The positive side of globalization

Talking about globalization, very quickly leads to strong controversies among people. What the media is presenting us, is mostly the negative side (bad news is good news). And the meaning of the globalization is everything else then good, that is the way it looks for many. Therefore I want to write a little bit about the positive side, which is, what I believe, not covered enough. I only write about aspects which are visible now, I do not speculate about what is or could be coming or what expectations people have. It is definitely true, that a big part of disappointment about globalization is caused by propaganda (economic and political) which has not been fulfilled, as well as wishes people had, projections of one’s own interests.

The first aspect I want to cover is an economic one. Barriers of commerce have been decreased, international standards have been established and a mutual competition among companies has led to the optimized use of capital, workforce and know how. Crops and commodities are available in nearly any quantity and at any time. The liquidity of financial markets is providing enough capital for national and international growth. International credit standards and accounting standards make companies more transparent and enable people to compare companies of different countries with each other. That was a big problem for many years for capital administrators, when looking for foreign investments. One thing should be mentioned here: Globalization is nothing new in the world of economics. Before World War I. the international trade volume among different nations has been nearly as high as today (in relation to the size of nations, population etc. of that time of course). Barriers where build up during the first half of the 20. Century and it took many decades to get rid of them. Internationalization and globalization are everything else but knew.

Democracy is spreading around the world. Even if many nations resists this development (at least until now – look at Northern Africa, I am sure in the near future we are going to see some major changes there!), more and more people become aware of their human rights. The idea that there are human rights which are given to everybody, not by the government, but by nature of human beings itself, is becoming well know to a big part of mankind. An easy and transparent legal system which guarantees private property to people and secures personal values, is necessary for economic growth, as well as the freedom of conscious. This becomes common knowledge around the planet. Even totalitarian regimes are not able to control the information their people get nowadays. We have seen this impressively in the last years. And a few courageous companies, who have a strong backbone, show us how not to give in “the evil”.

People speak at least one foreign language, apart form their mother tongue, and the understanding of foreign cultures and civilizations gets improved. Means of communication are very quick and everywhere available, so what was exclusive and very expensive decades ago and only possible for a small elite, became part of every person’s daily life. The internet is the symbol of globalization of communication. Of course, most of what can be found in the net, is of low or very low value, but let us not forget the pearls which exist and which can be found. We have an enormous amount of information but what is mostly missing is a strategy to cope with it. Communication takes too much of our short time and the personal and/or economic value we get out of it, is quiet low. I am sure we will learn to cope with information in a way that provides better results in the future. The increase of the productivity of mental work of work based on knowledge, is one of the big tasks management is given in the 21th century.

Culture: We also see a better understanding of others cultures in most parts of the world. We watch the same movies, read the same bestselling books. Actors, writers, artists are know throughout the world. Many think that this global unity would destroy the local character of culture. That was true for the beginning of this development, but the more people are globalizes, the more they ask themselves about their own roots. There is a rising awareness of the culture you come from. The farer the branches reach out into the world, the more the roots get strengthened. That is the new human of the 21th century. You do not push aside your home, your origins, you live them more consciously, the farer away you are form your home.

Religion: For most big religions, globalization is nothing new. Most of them offer solutions for all human beings and they are represented all over the globe not only for years but for centuries. There knowledge could be very valuable in the ethical and moral development of the world. But there has to be paid attention to the theological depth of the belief. There is a big danger in staying on the surface, of presenting a religion “light”, which is nothing more than a lifestyle, which changes very quickly. Religions are fundaments, are solid rocks, in an ever changing world. The highly moral demands of the religions must stay as they are completely and unchangeable! There cannot be any change in questions of belief itself. Religions are more demanding than most of the other “systems” we know in the world. But if rightly understood, they have an enormous potential for the good. They fulfil the most demanding need of human beings: the need for sense in life. So religions could really become the “salvation” for the world.

These are just a few aspects of the positive side of globalization. There are many more and I do not claim to have covered the topic in its wholeness. That would not be the sense of a short article, written on a private blog. But I hope I could make sure, that globalization is not something negative per se. We have concentrated too much on the economic development and have very often let aside the other parts (social, political, ethical and most important the moral side!). It will be the job of the next years and decades to develop a complete globalization which includes all aspects of human life. Well, there is a big job to be done.