Globalization effects all living beings on the planet, including humans, yet many have trouble understanding what it really means. Laurence Rothenberg’s article “Globalization 101: The Three Tensions of Globalization,” illustrates that three tensions, individual choice and societal choice, the free market and governmental intervention, and local authority and extra local authority, make up globalization. In another article written by Thomas L. Friedman “Globalization: The Super-Story,” he describes it as a system and compares it to a previous system using three power balances, nation-states, nation-states and global markets, and individuals and nation-states. These two articles provide a better understanding of globalization. As Rothenberg
…show more content…
A second tension is between free market and government intervention (Rothenberg 3). He explains that the free market is focused on the idea of making money and that “the free market may sometimes fail to provide crucial goods, especially at reasonable prices, necessary for overall social order” (3). Rothenberg uses the example of the failure of “the free market to provide affordable drugs to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic (3).” While these drugs are provided at affordable prices in The United States, in lesser developed countries the drugs are out of reach. The third tension is between local authority and extra-local authority, that is the tension between decisions made at the level most close to individual citizens and decisions made at higher levels of authority distant from the people it may affect (Rothenberg 4). Possession of marijuana, for instance, is still illegal on a federal level in the United States but particular state governments, like Colorado state governments, closer to citizens of the state, have made adjustments to their laws, making marijuana legal in the …show more content…
He then compares globalization, “The inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before” to The Cold War System (Friedman 471). The Cold War System was based on division and “was symbolized by a single word- wall [The Berlin Wall]” while the current system is “also characterized by a single word- web [the world wide web].” The globalization system is based on integration (Friedman 471). He illustrates that “the cold war system was built primarily around nation-states…balanced at the center by two superstates…The United States and the Soviet Union” while the globalization system is built around three power balances between nation-state, nation-state and global markets, and individuals and nation-states (Friedman 471). The first balance, Nation-states is, according to Friedman, the “traditional” balance of power (472). This basically states that differing from The Cold War system, the globalization system has one superstate, the United States, and all others are inferior. The second power balance is between nation-states and global markets. Global markets “have a huge impact on nation-states (Friedman 472). The markets move money around the world through the internet, meaning that investing in the wrong market could cause a collapse of an entire nation-state. The Third balance is between
A second tension is between free market and government intervention (Rothenberg 3). He explains that the free market is focused on the idea of making money and that “the free market may sometimes fail to provide crucial goods, especially at reasonable prices, necessary for overall social order” (3). Rothenberg uses the example of the failure of “the free market to provide affordable drugs to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic (3).” While these drugs are provided at affordable prices in The United States, in lesser developed countries the drugs are out of reach. The third tension is between local authority and extra-local authority, that is the tension between decisions made at the level most close to individual citizens and decisions made at higher levels of authority distant from the people it may affect (Rothenberg 4). Possession of marijuana, for instance, is still illegal on a federal level in the United States but particular state governments, like Colorado state governments, closer to citizens of the state, have made adjustments to their laws, making marijuana legal in the …show more content…
He then compares globalization, “The inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before” to The Cold War System (Friedman 471). The Cold War System was based on division and “was symbolized by a single word- wall [The Berlin Wall]” while the current system is “also characterized by a single word- web [the world wide web].” The globalization system is based on integration (Friedman 471). He illustrates that “the cold war system was built primarily around nation-states…balanced at the center by two superstates…The United States and the Soviet Union” while the globalization system is built around three power balances between nation-state, nation-state and global markets, and individuals and nation-states (Friedman 471). The first balance, Nation-states is, according to Friedman, the “traditional” balance of power (472). This basically states that differing from The Cold War system, the globalization system has one superstate, the United States, and all others are inferior. The second power balance is between nation-states and global markets. Global markets “have a huge impact on nation-states (Friedman 472). The markets move money around the world through the internet, meaning that investing in the wrong market could cause a collapse of an entire nation-state. The Third balance is between