34.Concept of Globalization
Why does the concept of GLOBALIZATION excite so much interest? We are beginning to think about the world in new ways. The importance of borders between different countries is reduced, and cross-border structures are strengthened. The power of organizations operating only within the nation state is weakened. Individuals who possess the necessary skills find it easier and faster than before to implement complex interactions. By pushing computer keys a banker can almost instantaneously transfer sums of money between London and New York, between New York and Bangkok, between Bangkok and Paris, and so on. The political and legal institutions of these different countries no longer present insurmountable obstacles to doing business between them. The problems of predicting the effects of globalization in part stem from uncertainties about how the notion should be defined. These uncertainties arise because the terms are used in many different ways. Gowan (1999) reflects on this ambiguity in the introduction to his text: The 1990s have been the decade of globalization. We see its effects everywhere: in economic, social and political life, around the world. Yet the more all-pervasive are these effects, the more elusive is the animal itself. An enormous outpouring of academic literature has failed to provide an agreed view of its physiognomy or its location and some reputable academics of Right and Left even question its very existence. It is not necessary to agree on a single definition. What is more important is that the manager recognizes that different definitions are in currency, and identifies that which serves his/her purposes. Different specialists use the term with other meanings focused on their particular interests. The specialist meanings examined below are as follows: * globalization for politicians and political scientists;