War In A Globalized World example essay topic
We have so many cultures just packed into one campus. Distances and borders are starting mean less and less in this globalized world, and since the start of history they have meant less as time has progressed. Communications just keep getting cheaper and faster. Because of this, we now depend on each other more than ever, which just may be the best way for us to find peace. Most of globalization happens without the effort of those involved; it is just part of our everyday life.
Wal-Mart imports more than $12 billion worth of goods from China every year. Hyundai, while once a joke of a car company for American customers, is quickly becoming a sales champ in the US, topping 400,000 new car sales last year. It has had the largest growth of all car sales in time. The computer that I am typing on now was made in Taiwan, and within a week you can have one shipped to your door from the factory. Our possessions have quickly become a silent plan, only being able to tell by the "Made In" sticker. Would the United States go to war with one of our Asian suppliers?
On the other hand, would one of our Asian suppliers attack their biggest customers? When the case for the war with Iraq was taken to the UN, several countries objected even without hearing the proof for the reason of war. It came out later that the opposing of the war countries all had deals for Iraqi oil. These countries included France, Russia, Germany and others. Maybe the best plan for peace isn't a treaty but a sale of goods. Add the threat of nuclear war on top of the economic incentive for peace, and the lack of war looks pretty appealing.
When I did some research on this topic, the book NonZero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright uses a theory called "game theory" to explain the increasing complexity of human civilizations. This book kept appearing on many different websites so I did some reading on this book and found that it tells that globalization was inevitable, the means to expand and trade have grown because something that is available in America may not be available in some countries and the countries need this product to survive and vice versa. With this saying, does this mean that peace is inevitable? Through the history of America and the world we have become more globalized from boats to telegraphs to telephone and satellite communications. The book explained that Game theory has two choices: zero-sum and non-zero-sum. Zero-sum means one party will benefit at the loss of the other.
Non-zero means both parties will benefit. Our current trade positions are non-zero-sum because we get cheap goods and our trade partner gets jobs. From our view, we might be getting the bad end of the deal because we are losing jobs to countries like India, but we benefit by getting goods at marginal costs and India benefits by gaining a growing middle class. This is the reason that textile mills have packed up and moved out of most of the old textile towns making the United States unemployment rise. Civilization benefits from non-zero interaction. In NonZero, the author Robert Wright talks about the growing cost of war to connected nations.
War is now something poor nations partake in, and rich nations try to crush. Rich nations understand that everyone is better off in a marketplace than in a dent. Trading partners do not go to war. Nuclear powers do not go to war. Trading partners that are also nuclear powers, for example US and China, have to times the reasons to work together.
By the way of non-zero-sum game theory logic, all the nations in the world will become globalized, or interconnected, on a long enough timeline. At that point war will be the minority, not peace. War will be random, not routine. It will likely take longer than we have to wait, but there is hope for our future. When I say war I am not talking about terrorism. Nations may not fight with each other, but individual citizens may still declare war in a globalized world.
For example, religious extremists that believe the connected world is trying to pollute there faith may bomb buildings housed by the globally connected countries. An action trying to stop globalization, but globalization is in our destiny and it is bullet proof. In Conclusion, globalization is in our world's destiny. The ability to trade and become one has been here since we were able to communicate with each other.
It only seems right to continue with this globalized world and it has to seem right because it is inevitable. It will take time for things to change and for peace to shine through but in the end globalization will prevail and peace will be right by its side maybe not in your lifetime or my lifetime but in many lifetimes to come. This will only set the stage right for a war free world for our future generations.
Bibliography
Wright, Richard. Non-Zero: The Logic of Human Destiny. Vintage Books, September 2001.