The term 'globalization' has come to define the acceleration of economic, cultural and social integration between nations and peoples over the past twenty years. As large segments of the North American and European industrial base have already migrated to China and Southeast Asia for the purpose of mass producing goods cheaply from low-cost labor, business and personal relations are conducted around the clock through cell phone calls, e-mails and instant text messages..
Although globalization can be credited with creating wealth and opportunity for millions of previously impoverished people worldwide (i.e. China, India), it has also shattered traditional paradigms of international relations and economy. The 9/11 (2001) attacks, orchestrated by a network of terrorists from Afghanistan to Germany, signaled a new era in transnational violence for example. America, once protected by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, tragically awoke to a new era of warfare conducted with neither uniformed soldiers nor on a traditional battlefield. Australia, Spain and the UK soon followed as victims of Al-Qaeda and its global network of terror. Although 'globalized' trade has been largely beneficial, all of the progress made since the end of the Indian and Chinese command economies in the 1980s may now be undone by the current 'globalized' recession. Due to the high interdependence of the world economy, a financial crisis in one nation, particularly in one of the members of the G-8, inexorably produces a domino-effect on every other nation. As the major world economies are now struggling to mitigate the fallout from the housing and credit collapse in the United States, critics from Paris to Peru have again emerged to challenge the notion of maintaining supranational interests above national interests.
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Although 'globalization' is often thought to be a recent phenomenon, only the term itself is new. History has witnessed a countless number of economic, social and cultural expansions across geographical borders. If the current phase of 'globalization' is to be understood and controlled at a policy-making level, then its previous manifestations throughout the centuries must be assessed broadly.
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Economic 'Globalization' In Ancient Sweden
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Rather than a nation located in the heart of Europe, ancient Sweden, somewhat removed by a major body of water, is a near perfect model to illustrate the forces and consequences of economic integration.
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In the 16th century BC, bronze was introduced to the land-mass now called 'Sweden' from the Continent. As the precious metal was coveted for making weapons and jewelry, a relatively complex trading system emerged with precious stones, slaves and furs being exchanged to obtain bronze. As Europe was essentially the center of civilization, some of the effects of ancient Sweden turning to 'globalized' trade can be logically deduced. The adorning of bronze jewelry on the more elite members of society presumably enhanced the division of social classes. Hence, economic status could be partially be determined by the female 'haves' (those who wore bronze jewelry) and the female 'have-nots' (those without bronze jewelry). By implication, the presence or absence of bronze jewelry on a woman likely reflected on the economic status of her husband. A man possessing the tools of war usually enjoys official or quasi-official military status, and the amount of bronze weaponry extant at a given time and place often impacts the frequency of conflict between tribes, clans and/or ethnic groups. Although exceptions exist, warlike societies tend to have more weaponry than pacific ones.
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In short, a quick glance at trade in ancient Sweden demonstrates a similar pattern of 'globalized' disruption. After trade links were forged across its borders, domestic production was increased to create enough capital to purchase desired imports. Aside from wealth-creation, the introduction of new commodities had profound effects on Swedish society. Bronze not only redrew class lines but also factored into its warmaking ability. Translated for the world of 2009, 20-30% of the world today would possess enough bronze to demonstrate an above-average level of wealth and warmaking ability. Another 30-40% would have a lesser amount of bronze to display an adequate living standard and some military capability, and the final 20-30% of the world would not possess any bronze. These countries would be underdeveloped and outside the 'globalized' network. Domestically, the possession of bronze jewelry would broadly define socio-economic classes.
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Saint Paul and Globalized Ideas
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While significant, trade is by no means the only 'globalizing' factor in history. Before any action is taken, an idea of the action must occur in thought first. Paul of Tarsus, otherwise known to posterity as 'Saint Paul', almost single-handedly created the modern world by 'globalizing' a revolutionary idea. Some years after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, Paul of Tarsus, once a persecutor of Christians, had a remarkable change of heart on the road to Damascus. Upon encountering Jesus in a resurrected form, as reported in his letters, he set out to proclaim him as the chosen and resurrected Jewish messiah. Subsequent to an initial missionary journey from Antioch to Cyprus, Paul became embroiled in an early theological controversy with Jesus' brother James. At the Council of Jerusalem (49-50ACE), Paul sternly argued that Christ (Jesus) had died for the sins of all mankind. Others disagreed and believed gentiles to be either outside of God's grace or judged on other criteria. Undaunted, Paul undertook two additional missions across modern-day Turkey and Greece to bolster the work of nascent Christian congregations in proselytizing the public - both Jew and Gentile alike. His 'globalized' idea of eternal love and forgiveness through the words and deeds of Jesus was made possible by a network of Roman roads and the legal protection afforded by Roman citizenship.
