We frequently say that this is the age of Globalization so it becomes important for us to clearly understand this concept and its implications for our society. Globalization represents those processes by which people of the world are incorporated into a ‘single world society’. We all know that group efforts always have greater impact than the individual efforts (union has strength) and globalization is the process of integrating individual efforts of countries, to achieve leverage beneficial for every nation.
There are various authors who have defined this term in their own ways but every time they choose to make it a one-dimensional concept, which it is not. Some authors have attempted to define it. To Manfred Stager, globalization has five dimensions. He identifies them as Economic, Political, Cultural, Ecological, and Ideological. According to Stager, any change in one of the factors has a long lasting impact on other factors.
Developing nations and developed nations differ in culture, lifestyle, income, purchasing habits and other innumerable factors. Globalization aims at elimination of these differences so as to make this world a single global village wherein uniformity in ideas, thoughts, products, life patterns is achieved. Coordinating the political and legal system of nations is a pre-requisite to achieve this objective of convergence. With free movement of trade, foreign financial investments, free flow of human capital, and transfer of ideas across the world, the borders now serve the purpose of defense only.
Our world comprises of different types of people, good as well as bad and the freedom in trade and other related factors will result in integration of every dimension of life. Deviant behavior cannot remain an exception to this phenomenon. We have states with high crime rates and states with low crime rates. Does globalization imply that the crime graph of the countries having low rate of crimes will inflate whereas there may be an inverse trend in the countries which have high crime rates? In order to evade such an eventuality there is need of addressing the crime graph so that globalization does not become a curse on this account.
With direct impact on the society, globalization has changed the way business was being carried to a larger extent. Supporters of the Anti- globalization movement that originated in New York opine that developed countries have made additions to the crime rates in the developing countries under the guise of globalization. Some of the concerns are Child Labor, Pornography, Human trafficking, Rapes, Smuggling and the like.
In order to keep the world clean and safe from criminals, we must have a legal system that is more comprehensive and holistic in every manner. Manfred calls for a unified system of general laws. Now the question is which law should exist, the one which is existing in US and other Anglo-American countries? Or the one that prevails in some Muslim countries? It is obvious that the globalization needs to be two-way traffic. On one side it should facilitate free movement of goods and services on the other side, it should also ensure free flow of value systems which form bed rock of criminal and civil justice.
We cannot reverse the process of Globalization but at least we can aspire for is to make it a tool of enlightening the west with our legal and value systems so that they too benefit from it. We manage to protect our social order within a world that on one side can be full of economic opportunities and on other side free from vices which have been product of valueless, materialistic civilization.
(The author has done PG in Business administration and is a Columnist)
BOX: Developing nations and developed nations differ in culture, lifestyle, income, purchasing habits and other innumerable factors. Globalization aims at elimination of these differences so as to make this world a single global village wherein uniformity in ideas, thoughts, products, life patterns is achieved