From Promise to Peril

Globalization isn’t a done deal. The opinions of the developing and developed nations are ever changing and we are not learning from our past as much as we should, given how much of the past we seem to repeat. Health, nuclear proliferation, and climate change are a big part of the global issues the world deals with today. In the beginning years of globalization, the world saw an upward trend with the promise it held. Today, it has gained traction in developing countries while instilling peril due to isolationism in developed countries.

Globalization’s prosperous history created wealth in many nations causing the health of the world to improve as well. Globalization paved the path to the world market and brought economic prosperity. Collaboration between nations such as China and the US innovated the global marketplace where basic agrarian societies transformed into sophisticated manufacturing enterprises and brought tremendous growth and prosperity. “Trade in goods is valued at some $20 trillion: seven times what it was thirty years ago… the volume of [trade and investment] both has grown steadily… a contributor to global growth and a reflection of it” (159 and 229). Globalization created a new age across the world as countries in Asia became the power houses in industrialization and factory production for the Western countries. While this has its own issues, it did create innovation at a rapid rate. Trade and investment has also shown promise throughout the era of globalization. The exchange of goods has allowed consumers in places like the US to have products at cheaper and faster rates. While there may be a stance that developed countries are turning towards populism, trade will never be at a standstill. Globalization continues to make the world richer and spurs more development across the world. Global health has benefited from such development. Technological innovation has allowed for more countries to understand diseases and help prevent them from ravaging their country. This would never have happened without the collaboration of multiple countries working together to eradicate diseases such as Polio and address deadly diseases like HIV. Interestingly, the number of people affected by non-communicable diseases have risen but this is potentially due to higher life expectancy rates.

In the more recent years, globalization has turned into a cause of peril for many that see the western influence on their daily lives as manipulation of global tools. An increasing number of people in developing countries are in opposition of countries, like the United States, utilizing globalism to promote free trade. Many developing regions such as the Middle east, Asia or Africa have benefitted tremendously by integrating with the Western markets, but the corruption of the political elites is siphoning off the gains and not letting the effects be felt by their population at large. This lack of accountability breeds dissent that has manifested into terroristic ideals in places like Afghanistan or East Asia because they believe that they are losing their culture to the “Western Way”. This idea of terrorism extends beyond the borders of countries, making it nearly impossible to extinguish. There is no local way to handle it. There may be different types of terrorism that people utilize to send a message but the trend of state sponsors of terrorism (like Iran and Russia) is significant when talking about the perils of globalization. These state sponsors of terrorism are exactly why an exclusive club of 9 countries is key to preventing mass destruction. ”The emergence of additional countries with nuclear weapons is far more likely to be dangerous than stabilizing and could lead to conflict, including one where a weapon of mass destruction might be used with horrendous consequences'' (175). Promoting globalization of nuclear weapons holds too much of a threat for places like Afghanistan or the Middle East as it could cause nuclear war. I believe Nuclear proliferation is good in promoting globalism but only when it promotes peace (the US nuclear umbrella) instead of horizontal proliferation. Nuclear weapons are just one of the many tools that globalization can turn into a problem the world could never recover from. The internet is a tool widely used to create connections but has been twisted by dictators to keep people satiated with fake news and unaware of the world around them. “The internet already appears to be fragmenting, resulting in the creation of several distinct internets…It is becoming more common for governments to completely shut down the internet” (203). Many authoritarian regimes such as China, Russia and North Korea see the internet as space to exploit. Although civilians in the US may know about the exploitation of these regimes and the atrocities they commit, the people actually living in these countries sometimes have no idea these events are even taking place. The whole point of the internet in countries with a dictatorship is that it spews propaganda and distrust for these democratic Western countries intended to keep the masses angry at everyone but their own subjugating governments.

Climate change and migration have become major causes for peril as well - both issues are only getting worse with no signs of improving. Varying from emission of fossil fuels to global warming, climate change has become a controversial topic throughout the world. The international systems we have in place today do not provide the necessary methods and tools to solve climate change. “What accounts for the greater use [of fossil fuels] are population increases and economic growth, initially in the… developed world but increasingly in the developing world and in China and India in particular” (185-186). Creating solutions to climate change by implementing weak governance of environmental policies is not enough to get countries like India or China to implement meaningful, lasting and economically viable greener practices. Many of these developing countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo rely on the resources they have to create economic prosperity with the West’s help. Producing these resources is not green, but the West needs these resources to have cheap exports. There are too many personal agendas involved in promoting climate change that it becomes nearly impossible to regulate. Climate change is not an isolated problem either, it feeds into the problem of migration. Developed countries are getting an influx of immigrants due to unrest in their home countries with factors such as authoritarian regimes, environmental hazards and economic hardships. “Immigration policy, including openness to refugees, has become a master of intense political debate in many [developed] countries… result of real or imagined consequences for…host country’s security,employment, and identity” (195-196). While the benefit of migration provides job growth, productivity and economic prosperity for developed countries, there is a rise of populism because of the fact that these benefits are hurting the middle class of these developed countries by taking away opportunities from them. Migration has become a peril for globalization because it creates disparity among the population in both developed and developing countries. There is also the brain drain occurring in the developing countries due to the migration of their people which leaves them further depleted for a chance at future prosperity.

If the world isn't able to move past their personal agenda the problems that globalization has created will spiral into disastrous and irreversible consequences. Although globalization’s start created economic prosperity and welfare, unforeseen problems have started to arise that are screaming for adaptation. From the negative reaction to western influence and nuclear weapons to the influx of migrants and the disbelief of climate change, it seems the general consensus has been drifting towards populism and isolationism. This is not to say that the world is dissolving into shambles, but there needs to be serious change in the way countries view unity amongst one another. No one can solve these problems by themselves; it takes collaboration to fix them. This is the only planet we have and we need to figure out how we are going to continue living on it.