Essay 1
Nowadays the phenomenon of globalization can be described as a dominating power behind the major business and sociological developments all around the world. From day to day global economy, politics and culture become more and more autocratic in every land. The process of globalization is very resonant in society which causes emerging numerous myths around it. In their book, “Globalization: Debunking the Myths”, Hebron and Stack discuss myths about globalization. The first myth describes globalization as a sort of conspiracy of big companies organized against smaller countries (Hebron and Stack 43). This myth explains that big companies are obsessed with the idea to multiply their benefits which makes them find a way to affect the situation in the world to a global extent. Comparing the information in this myth with reasoning shown in the debunking information sheet one, it appears that such a myth is partially true. However, not only big corporations are considered to be the main players in the process of globalization, but the macro governments as well. As a result, the information in this myth is not fully true to reality. The second myth about globalization suggests that this process is aimed to concentrate market power in hands of a few big companies. This is not true as in a number of locations, governments are still powerful enough to control the effects of global corporations on their market which is shown in the debunking information sheet one. The third myth describes globalization as the process progressing due to the expansion of information technologies which seems to be absolutely so especially in modern-day conditions. During the last decade, the Internet became so powerful that it occupied its dominating position in business, political, and even personal relations between people. All of that makes the world a “huge village”. The fourth myth says that globalization makes it possible for corporations and companies to widen out their expansion without rules. However, this does not seem to be true to reality as global companies often develop better rules for their cooperation with their customers than the governments do so for their citizens. In the debunking sheet one, a number of examples are discussed which show specific cases when corporations develop better policies and regulations for their customers than it is in the case of governments. The fifth myth claims that globalization becomes the reason why people lose their jobs (Hebron and Stack 76). In accordance with the Debunking information sheet one, this does not seem to be true as globalization rather assists in creating new jobs. In particular, when big corporations manage to enter a new market in the new country they create more open positions. However, it is believed that in the other countries with more expensive labor power, jobs are lost. Still, the balance between the open and the lost jobs has a positive tendency as more new jobs are created than canceled.
Essay 2
The process of globalization is connected to a number of important notions which need explanation. In the following paper, some of them will be discussed from the point of view by Hebron and Stack in their book “Globalization: Debunking the Myths”.
Micro governments are seen as the top management of big corporations. As these people have a great influence on global economic and political processes, they can be also considered to be governments.
Macro governments are the governments of the countries and unions of the countries.
According to the textbook, the future of the nation-state is seen as rather uncertain on the reason of rapid developments in global politics and economics (Hebron and Stack 189).
Globalization is connected to homogenization effects and McWorld. For example, globalization is connected to rapid social developments which change the economical and political situation in which nations of the world live. Such developments become a reason for different types of conflicts between different nations and social layers (Hebron and Stack 203).
In the Debating Globalization textbox on pages 106-109, the authors’ opinion that the process of globalization will continue changing the political and economical situation in the world in accordance to the interests of global companies seems to be the most reasonable for me. It is definitely so as nowadays, globalization only speeds up its great tempo changing the world from day to day, and making a shift of the real power in the world from the hands of politicians to the hands of top managers of global companies.
The concept of the “race to the bottom” shown in the book assumes that nations along with different social groups and formations strive to promote their interest using any available means for this (Hebron and Stack 218). To win in the fierce competition between nations, countries, or political formations, their participants may apply varied techniques including changing policies, laws, and regulations. Such actions are a part of the “race to the bottom” strategy.
The “three dimensions crucial to the reform” of current Globalization are economics, politics, and the social sphere according to Hebron and Stack (121, 223). These areas of human life are the most important nowadays, and without reforming them it is not possible to expect any changes in human society. For this reason, these dimensions are considered to be the most important during the current stage of the process of globalization.
The national sovereignty is being “under siege” as it is stated in the book by Hebron and Stack (220). This implicates that the global developments in the world affect all the countries in such a way that their sovereignty is threatened by the results of the process of globalization. Even nowadays, the top management of a row of global companies appears to be weightier in the political life of certain countries than their governments. The future prognosis concerning the major developments occurring as a result of the process of globalization shows that such a tendency is going to be even more significant. Thus, there exists no doubt that national sovereignty is being “under siege”.
Works Cited
Debunking Information Sheet 1.
Debunking Information Sheet 2.
Hebron, Lui, and John Stack. Globalization: Debunking the Myths. The United States: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.