Contemporary World

Name: Mark Jason Pineda

Course: BS in Legal Management

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.

Corporations gain a competitive advantage on multiple fronts through globalization. They can
reduce operating costs by manufacturing abroad, buy raw materials more cheaply because of
the reduction or removal of tariffs, and most of all, they gain access to millions of new
consumers.1

Globalization is a social, cultural, political, and legal phenomenon.

 Socially, it leads to greater interaction among various populations.

1
https://www.piie.com/microsites/globalization/what-is-globalization
  Culturally, globalization represents the exchange of ideas, values, and artistic expression
among cultures.
 Globalization also represents a trend toward the development of a single world culture.
 Politically, globalization has shifted attention to intergovernmental organizations like the
United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
 Legally, globalization has altered how international law is created and enforced.

On one hand, globalization has created new jobs and economic growth through the cross-
border flow of goods, capital, and labor. On the other hand, this growth and job creation are
not distributed evenly across industries or countries.

Specific industries in certain countries, such as textile manufacturing in the U.S. or corn farming
in Mexico, have suffered severe disruption or outright collapse as a result of increased
international competition.

Globalization's motives are idealistic, as well as opportunistic, but the development of a global
free market has benefited large corporations based in the Western world. Its impact remains
mixed for workers, cultures, and small businesses around the globe, in both developed and
emerging nations.2

2
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/globalization.asp