Globalization is Here to Stay. How can we Solve its Negative Effects?

Throughout history, the want for more goods and influence has led to a pattern of globalization, thereby slowly causing the interdependence of nations to increase. Though globalization is often intended to stay restricted to trade and cultural exchange, the countries participating in these exchanges often become reliant on each other to an extent that a military alliance between them forms. Although globalization has allowed for greater access and lower cost of products for consumers and greater international collaboration, it has also played a role in pulling the United States into conflicts and reducing the jobs available for people living in America, although new international treaties concerning wars and labour relations could certainly aid in solving these negative consequences of globalization.

Arguably, globalization has been a force since the times of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, although it has only been able to truly encompass the whole world in recent years with the growth of transportation and communications technology. Since 3000 BCE, civilizations have engaged in an early form of globalization. Both ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, for example, traded regularly with peoples in Afghanistan, where lapis lazuli (an important gemstone) could be gained. Although trade took place between different empires and civilizations during the times of river valley civilizations, this trade usually did not involve essential items – instead, civilizations most frequently traded with each other for the purpose of gaining a specific luxury item. Because of the nonessential nature of the trade between civilizations at this time, the ties between civilizations were very weak. When one civilization was invaded or attacked, few other civilizations intervened because this intervention would not have provided any economic benefits for these other civilizations. At the time of river valley civilizations, trade also usually took the form of exchanging raw materials, so little cross-cultural mixing was seen since most civilizations simply traded with each other to obtain specific resources and not finished goods. Between 500 BCE and 500 CE, the nature of globalization experienced much change. With the rise of the powerful Roman empire in the West and the Han empire (China) and Maurya dynasty (India) in the East, trade routes such as the collection of roads connecting the East and the West (the Silk Road) arose, thereby helping accelerate the process of globalization and more widespread trade. Increasingly, the Romans traded with Chinese and Indian empires in finished goods; the Chinese especially often provided objects such as porcelain vases which became highly treasured in ancient Rome. In addition, the growth of established trade routes allowed towns and cities to be established along these routes, with each city becoming a centre for cultural mixing between merchants from the West, merchants from the East and the people who lived locally. Although the trade between these large empires was still not essential (commonly traded items included silk, porcelain, spices and pots), people in different empires quickly became exposed to other cultures, thereby enabling a greater sense of cultural mixing. Moving to the present day, the mapping of the globe and the complex communications and transportation infrastructure in place have both allowed for a much more “global” view of globalization. Today, almost all nations receive at least some of their goods from other nations as a result of globalization, and all nations have some citizens with different original ethnicities. Unlike in most ancient civilizations, the majority of countries rely on other nations for at least some of their essential goods: whether that be the British who rely largely on nations in the European Union for agricultural produce or the Americans who depend upon the Middle East for much of their oil. Regardless of the type of resource, the world today has become a network of nations who rely greatly on each other. The creation of faster methods of communication and international transportation has also allowed for greater cultural diversity and mixing, as people from different cultures can share cultural attributes and create a rich network of cultural diversity in which every individual adopts aspects from different cultures which they have been in contact with either through personal or good-related interactions. Today, one can be expected to be served with Japanese tea-pots and with Japanese teas in the French tea restaurant Mariage Frères, and in Russia one will see the popular American Starbucks coffee company at the St. Petersburg airport. The growth of multinational companies as well as a widespread moving of people and goods have enabled the mixing of different cultures and have established a greater interdependence between nations. From the arguable advent of globalization at the times of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in which various cultures already interacted, globalization has risen in prominence to what it is today – a force which connects the nations of the world economically and aids in cultural mixing.

