Sustainable Globalization

In international relations, we have talked at length about globalization and globalization's effect on the sovereignty of nation states. In particular, I read the recommended reading by Opello and Rosow that analyzes globalization in civil society. This reading was very interesting for me because it made me take into account the ways in which globalization is actually harmful to nation states. The belief that technological advancements and new innovations make the world more interconnected and globalized is often toted as a positive characteristic. New advancements in technology undeniably have positive effects on the overall quality of life that citizens of many nation states feel around the globe. For example, refrigerators, polio vaccinations and hair curlers are amazing things that have definitely made life easier for many different people. However, one of the downsides of this is that new technologies don’t actually benefit everyone in a global market environment. In fact, they can often hurt nation states, especially the states that supply the raw materials used to make new consumer goods. While economic globalization might sound like it is beneficial for all, it has the ability to create unemployment in certain nation states and it can deplete resources and cause irreversible environmental damage.

Another negative characteristic of globalization is that corporations have the ability to disassociate themselves away from their nation states and move the production of their goods overseas. That action is problematic because there is always a marginalized group of people within other states that are oppressed because of the movement of corporations to states with less stringent work standards. Women and children are two marginalized groups in third world states that are forced to work in unsafe conditions, and they also receive incredibly low wages. The Opello and Rosow reading points out that if corporations disassociate with their home nation states and move their manufacturing plants overseas to countries with less work laws, then there is really no institution that can hold these corporations responsible for the mistreatment of individuals. The nation state in which the corporation originates from then loses a substantial part of their sovereignty because they can’t effectively govern their corporations anymore.

Despite the negative aspects of globalization, I do believe there is a way in which globalization can make a predominantly positive impact on states. This can happen through sustainable globalization. The Opello and Rosow reading is very informative, but it neglects the impact that sustainable thinking has had on the global market. Although there is still quite a long way to go before the global market is entirely sustainable, there is an undeniably stronger effort to supply and consume sustainably produced goods. For example, it is now possible to purchase ethically sourced, sustainably produced goods like coffee, argon oil, bracelets, and so on whereas sustainability wasn’t really an important way of thinking fifty years ago. Globalization is primarily the globalization of capitalistic markets across the world, and capitalism and don’t really coincide very well. However, if there is a larger effort to think more sustainably and engage with the world around us in a more sustainable manner, then there is no reason why globalization couldn’t make the world more prosperous overall. Sustainably is not limited to being environmentally conscious either. Instead, thinking sustainably means answering questions about quality of life in general. It makes states analyze their nation’s wages, living conditions and education standards so that they can be prosperous for years to come, which is what sustainability is all about.

Globalization has many rewards, but there are also many fundamental problems with globalization, like how it depletes resources, hurts marginalized people, and decreases states sovereignty. However, globalization can be more effective if the global market becomes sustainable.