The textbook definition of globalization from the Levin Institute at the State University of New York is as follows. “Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment.”
The idea I have of globalization comes from buying a box of tea at the supermarket carrying the brand name of a company started in Scotland in 1871. The tea itself might come from the world’s largest tea exporter—Kenya in Africa. The materials to make the packaging, including the box, the tea bag and the “string,” may also come from many countries. Philippine abaca is popular for making the bag for premium brands of tea. All these goods and the finished product may be moved around the world on vessels owned by the largest ocean shipper, Denmark’s Maersk Line, which will have at least a few Filipino seamen on board.
But look at that definition again: “Globalization is a process of interaction and integration.” “Interaction” and “integration” are vastly different ideas. Interaction means the people living in my small village have rules and do not park in front of each other’s driveway. Could integration mean, at some point in the future, that my neighbor can park in my garage and I can invite myself to his dinner table?
The European Union (EU) has institutionalized integration and the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will do the same. The EU, in the interest of “free trade,” can limit a country’s exports of a particular product to the benefit of another country. The TPP will set the rules of trade and production regardless of what a country’s existing laws may be. And who exactly will make the rules? Certainly, the organization members will vote. As someone once said, “A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.”
Globalization as the political and economic integration of various nations is nothing new. By 117 AD, the Roman Empire stretched from Spain to Iraq, from Egypt to England ruling 55 modern-day countries. In the 13th century, the Mongols had expanded their control from China to Eastern Europe. The Romans brought sanitation, roads and education for women.
The Mongols created an empire-wide mail service and a merit-based civil service. Both empires allowed diverse religions, languages and social customs to coexist. The British Empire circled the globe and all of these empires created enormous trade opportunities for all.
The Romans and Mongols took political control and then created trade empires. The EU, like the British Empire, started with trade control, hoping to avoid the mistakes of the past. But the British Empire and the EU evolved into something much greater. And like the empires of the past, the EU is collapsing for the same reasons.
American revolutionary Patrick Henry said: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” Today it is, “Is free trade so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of giving up a nation’s economic and political policy decision-making?”
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