Globalisation is the word that even a school going child understands in India. I asked some of my students to explain the globalisation and an easy to understand answer emerged. The explanation was very simple. It was about the Zara dress bought by someone in New York. Fabric bought in Asia…, cut in a factory in Spain…, sown by seamstresses in Portugal…, printed in Tunisia… and sold in New York…., to an Indian……, for his South African friend!
Simple, isn’t it?
Yes, it is as simple as that. Every country contributes. Apart from economic and other considerations, globalisation may not really hurt, as long as it is confined to some moral and ethical norms. Globalisation can create legitimate job opportunities in different countries and results in win-win situation. One of the aspects associated with globalisation is internationalisation. There are many theories for this and one of the interesting theories for this is Network Theory. Subsidiaries, agents are important elements of this theory. These elements help the parent organisation to spread their products and services to newer markets. Agents have an important role to play.
Globalisations of economy, politics, culture, markets, industry, production, technology, competition are very commonly heard terms. One term that matters most today is globalisation of terrorism. No text book mentions this but it’s a sad reality that terrorism has globalised. A person born to the parents of Yemeni ethnicity in Saudi Arabia takes up a fight against Soviet forces on behalf of a Pakistani agency in Afghanistan. The activity is funded by USA for ‘Operation Cyclone’*. Is it not globalisation? It is and the person involved is Osama. He and his philosophy are examples of globalisation. His involvement included Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Canada, UK, Albania, Tunisia, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and many more countries including India. The Network Theory fits into Osama’s spread of terrorism, it’s Globalisation of Terrorism.
The recent blast in Mumbai is outcome of terror ideology so well propagated and got implemented through the local agents. The explosives come from different part of the world, the technology is imported and perhaps adapted to meet the local conditions and technology. Chinese arms like AK 47 find there destructive activity in Kashmir at the hands of West Asian terrorist with the help of Pakistan is also globalisation of terrorism.
On one hand globalisation has consolidated and brought prosperity to the world while on the other hand it has divided and destructed the world. The drivers for the globalisation, be it for good or for bad are same. The drivers are growth in IT, telecom revolution, better transportation and communication, growth of supporting institutions, changes in the economy and technology, and of course the changes in government policies and political ideologies. All these have propelled globalisation.
Agreed globalisation is here to stay but as a common man should we not at the least influence the government to change the policies and ideologies for our own safety? We want safe India and of course safe world.
*www.wikipedia.org
