raised on the liaison between globalization and global conflict. How does economic independence caused by globalization lead to global conflict? This essay converses my understanding of the topic, my own opinion, and rationale of the opinion on the association between globalization and global conflict. Global is a critical element in international economics, and its role in leading global conflict should be examined and analyzed comprehensively for the benefit of sustaining global peace.
Wealth is a key concern regarding financial capital, and this makes wealth a factor of the interactivity between different states. Globalization has increased nations' the level of economic interactivity to a level that makes global war seemingly impractical and very costly. The political systems in charge of governing nations and countries have developed to a level where global war is seen unnecessary from the political and economic point of view (Welch, 2014). Globalization is greatly reducing the word nations into one unit that proclaims global peace and discourages occurrence of global conflict.
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Globalization has been promoted by the modernized machinery, technology, transport and infrastructure and systems of trade to the degree that states are beginning to follow the "Manchester Gospel." By 1914 conflicts between nations had increased and a global scale war seemed inevitable by the late 1930s. It is critical for us to question why economic interactivity and trade did not remedy the causes or mitigate the aftermaths of both World War I and World War II. Some random people may argue that there is a lacking cause/effect relationship concerning peace and globalization (Baylis, 2017). Does economic independence that results from globalization promote global peace or is this just an optimistic valuation made by people? The political and economic conditions of most democratic countries in the world are mostly due to the military security.
Independence brought by globalization may promote imperialism and global monopolies which may be the future cause of global conflict. The increasing quest for economic monopoly at local and international level is fueled by the evolution of imperialism of capitalist states. The profits obtained by these capitalist states are distributed among the rich elites in the state leaving the common working class citizens economically disadvantaged. This economic imbalance will increase the gap between the rich and poor, and this gap is enough to fuel conflict between economic classes (Pieterse, 2015). When most of the basic resources of a nation are in the hand of few rich individual the natural human survival instincts will cause a war to break out. If this scenario occurs in many nations in the world, then global peace is jeopardized by the conflict.
The level of economic development is indirectly proportional to the possibility of global conflict. The probability of global conflict decreases significantly when a nation has reached a development level where wealth is sufficient, and industrialization is at its peak. Industrial capital is to be converted into financial capital and to do that a nation should have good relations with other nations to expand the customer base for their industrial goods and services. This is where globalization comes in, and trade allies and treaties between are developed to promote business transactions. The treaties and agreements between nations reduce international territorial disputes and conflicts.
Globalization has led to the enactment of international laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. Although these international interventions aim at promoting trade, they have some loopholes. I have seen a lot of companies incur huge losses because of such international business laws and this made me do some research on the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. United States business organizations and executives are really disadvantaged by the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act in various ways. The act is not fully implemented, but it has been passed by the Congress, and its implementation is likely to be strict in the near future.
The act creates an unleveled playing field in international business giving business in other nations such as Chinese corporations a competitive advantage over those in the US. Every country or state has local regulations, standards and laws governing business and how to deal with corruption. The cultural, religious and implication of corruption varies from one nation to another, but the act is trying to harmonize all these factors. Business organizations operating in countries which have less strict and rigid laws such as China will, therefore, have an added advantage over United States organizations.
The act also does not acknowledge local business practices, and its definitions are vague. The act does not clearly outline what corruption is and what practices qualify as corruption. The ambiguity in definition makes it hard to implement the act on all nations equally, and again countries such as the US with strong national moral and principles against the vice are disadvantaged.
The act also requires that American firms must police their partners. According to the act a, the partner will be implicated in illegal business activities undertaken by their partners even if they did not know about them. This implies that a company must do a thorough background check of their potential partner before they enter into a partnership agreement. Lawyers, private investigators and a lot of paperwork are involved in the process, and this increases the spending of a company which is not good for business. Last but not least the act outlines that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Corruption decelerates investment and economic progress, crowds out industrious investment, while raising the cost of business transactions, causes a reduction in the quality of merchandises and public projects, even though raising the costs. The act aims at reducing the negative impacts at the global level, but it has its weaknesses that may contribute to global conflict.
In conclusion, globalization has led to independence which can be contributed to improving international peace and reducing the chases for global conflict. However, to some perspectives and reserved opinions, globalization is encouraging global conflict through some of its policies that disadvantage some nations and gives others an upper hand in the business sector. The inequality is most likely to cause a war between nations because of the infringement of their national interests and motives. In general, it can be concluded the globalization plays a critical role in preventing global conflict.
References
Baylis, O. &. (2017). The globalization of world politics: An introduction to international relations. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pieterse. (2015). Globalization and culture. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Welch, N. &. (2014). Understanding global conflict & cooperation. New York: Springer International.
