Commentary on Article (Globalisation: The Rise and Fall of an Idea That Swept the World) (Reaction Paper Sample)

Commentary (Globalisation: The Rise and Fall of an Idea That Swept the World)
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Commentary: (Globalisation: The Rise and Fall of an Idea That Swept the World)
Introduction
The global environmental changes that have taken place over the past few decades have led to the creation of an integrated global economy from the national political systems used in the traditional times. These have included a number of political activities and global trends for all developed and developing nations. In his article, “Globalization: The Rise and Fall of an Idea the Swept the World”, Saval (2017) insists that the economic globalization that was majorly created to enhance the free trade of products across national borders has been shaken by several political earthquakes, and currently anti-globalization movements are slowly overpowering the proponents of globalization.
The Argument of the Author
The major argument that is presented by Saval (2017) is the claim that economic globalization, which is meant to develop free trade across national borders, has had a major negative influence on populations because it results in loss of jobs and depression of wages rather than growth of economies. Free trade makes it easy for people within several nations to get access to cheap products. This is because competition from companies all over the world make them cut their production costs with the aim of lowering prices. Cutting costs ultimately lead to the depression of wages and terminating some employees as they become surplus to requirements. Companies even outsource operations to other countries where they can easily access raw materials and cheap labour. This leads to loss of jobs and poor compensation of employees thus making it hard for them to improve their standards of living. As such the author argues that globalization may not be of any benefit, especially to developing nations that are continuously exploited by multinational corporations.
Initially, those who proposed globalization held the belief that having an integrated and more open economy would have more benefits than the potentially negative influence. This is because of the notion that free trade is linked with higher economic growth, and thus the reduction of poverty. Because of growth results in the reduction of poverty, many of the proponents of globalization argued that regardless of the troubling effects that globalization had in some countries, the act promised greater good for all the nations around the world. However, it has consistently emerged that globalization does not have as many benefits as anticipated by the advocates of globalization. The arguments meant to support economic globalization persisted despite the negative effects that were being experienced. However, after financial crises, even the proponents conceded that globalization has resulted in inequality, loss of employment and even depression of wages. These have led to a series of political activities against globalization such as lobbying.
How the Author Understands World Politics
Under globalization, political issues are addressed above the state via schemes of political integration like the European Union, and even intergovernmental organizations like the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and The World Bank. Political activities also cross the borders of nations through NGOs and global movements. The global actions of civil society organizations are achieved through the creation of alliances with organizations found in other nations, lobbying international organizations, the use of global communications systems, and other direct actions.
Economic globalization in the article is addressed using theories and concepts of international relations. Most of these theories and concepts are based on the idea that states will often work in accordance with their national interests or even the interests of other given states. Some examples of state interests are military security, self-preservation, influence over other nations and economic prosperity. The author has a very competent knowledge of the history of world politics as well as the current trends and uses the knowledge to explain the origin, development and possible future of globalization. He precisely describes these using timelines from the period that Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa were colonized in the 20th century, through to creation of post-war superpowers like the Soviet Union, the hyper-globalization movements in the 1980s, emergence of anti-globalization movement towards the end of 1990s, and the present distrust in globalization as well as its political consequences.
Realism is a theory that is well elaborated in the article to explain the collapse of globalization after the First World War. Realism holds that states have the role of precisely increasing their power and not that of other states (Timofeev 2011, p. 30). During the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States, there was lack of trust between nations and thus free trade lacked among many countries. The author equally states the ‘War on Terror” by George W. Bush when he attacked Iraq and explains how distrust among states and use of military hindered free trade.
Liberalism is another theory that is exploited by the author to explain how Free Trade developed in the 1980s after the fall of the Soviet Union. The theory states that through increasing globalization, international trade and communication technology, states would not just be dependent on simple power in making decisions on global matters (Boddewyn 2016, p. 13). This saw the lowering of the barriers to free trade in the 1980s all over the world as tariffs were slashed and regulations implemented. France came up with a program to enhance its entry to Eurozone in 1995, 1996 saw the opening of the once closed Russian market after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and 1993 was the year of the creation of the American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Idealism is also used to explain why individual nations have not been active in closing their markets despite complaints against globalization. Idealism holds that states should often pursue moral goals and often act in an ethical manner within the global arena (Boddewyn 2016, p. 14). There had been campaigns against globalization towards the end of the 1990s. Trade unions and environmentalists even managed to shut down World Trade Organization’s meeting in 1999. However, in order to act with morality and ethics, countries failed to listen to the anti-globalization movements and decided to increase security in such meetings and hold them in locations that are not popular.
Marxist Theory and Constructivism are also stated in the article. Marxist theory states that the main actor in international relations is the capitalist economy, and this result into class conflict (Morris 1981, p. 1282). According to the author, the largest gains from economic globalization go to “the 1%”, most of whom are residing in the developed nations. This increases the gap between the rich and the poor, as the poor are often exploited to provide cheap labor, with some of them losing their jobs.
Constructivism theory states that social movements are used in the definition of International Relations. As such, people have the responsibility of setting agendas and dictating events in the world (Hopf 1998, p. 180). The author explains how trade unions in France strike in a repetitive way to oppose programs that were meant to make the country enter Eurozone. In the United States, populist revolts resulted in the nomination of William Bryan as the candidate for the Democratic Party in 1896 because of falling prices and starvation of farmers. His policies, however, made businessmen very distressed and lead them to back Bryan’s opposing Republican candidate, who won the elections. This shows how the social movements in nati...