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Globalization. You see that word everywhere nowadays.
What you might not see is a simple definition of it. That’s
because the term is a broad label for a host of political,
economic, cultural, and even biological changes. |
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E-mails zip between Connecticut and Cairo. Shoppers in D.C.
buy fruit from Chile and chocolate from Belgium. An ATM in
South Africa churns out money from an account in Germany.
Kids in Baltimore watch Japanese cartoons. A doctor in India
reads an x-ray from a patient in New York. Avian
flu (also called bird flu)
travels from Asia to Africa, and eventually to North America.
These are just a few examples of globalization.
Look closely, and you’ll find a common thread among all
those examples—movement. People and products, information
and ideas: They’re moving ever more rapidly from one place
to another. As they do, they’re changing things around the
globe.
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Today, it seems obvious that
the Internet is our most popular tool for moving
information. But in the 1960s, when research on the
Internet began, experts thought that it would be useful
only during military emergencies.
Source:
Global Policy Forum |
OLD IDEA, NEW INTENSITY
You could argue that globalization is nothing new. After
all, people have traveled and traded for thousands of years.
Caravans plodded the Silk Road to bring spices and textiles
from Asia to Europe. Explorers returned from the Americas
with tomatoes, potatoes, and other unknown crops.
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to enlarge image
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This ancient network of trade
routes linked goods, people, and ideas from distant
lands and diverse cultures.
Source:
Art Institute of Chicago |
Ideas traveled too. Martin Luther King journeyed to India to learn
from the followers of Mohandas Gandhi, who, in turn, had been
influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau, a 19th century
American author.
So what’s different? Global movements are much faster and
more widespread than ever before. A few examples:
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Compare this slow-moving early locomotive from 1825
to today’s bullet trains that travel 200 mph. Before
trains, no one could travel on land faster than a
horse could run. Trains launched the present-day era
in which only ingenuity limits how fast we can move. |
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A generation or two ago, few ordinary people traveled
internationally. Today even many kids are world travelers.
- Colonial Americans waited months and paid dearly for
imported goods, such as sugar and cloth. Modern Americans
can find inexpensive items from around the world just by
driving to the local megamart.
- Soldiers in the Vietnam War handwrote letters that could
take weeks to get back home. Today, soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan post blog entries that their families can see
seconds later.
In 1969, a GI in Vietnam wrote this
letter, now preserved by The Legacy Project. It makes us
think about how instantaneous communications have changed the
way we express ourselves.
These changes, and many more, are part of the tide of globalization
that is remaking our world.
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Small World Home |
What Is Globalization?
People and Diseases |
Trade | Pollution |
Bioterrorism
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Globalization is like a car. Driven wisely,
it can get you to some great places.
Reckless driving, though, can land you in a
heap of trouble. These are some of the
complex issues raised by globalization.
