The industrialised world caught in the
globalization trap: Will Germany become a 20:80 society haunted by persistently high levels unemployment? This is the basic question this book tries to answer, also focusing on the global interconnectedness of economics, politics, environment and the media. The authors analyze the most important global issue of our contemporary world on the basis of their world-wide research work.
All around the globe, the
term globalization evokes contrasting emotions. Those in power will generally take a vastly positive stance on globalization. With the rest of us, mixed emotions - anxieties and hopes - will prevail. Thus ever-rising hostile and isolationist sentiments pose great challenges for all modern democracies.
Globalization is generally defined as a process of growing economic,
political and social interconnectedness and assimilation. Rather than being a self-propelling development, the process of globalization is actively promoted by policies aiming at regional integration,
Global expansion and peace keeping. Curiously, as recently as 1990 the term "globalization" was not to be found in any encyclopaedia of the world . However, the term is currently being used and abused in many different ways, not least as an excuse for the failures of national politicies and for sluggish economic
growth.
Globalization has had profound impacts on labour
markets worldwide. For example the opening up of developing countries' markets has increased growth
rates and improved labour market situations. OECD countries such as Germany, however, have noticed a continuous rise of unemployment and languid economic growth. Yet this development is well-known since the mid-70's and was merely exacerbated through the effects of globalization. The outstanding prosperity level of the USA and Western Europe have prompted many developing nations to regard rising economic growth rates as the primary goal of trade liberalisations.
This fixation on growth rates has many concomitant effects that are detrimental to the environment. The worst of these are consumption of energy and resources, urbanisation and the emission of pollutants.
The globalisation of the world economy has marked effects on all aspects of society: It increases the pressure on politicians to take effective action. Also, it includes not only the public and the private sector , but also civil society at large, which since the 70's is increasingly independent of the other sectors. Especially non-governmental and non-profit-oriented groups articulate their special interests ever more effectively in public debates and international negotiations. This offers a whole range of new range of ways for citizens to have a say in global issues and thus may help to overcome wide-spread resignation and angst.
An ardent and reminder, this book wants to alert and appeal to all those who have a stake in globalisation, thus in effect all of us.
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