Globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s

economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and
services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information. Countries have
built economic partnerships to facilitate these movements over many centuries. But the
term gained popularity after the Cold War in the early 1990s, as these cooperative
arrangements shaped modern everyday life. This guide uses the term more narrowly to
refer to international trade and some of the investment flows among advanced
economies, mostly focusing on the United States.

The wide-ranging effects of globalization are complex and politically charged. As with
major technological advances, globalization benefits society as a whole, while harming
certain groups. Understanding the relative costs and benefits can pave the way for
alleviating problems while sustaining the wider payoffs.

The most common example of globalization might be ebay or amazon. Nowadays flows
of goods and services are not only cheap and fast, but reliable and secure. You can order
anything you wish from every part of the world. I see globalization as a connecting
people without any limitations or boundaries in the way of doing business.

There are three main classifications of globalization for the A-level politics student:
political, social and economic.

Political globalization

Political globalization refers to the amount of political co-operation that exists between
different countries.

This ties in with the belief that “umbrella” global organizations are better placed than
individual states to prevent conflict. The League of Nations established after WW1 was
certainly one of the pioneers in this. Since then, global organisations such as the World
Trade Organisation (WTO), United Nations (UN), and more regional organizations such
as the EU have helped to increase the degree of political globalization.

United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization tasked with maintaining

international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving
international co-operation, and being a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.[3] It
was established after World War II, with the aim of preventing future wars, and
succeeded the ineffective League of Nations.[4] Its headquarters, which are subject to
extraterritoriality, are in Manhattan, New York City, and it has other main offices in
Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna and The Hague. The organization is financed by assessed and
voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining
international peace and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian aid,
promoting sustainable development, and upholding international law.[5] The UN is the
largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful
intergovernmental organization in the world. At its founding, the UN had 51 member
states; there are now 193.

The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world:

GOAL 1: No Poverty

GOAL 2: Zero Hunger

GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being

GOAL 4: Quality Education

GOAL 5: Gender Equality

GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality

GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

GOAL 13: Climate Action

GOAL 14: Life Below Water

GOAL 15: Life on Land

GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Social globalization

Social globalization refers to the sharing of ideas and information between and through
different countries.

In today’s world, the Internet and social media is at the heart of this. Good examples of
social globalization could include internationally popular films, books and TV series. The
Harry Potter/ Twilight films and books have been successful all over the world, making
the characters featured globally recognizable. However, this cultural flow tends to flow
from the centre (i.e. from developed countries such as the USA to less developed
countries). Social globalisation is often criticised for eroding cultural differences.

Economic globalization

Economic globalization refers to the interconnectedness of economies through trade and

the exchange of resources.

Effectively, therefore, no national economy really operates in isolation, which means

national economies influence each other. This is clearly evidenced by global recession
from 2007 onwards. Economic globalisation also means that there is a two-way structure
for technologies and resources. For example countries like the USA will sell their
technologies to countries, which lack these, and natural resources from developing
countries are sold to the developed countries that need them.

A trade war is an economic conflict resulting from extreme protectionism in which states
raise or create tariffs or other trade barriers against each other in response to trade
barriers created by the other party. Increased protection causes both nations' output
compositions to move towards their autarky position.

Import is a good or service brought into one country from another. The word "import"
derives from the word "port" since goods are often shipped via boat to foreign countries.
Along with exports, imports form the backbone of international trade.

Export in international trade is a good or service produced in one country that is bought
by someone in another country. The seller of such goods and services is an exporter; the
foreign buyer is an importer.
SILK ROAD

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes which connected the East and West, and
was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these
regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century.The Silk Road primarily refers to
the terrestrial routes connecting East Asia and Southeast Asia with South Asia, Persia, the
Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Southern Europe.

The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its
length, beginning in the Han dynasty in China (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty
expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the
missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian, as well as several
war victories. The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products, and
extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.[5]

The Silk Road trade played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of
China, Korea, Japan,the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and
Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the
civilizations.Though silk was the major trade item exported from China, many other
goods and ideas were exchanged, including religions (especially Buddhism), syncretic
philosophies, sciences, and technologies like paper and gunpowder. So in addition to
economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along
its network. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Road.

In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a
World Heritage Site. The Indian portion is on the tentative site list.

SILK ROAD