Globalization and antiglobalization

V. Here are eight points that appear in the text. Put the points in order from 1 to 8.

IV. Matching. In the reading, there are several words that refer to the parts of a car. Below is a simple picture of two cars. Match the number of the arrows with the correct part.

(A) ___ Sunroof

(B) ___ Front fender

(C) ___ Taillights

(D) ___ Trunk

(A) ___ The safety functions of smart cars

(B) ___ A description of an intelligent highway system

(C) ___ Problems that cannot be overcome by smart cars

(D) ___ The navigational systems of smart cars

(E) ___ The difficulties of installing intelligent highways

(F) ___ Controlling smart cars

(G) ___ A test of an intelligent highway

(H) ___ Smart cars today and in the near future

TEXT 4

One can hardly turn on television, open a newspaper or magazine, or visit a website without hearing or seeing the term globalization. Surprisingly, although it has become a part of the world's vocabulary, there is no precise definition for this word. Most experts agree that it refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, especially through international trade and the flow of money across borders. Additionally, they say, it refers to the movement of people: both tourists and immigrants who come to work in other countries and, finally, to the international flow of knowledge and information. Whatever its exact definition may be, globalization has clearly become one of the top issues of our time.

There are two important points to keep in mind about globalization. First, it is not a new process. The economic forces that have created globalization have existed since at least the nineteenth century. The process was disrupted by the Great Depression and by two world wars, but after World War II, it continued, growing even stronger in the 1980s and 1990s. It was slowed by economic meltdowns in Korea, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Thailand, and elsewhere, and by terrorism, but it still goes on. Second, the process has not spread evenly throughout the world. Each year, A. T. Kearney, Inc., and Foreign Policy Magazine rate nations according to their degree of global integration. This year, Ireland edged out Singapore as the most globalized country. Singapore came in third this year. Most others in the top twenty were smaller European countries, including Switzerland (second), the Netherlands (fourth), Finland (fifth), and the United Kingdom (tenth). Others in the top twenty included Canada (seventh), the United States (twelfth), Israel (seventeenth), New Zealand (nineteenth), and Malaysia (twentieth). This survey did not rank the least twenty globalized countries, but experts believe most of these nations are in Africa, with a few in Asia and Latin America.

Defenders of globalization believe that it is the key to international peace and prosperity. They want to create a borderless world, and they want to remove as many stumbling blocks to globalization as possible. However, opponents view it with fear and hostility. They oppose organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the G8, and protest their meetings. Beginning with the protests at the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999, also known as «the battle of Seattle», militant demonstrations have been held in Prague, Quebec City, Genoa, and other cities. The antiglobalization movement actually consists of many different kinds of organizations, including labor unions, human rights groups, and environmental organizations. Some radical antiglobalizationists, called «localists», believe that international trade and activity should be greatly curtailed and that power should be returned to the national, regional, and local level. Most antiglobalizationists are more moderate, however, and consider the localists' views provincial. They favor an approach called «anti-corporate globalization» or «fair globalization», in which international trade and cooperation still exist but benefit people in general rather than giant corporations.

One issue that antiglobalizationists often discuss concerns the gap between haves and have-nots. As union leader Jay Mazur said, «globalization has dramatically increased inequality between and within nations». However, those in favor of globalization argue that income is distributed more evenly in developing countries that have made some effort to globalize, such as China, India, Poland, and Vietnam, than it is in «nonglobalizers» such as Nigeria, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the Ukraine. Supporting this point, Mexico's former president Ernesto Zedillo has said that whenever a poor nation has significantly overcome its poverty, it has done so while producing goods for export and opening up to foreign goods, investment, and technology – in other words, by becoming more globalized.

Another objection made by antiglobalizationists, especially labor union leaders, is that globalization has taken well-paying jobs away from workers in developed countries and moved them to developing countries. International companies take advantage of lax labor laws in developing countries, the labor leaders say, and these companies pay low wages and force workers – including children – to work long hours in unsafe, miserable conditions. Globalizationists admit there has been some loss of jobs in developed countries. However, they believe that retraining programs can help workers find new jobs in other fields, such as in service and information-based industries. Globalizationists also point out that, in developing countries, wages and working conditions in international factories are usually better than those in local factories.

Many environmental organizations also oppose globalization. They say that environmental laws in developing countries are likely to be weaker than those in industrialized countries. They believe international corporations use the air and water of developing nations to get rid of toxic materials. Globalizationists, on the other hand, argue that international corporations generally use state-of-the-art, computer-regulated technology in their factories and are therefore less polluting than locally owned factories. Furthermore, they point out, there has been an increased awareness of environmental issues around the world, spread by global media. The people of many nations are unwilling to tolerate environmental destruction for the sake of development. Costa Rica, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and other countries have learned that pristine natural areas attract tourism.

Finally, antiglobalizationists insist that corporations simply have too much power. Many large international companies are actually more economically powerful than many national governments. In fact, if a corporation can have an «economy» in the way that a nation does, then fifty-one of the top 100 economies belong to corporations, and only forty-nine are nations. Because of their size, global corporations can sell their products much cheaper than local companies, and they can afford expensive advertising. This puts local companies at a disadvantage, and many go bankrupt. Thus, standardized Western products – from fast food to movies to computer-operating systems – dominate world markets and world culture. French farmer Jose Bove became a hero to antiglobalizationists when he demolished a construction site where a worldwide hamburger chain was building a new restaurant. But globalizationists argue that when local companies are forced to compete in the global marketplace, they become stronger and more efficient companies. They also say that problems that occur as a result of the power of global companies are outweighed by the benefits that these companies bring.

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