Globalization

The Context

The world today is more interconnected than it has been at any point in the past. Advancements in communication and travel technology have helped transfer ideas and people across international boundaries at unprecedented rates. As a result, a person from the United States can go shopping in Switzerland without leaving their computer chair.

Nothing, however, weaves the international community more tightly than economic policy. This connection is recently exemplified in the current world-wide recession. When the U.S. economy suffered a lack of financial growth the majority of the world was adversely affected too. In some cases the economies of other countries suffered more compared to the U.S. This fact exemplifies another characteristic of the relationship between nations: it is not an equal one. Capitalism functions through competition and risk. This ideology, when embraced internationally, translates to competition between developed, underdeveloped and developing countries. Thus, the global-capitalist economic system will inevitably produce “winners” and “losers.”

Human lives have been bettered through a global system. For example, the ability of people around the world to quickly mobilize and aid the victims in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake is due in part to globalization. However, cultural genocide, human-rights abuses and vast economic disparity are also attributed to this global system. Consequently, push-back against globalization is observed in both violent and peaceful responses around the world. With the context of globalization in mind I ventured to Mexico to explore free trade from a social-justice perspective.

** This was written this last winer (2010). I changed the last line though**