Neoliberal Globalization:Transformation and Development

In the era of neoliberal globalization, states have more interconnectedness and interdependence with each other for the global economy to prosper. Meanwhile, Significant changes have occurred in the nature of international trade and commodity production for the past decades. These changes also lead to new geographic, social, and political divisions of labor worldwide. Moreover, social and political consequences of these transformations have begun to take effects on a global scale. In this essay I am going to explain such transformations and illustrate the ideas above.

Neoliberalism, though considered by some people as equivalent to globalization, is more like a terminology of economics. Basically “neoliberal” refers to free market, which favors little government interference, free trade, open market, high competitions, emphasis on human rights, etc. Supporters of neoliberalism want governments to deregulate the economies, to reduce (or even eliminate) tariffs, to allow free trade, so that the entire global economy would be better off.

In the contemporary globalization, the nature of international trade has made great changes. According to Sparke’s book, during the 19th century when British Empire dominated the world economy, international trade was mostly limited to raw materials or finished products – coal, steel, etc. Overtime, as the costs of transportation (mainly, shipping) dropped quickly, international trade became more active. One significant index is that the ratio of trade to GDP increased greatly. After the World War 2, international trade became more globalized. Low costs of transportation and the needs of trade largely increased international trade worldwide. In particular, the triad between North America, Europe, ...

... middle of paper ...

...untries globally look for places to dump their wastes, and poor countries tend to become the sufferer. While people in rich countries are not aware how many wastes they are producing and where wastes are dumped, they are likely to produce even more wastes, which make the situations even worse. We have to admit, though in some cases transformations in trade and production are beneficial to developing countries. For example, Export Processing Zones (mainly in developing countries, short for EPZ) are aimed to encourage exports and benefit national economy.

In summary, changes in international trade, transnational production, commodity chains, TNCs, divisions of labor have been immense. Meanwhile, their social and political consequences vary. It is hard to determine whether what globalization has brought about is overall beneficial or not. More investigation is needed.