Globalisation or internationalisation ?

Résumé du document

For about thirty years now national economies have evolved towards a world economy which has transformed relations between countries. When it first appeared, the word used to define the development of free trade was internationalization. This can be described as "a process of interactions which take place predominantly between nation-states" (Hirst and Thompson, 1999 cited on http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6035914/The-globalisation-debate-revisited-an.html). This phenomenon is now referred as to globalization, which is "a set of economic, social, technological, political and cultural structures and processes arising from the changing character of the production, consumption and trade of goods and assets that comprise the base of the international political economy" However, many people tend to generalize and only refer to the economic and financial aspects of globalization. We often hear that "we are now living in a globalised world? or even that "this is because of globalization?. However, if we take into account the other aspects of the definition (cultural, political, and social), can we say that we live in a globalized world, or in an internationalized one? More importantly, is it even possible to have a truly globalized world?

Extraits

[...] To do so, marketers use celebrities such as Nicole Kidman for Channel 5 or David Beckham for Gillette, to convey this image. These adverts have an impact on consumers because of the reputation of these worldwide known celebrities. But despite the worldwide dominance of the American culture (or Occidental culture), many cultural resistances persist such as in countries with a strong cultural identity which helps them maintain their culture, way of life, traditions, behaviour, religious beliefs, etc. The current situation between the Arabic world and Occident world (also referred as to countries) is a good example of this type of conflict; the best examples are the terrorist attacks led by Al Qaida and Ousama Ben Laden on 11 September 2001 on the Twin Towers in New York, the bomb attacks on Madrid trains and stations in 2002, or the conflict between the USA and Cuba. [...]

[...] But what were the different events in history that led to internationalisation? Why and when can we say that internationalisation was replaced by globalisation? In order to answer these questions and assess whether the world is globalised or internationalised, we first need to focus on the creation of free trade and on its development until now. The theory of world trade freedom started back in the 18th century with economists such as Adam Smith. In 1776, his well-known book Wealth of Nations” was published and had a very strong impact on the Western world. [...]

[...] Thirdly, the development and intensification of free and global trade has raised a lot of critics regarding the environment. There is a direct link between the environment and business because of the high development of transports. Indeed, transport represents 25% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the world, so their increasing number, due to the development of international trade, has a serious impact on the environment because of the pollution it generates. Concerning the sea pollution, although it is noticed that oils transported on ships are dangerous and have provoked important damages for nature like, for example, the Erika's sink, there are more and more transports of that type of product. [...]

[...] But we know that only the economy and finance are globalised, indeed, the Triad business (USA, EU and Japan) is a good example of this limited globalisation. The reason why we cannot speak about a globalised world is because there is not only one only “world culture, government and army”. However, we can speak about the mix “Internationalisation/Globalisation”, about which one of the best examples is McDonald's. In business, who doesn't know the famous slogan “THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL”? This multinational company has adapted its food to the countries in which it has implanted itself. [...]

[...] Indeed, when globalization is mentioned the economic and finance aspects are implied, for example free capital mobility, production mobility, currency changes, and also the erasure of boundaries to create a unique economy with one currency, government and state. So, what can be the limits of such a world phenomenon? First of all we can talk about the cultural impacts that globalization has on the world. A cultural standardisation is growing in the world. The American culture is becoming the model for the world, a kind of universal way of life. The language, cinema, music are spread all around the world. According to R. [...]