Features of Contemporary Global Economy
There has been a lot of controversy over the characterization of the global economy. According to Wallerstein , the timeline after 1945 till today represents the economic cycle which has both the upward and downward swing. The world economy was expanding during 1945 to 1967-73. After 1973, the downward cycle of the World’s economy began and has been shrinking since. The capitalist world economy evolved in 1450. The contemporary era came next . Many economists believe that the Golden era of trade was the later half of the twentieth century.
Others believed that there has been no such era which had so much trade. However this is untrue. The World’s economy was growing at a very fast pace before till 1913. This was the industrial revolution when most of the developed nations were industrialized nations too. This age was considered as the golden age in trade and investment. After the First World War the global economy started to come down. This was known as the great depression in America. The World’s economy did not recover till 1970s.
For example; The OECD nations which are the 24 most developed nations had their GDP doubled in 1960 to 1990 . The ever developing technology has created a possibility of a global culture. Even though we are still away from developing this global culture, but we are moving towards it, and it has been predicted that in just 50 years the World will become a global culture. It will then, difficult to differentiate between two cultures. The internet, fax, television, cable and satellite systems have swept away the cultural boundaries.
Companies have now started shaping their entertainment products and services according to the wants of ordinary people. This means that the local cultures are now getting engulfed by the global culture which is taking over. For example; the English language is becoming a global language, and in many areas of developing nations like India, only English is spoken . This is overcoming the cultural identity and unity of any nation. Globalization has affected the cultural identity of nations in the deepest sense. The dialect, language and cultural norms of different places are being erased steadily.
According to Jean , Coca Cola, Disney and Mc Donald are global brands and have been accepted all over the World. People go to Mc Donald in countries like UK, USA and also in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan. This means that the taste of people is changing all over the World, as people are now accepting similar things. Companies like Shell and IBM are also driving globalization phenomenon forward. Companies which are powerful in the corporate world are creating new tastes, business laws and processes, and these are becoming accepted all over the World.
According to Fridah , there are two groups of people who take this changes brought by globalization in two different ways. One is the optimist group. These take the world as a global village where everybody is linked by the technology of internet. These people benefit from globalization and have a materialistic lifestyle. Other group is the pessimist group. These take globalization as a negative thing, which is destroying the culture and identity of various nations. According to this group, globalization is taking away the meaningful existence of human beings.
