The globalisation (presentation)

The Globalisation


The aim of my presentation is to describe a phenomenon of globalization and try to consider the main advantages and disadvantages that are essentially connected with the subject. I am sure that you have already known a lot about globalisation but I hope that thanks to my presentation your knowledge will be broadened. I’ve divided my presentation into several parts that will hopefully make it more comprehensible and by the way more interesting. The particular parts of my presentation will cover the following aspects. …. When you have some questions or there are some ambiguities fell free to interrupt me. At first I’d like to clarify what the globalisation in fact is.


What is globalisation?

As it’s a real complex process it’s hard to give one definition. The interesting fact is that each of hundreds of new books published last year included its own definition.
Many see it as a primarily economic phenomenon, involving the increasing interaction, or integration, of national economic systems through the growth in international trade, investment and capital flows.
However, one can also point to a rapid increase in cross-border social, cultural and technological exchange as part of the phenomenon of globalisation.
Left critics of globalisation define the word quite differently, presenting it as worldwide drive toward a globalised economic system dominated by multinational corporate trade and banking institutions that are not accountable to democratic processes or national governments.
As wee see there are many possibilities of defining the phenomenon and everybody can find his favourite one for sure.


----Now let’s move on to the next part namely to the history of the process------

When did globalisation begin?

There is no agreed starting point, but understanding of globalisation is helped by considering the following:
• The first great expansion of European capitalism taking place in the 16th century
• big expansion in world trade and investment in the late nineteenth century
• A sense that the world was united was generated by the establishment of the International Date Line and world time zones
• great expansion of capitalism with the development of multinational companies after the Second World War
• The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the cold war between the forces of capitalism and socialism with capitalism triumphant
• The development of the internet made possible the organisation of business on a global scale with greater facility than ever before




---The next part of my presentation discusses the main players of globalisation--

Who are the main players of globalisation?

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established in 1995 to administer the rules of international trade agreed to by its 123 member countries. These rules have been ratified by the parliaments of all members.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in the wake of the World War II in 1946 to:
• promote international cooperation on finance,
• encourage stability in exchange rates
• providing temporary assistance for countries suffering balance of payments problems
The World Bank provides loans to poor countries for development projects. The bank provides loans for investment projects, such as water and sanitation, natural resource management education and health. It also lends for what it calls adjustment projects, which are to support governments undertaking policy reforms, such as improved public sector management.
Established at the conclusion of the Second World War, the United Nations has become a promoter of globalisation, arguing that individual states have a dual role with responsibilities to both their own citizens and to the world society as a whole.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) develops economic and social policy for its 29 members (among other members also Poland)
--there’re also some organizations that are opposed to globalization--
Organizations opposed to that process
1. Anti –free trade:
• Ralph Nader's Public Citizen organization (based In US)
2. Environmentalists:
• Environmentalist groups, such as Friends of the Earth, The Sierra Club and Greenpeace argue that globalisation harms the environment
In general they blame global corporations for global warming, the depletion of natural resources, the production of harmful chemicals and the destruction of organic agriculture
3. Left critics of capitalism:
• The World Social Forum emerged as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum
• Marxist organisations see globalisation as the spread of capitalism, in which the labor of the poor is exploited for the benefit of the rich
4. Business organisations threatened by international competition:
• Many companies in rich countries oppose globalisation because they fear that competition from imports will cost them money

--Now, let’s turn our attention to the questions why there’s global inequality and if it is getting worse--
Why is there global inequality, and is it getting worse?

PRO-GLOBALISATION:
• There is mounting evidence that inequalities in global income and poverty are decreasing and that globalisation has contributed to this turnaround. For example, the World Bank notes that China's opening to world trade has brought it growth in income from $1460 a head in 1980 to $4120 in 2002. In 1980, American's earned 12.5 times as much as the Chinese, per capita. By 2002, they were only earning 7.4 times as much. The gap between rich and poor is also shrinking with most nations in Asia and Latin America. The countries that are getting poorer are those that are not open to world trade, notably many nations in Africa
ANTI-GLOBALISATION:
• The gap between the rich and poor nations of the world is increasing. There was a special report by the United Nations showing that the number of people earning $1 a day or less has remained static at 1.2 billion while the number earning less than $2 a day has increased from 2.55 billion to 2.8 billion people.
The free market does nothing to address re-distribution of wealth. Critics of globalisation say that market forces give the rich the power to add further to their wealth. Hence, large corporations invest in poor countries only because they can make greater profits from low wage levels or because they can get access to their natural resources.



--the next question I’d like to pose is---
What are the costs and benefits of free trade?

PRO-GLOBALISATION:
• International trade and investment have been the engines of world growth over the past 50 years. The amount of goods traded around the world have grown by 16 times since 1950, reflecting the lowering of tariff barriers. The growth of trade in services is even greater
Many people believe that export creates jobs, and import costs jobs and that it therefore makes sense to have barriers against import. This thinking led to the Great Depression in 1930, because so many countries had erected barriers against imports that global trade fell with catastrophic consequences.

It’s also worth mentioning that…….in the slide

ANTI-GLOBALISATION:
• The World Trade Organisation agreements on free trade have functioned principally to prise open markets for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of national economies; workers, farmers and other people; and the environment
• 12 hours of the work
• undermining

--there’s one indispensable, essential factor of globalization. Without that way of communicating the globalization wouldn’t have such a form as it has. Of course I mean the Internet--
What is the role of the internet
and communications technology in globalisation?
PRO- GLOBALISATION:
• Many within developing countries see the internet as an opportunity to gain access to knowledge and services from around the world in a way that would have been unimaginable previously
• The internet may also facilitate opportunities for economic development in industries such as tourism
• The internet and technologies such as mobile telephony allow developing countries to leapfrog steps in their development of infrastructure
ANTI- GLOBALISATION:
• it is increasingly becoming the tool of transnational corporations to market their information products around the world
• Because it is rich countries generating most of the content on the internet, it becomes a form of cultural imperialism, in which western values dominate. English is the language of the Internet
• The internet is also creating new gaps between the rich and the poor. Rich countries have much greater access to the internet and communications services generally
--While discussing the globalization many of you probably think whether..--
Is there any alternative to globalisation?
PRO GLOBALIZATION:
• Supporters of globalisation argue that it can be rolled back and point to the period between the first and second world wars as evidence. The increase in world trade as a proportion of world GDP was proportionately greater between 1870 and 1914 than it has been since 1975. That expansion was stopped, not just by the first world war, but by the loss of support for free trade which followed. Tariffs and controls on capital were imposed around the developed world. This led directly to the 1930 depression and indirectly to the second world war
• There is clear danger in the gathering strength of opposition to globalisation that it could be halted again. The consequences of a decline in world trade would immediately be felt with rising unemployment throughout the trading world. The poorest countries of the world would also be affected by a fall in aid and opportunities for trade
ANTI- GLOBALISATION:
• There’s a view that local government and institutions should be strengthened and global institutions weakened. Whatever can be done at a local level should be
• trade and investment rules should be subordinated to national and local governments' decisions about conditions on investment within their borders. Every government has the right to set development priorities, protect the commons, set performance requirements on investment, control financial speculation and curb capital flight
Summarizing I think that globalisation may be a chance for the world but it should extend only if with the respect for even the smallest country and especially for each men.

source of the information: www.globalisationguide.org