Recently, the role of globalization and economic independence in global peace has been a topic of discussion all over the world. 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? 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).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. It is important to comprehensively analyze the impact of globalization in global conflict and identify the various inter-related elements involved.
The global economy is currently a very multifaceted system that links people and places through business transactions, international business logistics and exchange of information. The scope of national and international economies stretched and this consequently has led to the intensification of trade imports and exports in the various states. The number of corporations and organizations operating across a number of independent nations, both private and state-funded, has drastically increased and this trend is projected to increase as time goes by. The international organizations are affected by a number of social, economic and political factors prevailing in the different states they are carrying their operations. Standards have to be set and regulation bodies cutting across different nations have been established to regulate the operations of such international business firms.
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There exist very many elements liable for the spreading out of the global economy in the past few decades. These elements include information technology and the formation of economic blocs such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) (Kahler, 2015) . The trade-related reforms established and implemented by various nations and financial organizations in the late 19 th century have also liberalized the global economy. These elements created an ample and favoring environment for globalization to thrive across the world.
The extent and importance of the changes caused by globalization took so many states and industrial organizations by surprise mostly around 1970's and 1980's era. The relocations and change in the dynamics of trade made many organizations and governments to start viewing the economy in the global perspective and not just national wise (Welch, 2014) . The private sector was also affected and they had to restructure their business strategies to counter the new dynamics of the economy. The governments and public sector spearheaded reforms to handle the economy changes.
Interdependence between nations has been on the rise due to globalization since places and people around the world have been linked through trade transactions, production and consumption of goods and services. Globalization has somehow made the growth any country reliant on the economic capabilities and strategies of their partner nations in trade. Giddens once said that "we now live in a world characterized by an intensification of worldwide social relations linking distant realities in such a way that local events are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa". For instance, the clothes preference of people in Nigeria may affect the operation of a cloth producing organization in America that targets the African market and specifically Nigeria for this case. Back to economic independence which is our key concern in relation to globalization (Welch, 2014) . Economic independence has been attributed to making the universe a “small village” where coordination among the member states is crucial. 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. Maintaining peace among the different states has become a collective responsibility that will benefit every state and this has reduced the chances of global conflict.
Economic independence created by globalization has also improved the financial capabilities and muscles of various states. The states can then venture into strengthening their ammunition technologies. Recently, many developed countries have been in the spotlight for developing very sophisticated dreadful nuclear weapons that can cause mass destruction of property and loss of life at a go (Baylis, 2017) . As much as this is a threat to international peace and security, it discourages global conflict to some extent because each nation becomes scared to attack the other for the fact that they know they all have almost equal capabilities of destroying each other. This makes nations to avoid conflict with each other and in case a conflict arises they apply other peaceful means to dissolve the problem knowing that war is the last option.
The level of economic development is indirectly proportional to the possibility of global conflict. The probability of global conflict diminutions 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.
Economic independence is one of the major results of globalization. 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.
Globalization has created economic independence as well as opened up the whole world for “grab” by international cooperation, business organizations and states. The individual states have diverse business interests and prospects and in the process of trying to implement these interests conflict of interests may arise and this can be a recipe for global conflict. The economically independent states also want to utilize every weakness brought by globalization to enhance their dominance in the global trade. Some of the weakness they can utilize for instance is exploited the international trade treaties, for instance, the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. 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.
Globalization has led to economic independence which has been seen to have a key impact on global peace and security. Has globalization and economic independence reduced global conflict? Of course, it has. Globalization has made peace to be a common interest among the various nations in the word and strategies have been established to ensure that global peace and security remains to be a collective responsibility and priority. Globalization has increased the interaction between the various states and political stability has been given a priority in providing a conducive environment for international trade to take place. The world has been reduced into a global village that relies on close and efficient coordination among independent states.
However, globalization has also led to competition among states for global economic dominance and this is an avenue to brew global conflicts that will interfere with peace and security in the world. There are always people or states with mischievous agendas and intentions who will want to exploit the mechanisms put in place to promote globalization and economic independence to their advantage. Therefore as much as globalization is significantly leading to a reduction in global conflict, it also creates situations that can fuel the rise of global conflicts.
References
Baylis, O. &. (2017). The globalization of world politics: An introduction to international relations. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kahler. (2015). Networked politics: power, and governance. New York: Cornell University Press.
Pieterse. (2015). Globalization and culture. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Welch, N. &. (2014). Understanding global conflict & cooperation. New York: Springer International.
