Navigating Globalization: From Columbus to Cultural Dimensions - A Comprehensive Exploration

Introduction

The image chosen represents Christopher Columbus who discovered America. According to various scholars, Columbus discovered the new world, and every second Monday in October is celebrated as a national holiday, termed Columbus Day. This day is dedicated to honor the European explorer. Although no consensus has been established, most historians and scientists have proposed different starting points for globalization. Historians reference missionaries to have started the process of globalization, most pointing at Vasco da Gama and Christian Columbus's exploration narrative. Columbus's exploration in 1492 is marked as the true starting point of globalization. Though people could have interacted years before that year, human interaction across continents was enhanced by Columbus. On his first voyage, Columbus landed on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. This image is related to globalization as it marks an important day when globalization began. This is not a Eurocentric worldview but historical facts that mark the beginning of globalization.

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Economic Globalization

Economic globalization refers to the interdependence of world economies. It explains the relationship between major global economic organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, World Bank among others (The ABC of Global Economy). The Image below represents free trade as represented by the ABC Global Economy. The image depicts the world's biggest car sales. The image shows globalization in the automobile industry. Globalization is characterized by the availability of multiple car assemblies, parts production, and vehicle sales in different parts of the world such as Germany, Russia, Japan, India, Korea, and the USA. The image relates to the topic as it relates to globalization as discussed in our lectures. According to Amartya Sen, Globalization is “the diffusion of goods, services, capital, technology, and people (workers) across national borders.” The image shows the movement of cars and accessories across the borders of the USA, Canada, Germany, and Japan. The image also relates to economic globalization and class readings as it focuses on activities such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Political Globalization

The image below describes political international bodies. The advantage associated with political globalization such as the UN, and NGOs is that it allows solving conflicts between states. Moreover, political globalization allows developing nations to achieve global stability. Furthermore, the NGOs and UN allow states to have economic progress that can be accounted for. Political globalization makes it easier for the fair sharing of opportunities. The image relates to globalization as it shows ideas of inequity and overall balance of institutional balance. According to Mickle, globalization puts a limit on the power of the government. Thus, with such organizations, it makes it easier to prevent politicians from interfering with free trade, thus improving economic globalization. Besides, the WTO tariffs introduced by the national states help prevent border conflicts. The image portrays NGOs and other political organizations offering protectionism through the introduction of policies (Rodrik).

Cultural Dimensions of Globalization

The image selected for this unit is McDonald's distribution. McDonald's are fast food restaurants popular and famous around the world. As we know, McDonald's has many branches in many parts of the world, thus promoting cultural globalization. Despite McDonald's being a fast food chain that mainly serves beef hamburgers and French fries, it has been able to maintain globalization by adapting to different cultures. This image relates to the cultural dimension of globalization as it explains the revolution of fast foods across the globe. For instance, Coca-Cola, Pizza, and Mac Big have been expanded to other continents including Hong Kong (Watson). The cultural dimensions have very different facets, thus globalization intensifies the expansion of these facets. Furthermore, McDonald's image represents globalization as it spreads the American way of life across several countries. The restaurant has adapted to social settings in different countries as discussed in our lectures. This is an example of cultural representation and discussing McDonald's social setting in Hong Kong shows cultural globalization (Watson).

Ecological Globalization

Ecological globalization refers to population growth, biodiversity, gaps between rich and poor, human-induced climate, and global degradation. The image chosen below relates to ecological globalization as it focuses on human-induced climate change. The image represents a green economy. The image relates to the lecture-discussion as the green economy is a globalization process introduced by the international organization UN. It addresses nature as a critical economic asset that the whole world needs to be aware of, especially the poor whose livelihood depends on it. Furthermore, I believe the images portray the role humans have to play to prevent the current climate changes affecting the whole world. The image also depicts inequality of resources across the globe, increasing the gap between the rich and the poor (Sen).

Ideologies of Globalization

Globalization is an ideology represented by various claims, beliefs, and phenomena. The image below presents a variety of ideologies brought about by globalization. According to Mickelthwait, the free open market is the first ideology presented by globalization. He shared the idea of market globalism that allows liberalization worldwide. The image relates to our readings as the idea of the free market has been discussed in depth during the class lectures. Furthermore, during the lectures, we discussed Marx's theory and ideologies on capitalism (Mickelthwait). The image below presents various ideologies such as accountability, capitalism, neoliberalism, interdependence, poverty, and governance which all have been discussed in the lectures. Besides, provides other ideologies that can be related to globalization.

As a consumer of globalization, I have learned that the wide choice of products and services enhances globalization. For instance, I plan to promote globalization by buying electronic products from developed countries. Last week, I ordered Apple series 11 from an online shop which I believe promotes equality. Besides, I find Japanese automobiles more fancy and enthusiastic, thus I might be buying my car from Japan. I also like keeping up with current trends. That is why I intend to travel around the world, learning about new cultures and eating various dishes. Moreover, I plan to participate in World Environment Day and educate people on how to protect the environment and reduce climate change. I will also enroll in Portuguese, Spanish, and France class to learn their language and cultures. I have a lot of friends online from these countries, but language has always been a barrier.

The most exciting part of the course is I learned about the five dimensions of globalization. These include economic, historical perspective, political, ecological, and ideological perspectives. I believe the most significant lesson from the course is that globalization makes us interdependent on each other, and makes the possibility of war more detrimental and less likely to happen. Moreover, I have learned about global capitalism. A disadvantage is that nation capitalists find it easy to preach free trade while its borders are closed. In my opinion, globalization strengthens the global economy by encouraging free trading. Globalization has also led to the establishment of organizations that control political stability and preside over border conflicts. Finally, through the course, I have been able to understand that we are all consumers of globalization.