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His accomplishment ought not be lost on the 21st century. For a society to flourish, a relatively advanced degree of communication must be present. When ideas cannot be exchanged fluidly, a society begins to fragment and lapse into ignorance and discord. Moreover, societal wealth, both culturally and economically, is wholly dependent on having established communication links. To illustrate, the recent communications revolution that ushered in the Internet and the cell phone led to decade of solid economic expansion around the world. As Christianity linked societies together ideologically, trade flourished under the aegis of a transcendent worldview.
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In the 16th century, the Church, which had preserved and institutionalized the theology of Saint Paul, came under fire by a German monk. After Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg (31 October 1517), Christian Europe began to fracture along pro-Church (Catholic) and anti-Church lines. Aided by the signature invention of Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press, anti-Catholic tracts divided nations and resulted in the calamitous 'Thirty-Year War' (1618-48). A 1500 year period of European 'globalization', cemented by the Church, had broken down irreparably. From the challenges to Christendom, a new world of reason and science (the Renaissance) emerged. Instead of communication among bishops, communication among scholars, artists and scientists cobbled together an alternative 'globalization'. From the trials and travails of Christianity, policymakers must understand the paradigmatic nature of 'globalization'. As its variables change from social, economic and demographic trends, a new equation is required. Hence, the current laissez-faire model of globalization has proved insufficient to address the needs of a significant portion of the world community. Rather than pour old wine into new bottles, a globalization based on an international framework, inclusive of a universal labor and human rights, should receive due consideration.
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The Globalization of Love, Hope and Despair
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Who wrote the first novel? Was it Thomas Malory (Le Morte D'Arthur, 1485), John Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress, 1678) or one of many other contenders in the debate among literary scholars? In truth, it does not matter. For millennia, people have expressed the beauty and the tragedy of the human condition in pictures and in words. Due to the genius of Thomas Edison, a communication revolution in the late 19th century allowed sound to be recorded onto and replayed from discs. Two decades later, Gugleilmo Marconi, who built upon the work of Edison and others, followed up the record-player with the radio. Of all the genres (i.e. sports, news etc.), music came to dominate the airwaves. After the Big Band era of Glenn Miller and the Jazz age of Miles Davis, Rock 'N Roll, driven by fast-tempo melodies or thrashing guitars, took the West by storm. As song lyrics were back en vogue, some artists, Bob Dylan and Bono (of U2) to name a few, used their musical platform to write and sing a modern form of poetry. Consider the following lyrics to the song Magnificent from the new U2 album No Line On The Horizon:
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' I was born/I was born to be with you/In this space and time/After that and ever after I haven't had a clue'
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Due to the globalization of trade, ideas and communication (Edison, Marconi) and the universality of the human condition, hundreds of millions of people will be able to listen to his romantic lyrics. As a Catholic Christian as well, Bono may be said to personify several preceding 'globalizations' from ancient times to today.
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Going Global, Knowing Global
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'Globalization' is not a recent occurrence. For more than 5,000 years, mankind (and womankind) has sought to discover and connect to the world in all of its brilliance and limitations. No society in history, not even Sparta, has ever existed as an entirely self-sustaining nation. As policy-makers chart the future path of a world moving toward greater interdependence, several hard questions must be asked and answered:
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1) Who will be left out or adversely effected by increased globalized trade?
2) What mechanisms can be put into place to protect the cultural identity of less powerful nations, regions and localities?
3) Which technology transfers ought not be globalized?
4) What kinds of globalized communication might divide rather than unify the world?
5) What universal ethos can serve to bind nations together in ending poverty and protecting the planet from environmental catastrophe?
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The answers are far from clear, and they will not be easily deduced. Yet, humanity, which has progressed from living in caves to living in space, is perfectly able to solve man-made problems. In doing so, leaders would be wise to use history to gauge the future by studying the contingencies of past 'globalizations'.
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Addenda: U2 Tracks
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1) To listen to an inspiring live, rooftop performance (above the Radio BBC studio in London) of Magnificent from their new album No Line On The Horizon, copy and paste the following address into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6R_D-4anNc
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2) For a moving U2 song from yesteryear, copy and paste the following address into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWBKBkEJQRk
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(Picture: U2 - Click to enlarge)
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J Roquen