Is it possible to reconstitute local manufacturing and local food Essay

Is it possible to reconstitute local manufacturing and local food markets, or has Globalization ultimately made this impossible - Essay Example The researcher states that the term globalization is an overused word yet very few understand its true meaning. Globalization has always been defined by the narrow economic platform as an integration of national economies through a removal of barriers to free trade and commerce. A broader definition of globalization is the growing interconnection of social, cultural and economic systems. Globalization encompasses the processes, linkages, and exchanges which are global in nature. Ideally, globalization is a process that has been gradual, persistent and self-advancing for the last 400 years. MacGillivray holds that capitalism is one of the main drivers of globalization. Adam Smith, the father of capitalism and free trade held that human beings are driven by self-interest. Self-interest is not a bad thing but as a driving force behind every economic agent's action. Smith therefore believed that free market is the most ideal and progressive system in the world. Smith’s concept of a self-regulating unit is a fundamental contribution to capitalism and can help us understand the drive behind globalization. Each society wishes to maximize its own welfare, and that, different countries are endowed with different resources, technologies, and products that they produce cost-effectively. Therefore, trade enables each country to avail of the products of other societies which gives it the ultimate advantage, because by exchanging products that one society cannot produce cheaply with products that other societies can produce abundantly with lesser cost, both buyer and seller maximize their own welfare. An invention of large sailing vessels and discovery of better navigation system made it possible for countries across continents to interact and trade. Given the self- interest and the desire to maximize profits, mutual benefiting relationship across continents was forged, and that resulted in and globalization. From the definition above, there are two key terms that can help us understand the essence of globalization - interconnectedness, and processes.