Despite the essential role which globalization plays in cultural mixing and worldwide availability of a wide range of goods, globalization also provides America with problems due to its role in pulling the US into conflicts and its role in reducing the number of unskilled labour jobs available for Americans. As a result of globalization, the USA has gradually become increasingly reliant on various goods from different countries; much of America’s oil comes from the Middle East, and a large number of household items (such as furniture and toys) used to come from China before the advent of a trade embargo against Chinese goods starting in the recent past. Due to the fact that the US has become increasingly reliant on specific nations for specific resources, wars which do not concern the USA from a territory perspective often become larger conflicts as America involves itself in order to protect its own trade interests. The Middle East has often sparked various conflicts in which the US has then embroiled itself. For example, given the support of the United States for Israel but the simultaneous reliance of America on oil from nations which are enemies of the Israeli state, becoming involved in conflicts is often inevitable for the United States. On one hand, the US must protect its diplomatic ally (Israel), but on the other hand it must protect Muslim Middle Eastern countries due to the US reliance on Middle Eastern oil. As a result of the economic reliance on specific countries and strong diplomatic ties to others, America is often forced to make decisions in order to preserve its own economy and often becomes embroiled in irrelevant conflicts for trade reasons. Another negative effect of globalization for America involves the decrease in available unskilled labour jobs for Americans. Due to the smaller amount of labour wages and conditions legislation and enforcement in many developing nations, poor working conditions with low wages prevail for many factory workers in these regions, enabling many products from nations such as China and India to be available to the US at lower prices than those seen for US-produced goods. In essence, as a result of the more brutal working conditions in many developing nations, the production costs for goods can be brought down, and these goods can therefore be sold at cheaper prices in the USA. As a result of this competition with companies in developing nations with little labour legislation, many US companies are forced to either outsource production to factories in developing nations in order to decrease their production costs or downsize their companies. Regardless of the strategy with US businesses choose the number of industrial jobs available in the US decrease, and this shortage in available jobs for unskilled labourers has caused an increasing number of Americans to suffer from unemployment and/or poverty. Overall, globalization has not only had positive consequences for the world, as it has contributed to pulling the United States into various conflicts, has caused the formation of pseudo-alliances based on trade needs and has caused a vast decline in available industrial jobs for Americans.

The most efficient and effective way of solving the negative effects of globalization most likely would involve the creation of global treaties and agreements concerning both conflict resolution and trade during conflicts and minimum labour conditions and wages. In order to solve the issue of America often becoming embroiled in foreign conflicts in order to preserve US trade interests, treaties signed by all nations concerning the use of trade in a war could be signed. In order to prevent unnecessary escalation of a conflict between two nations, it could be agreed that a conflict between two nations remains between these nations (i.e. other nations must remain neutral), and that neither nation can use diplomatic or trade-related threats as ways of trying to change the neutrality of non-involved nations. Treaties which concern trade during times of war would enable nations like the USA to stay out of conflicts but still keep their diplomatic allies and important trade relationships. Global legislation could also help in solving the issue of a very low (and decreasing) number of jobs for unskilled labourers in the USA. By enacting global agreements regarding minimum standards of worker compensation and worker conditions, the production costs for various goods would rise in developing countries, allowing for there to be a fairer competition between the same goods produced in various countries. By standardizing the working conditions and wages, this legislation would again allow businesses in developed nations to produce products which can viably compete with products from developing nations in terms of their prices. In turn, this would help American businesses employ more people, thereby reducing the rates of poverty and unemployment throughout the American population. The implementation of globally-followed legislation regarding trade during times of war and minimum working conditions and wages would help address the negative effects of globalization on the United States and various other nations.

In conclusion, globalization is a process which started during the times of early river valley civilizations and has since increased greatly in intensity and “global” nature. Despite the fact that globalization encourages cultural mixing and the flow of various goods (often for low prices), it also has negative consequences for America, amongst which are the fact that it often brings the US into conflicts and causes the number of available jobs for Americans to decrease. It is likely that international treaties and agreements regarding trade during war and labour conditions and wages would help in reducing the extent of the negative consequences of globalization for developed nations like the USA.

Works Cited

BBC Bitesize. Globalisation. 2022. 20 May 2022.

Collins, Mike. The Pros and Cons of Globalization. 6 May 2015. 20 May 2022.

International Monetary Fund. Globalization: A Brief Overview. May 2008. 20 May 2022.

Kolb, Melina. What is Globalization? 24 August 2021. 20 May 2022.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Globalization. 5 November 2018. 20 May 2022.