Globalization Fostering Peace and Socio Economic Co existence

According to Friedman, division in a big way characterized the cold war era, it was deep-rooted in separating the world into pieces. Then, the growth and the fall of any corporation and country depended on who you went to the same side of the divide. Berlin wall symbolized this era as per Friedman (1999). Globalization is much different from cold war in that it has changed the narrative to be “who are you connected to” this new era is symbolized by the web, the world wide web. In Friedman (1999) Globalization has torn the system of division and established a new increasing system built around webs and integrations. These all globalization features can be summed up to one word “integration” which forms the defining backbone of the term globalization.

The cold war system meant that one could only act through the state as its systems were primarily built around nation-states. This brought about the dramas of states aligning with states, states confronting states and states balancing states. The cold war system was balanced between the superstates: The United States of America and the Soviet Union. In a sharp contrast, globalization, unlike cold war, is built around the following principles: nation-state traditional power balance, for instance, China balancing Russia or India balancing Pakistan, the balance between the nation-state and the international markets and the balance between individuals and the state Friedman (1999). “only the paranoid will survive” these are the insights of one Joseph A. Schumpeter (2003). He argued that only those who were on the look to see who was brushing their shoulders and keeping themselves one step ahead of them are the ones who will survive the era of globalization.

Governments who are willing to destroy the outdated industries so as to free up money for investments in new and more meaningful advanced companies will survive this globalization era. Those against this new phenomenon of life will definitely fall. McWorld champions for the onrushing technological, economic and ecological forces that demand uniformity and integration. Looking at it from a different dimension, jihad is a threat due to its much emphasis on the differences and on the other hand, McWorld is also a threat because it eliminates those differences. For these reasons, Barber resorted to democracy as a better system than either McWorld or Jihad according to Barber (1995). It is the idea of liberalism that man was naturally idyllic being willing to share in the earth abundant resources while the conservatives argue that man in absence of the institution and societal influences is indeed a selfish being.

The result of the interdependence and harmonization between the two facts is a democracy, the freedom to let everything be. This has also led to deindustrialization in the developed nations as companies close due to the high competition from the imported cheap products. This has led to retrenchment and loss of white and blue collar jobs in the developed countries. Globalization has created a general complaint that it has made the rich richer while making the poor poorer. This is where the owners of multinationals and managers thrive on the huge profit margins they make at the expense of the workers whose wages have been gradually reduced as a result of cheap labour in the developing world. Conversely, globalization has enabled many developing countries in job creation as a result of open borders for multinational corporations to freely open branches in these developing nations in search of cheap labour Huntington (1996).

This shows the inter-relation between the McWorld and Jihad. Allowing the two facts to come into play, one will appreciate the positive impacts poised by being in either side of the divide. Formulating a third force that will try to quench the raging hatred between the pro-globalization and the anti-globalization led to the coiling of the term democracy this is according to Kahn Richard and Kellner Douglas (2003). Reserving one’s identity gives a sense of belonging but coming to appreciate the positive packages that come with globalization one is forced to accept that the latter bears more benefits as compared to the former. Viewed as undermining democracy and nationhood, in his 1995 book Jihad Vs McWorld Barber argued that McWorld was strangling the very core of cultures worldwide by fostering a twisted conspiracy against the Jihad which on the other hand savagely reacts to McWorld but also accepts its tactics.

In his 1995 book Jihad Vs McWorld Barber’s fear on McWorld exposes strong conservative nature in his thinking. He seemed to be missing and yearning for the yester years of Jihadism before the internet was born. But after looking at Jihad its undermining nature of nation-state and democracy, he thought capitalism was the only way out. As a hegemonic ideology, there has been a huge turn towards neo-liberalism where the logic of market comes to triumph over the general public goods and economic imperative and logic are to be subservient by the state. Globalization in its complex nature encompasses negative and positive features that in one way empowers and disempowers and in other circumstances undermines democracy yet again providing the foundation for a revitalized democracy.