Mains Practice Questions

Approach:

• Briefly highlight what globalisation is and its nature in different times.
• Highlight how interdependence among people, nations has led to globalisation.
• Highlight how globalisation has led to interdependence among people, nations.

Introduction

• Globalisation is the flow of goods, services and people across national borders. Although such a process has been prevalent since ancient times, reflected in IVC-Mesopotamian-Egyptian trade, migration leading to the conquest of newer areas like Mongols, in modern nation-states setup it has intensified under a liberal global economic trade system since the 1980s.

Body

The rising interdependence is impacted by several factors:

• Liberalisation in economic policies lead to globalisation
• Newer means of communications heightens interdependence leading to the global supply chain. Such a structure is smoothly maintained by communications, particularly from the revolution in Information Technology like the internet, mobile telephony.
• Culturally too dependency and adoption of other culture’s ideas, values, practices leads to the evolution of global culture like the popularity of fast-food chains, mental wellness through yoga and popularisation of pair of jeans.
• The changing geopolitics and resultant interdependency leading to global-scale governance architecture: Like IMF, World Bank, ASEAN, SAARC etc, also affect and promote globalisation.

The vice-versa is also true i.e. globalisation leading to a newer form of interdependence among people and nations:

• Global competition for economic development has led to quid pro quo relations like dependence on Gulf nations for oil, while the region requires skilled manpower from the rest of the world.
• Global culture has led to fusion and dependence among local elements to sustain such a culture like fast food chains imbibing local flavours and sensitivity leading to Glocalisation.
• Politically too newer global challenges have led to newer interdependency like Climate Change leading to transfer of clean technology from developed to developing technology and in return latter paying for past emissions.

Conclusion

• Thus, globalisation and interdependence between people and nations go simultaneously and both strengthen each other. Interruption in any one can lead to disruption in others, for example, American sanctions on China leading to the global economic slowdown, global pandemic leading to lowering dependence among nations for trade and people’s movement.