The articleGlobalization: Obsession or Necessity?? written by James W. Thomson talks about how globalization affects different groups of people from citizens to corporations to governments to countries. This article uses various opinions to express the pros and cons of globalization and how they impact a particular group. The common thread throughout this article is the fact that our world is changing towards a more global setting every day. The definition of globalization is explained in a variety of ways from free trade, capital mobility, erasure of national boundaries, less individual government intervention to being the solution to economic, social and political problems. Even variations on globalization are discussed as solutions to bringing the world together under one common economic structure. This article also raises the idea of internationalization policies in lieu of globalization policies and differentiates between the two. The main point that this reader obtained from reading this article is that globalization is a necessity to survive in the world but the dominance by American culture is making it an obsession.
The impact or potential impact that the necessity of globalization can have on the world today is that it will involve the implementation of free trade or some form of free trade which leads to free mobility of capital, more immigration, increased possibility for prosperity and the probability of raising living standards especially in third world countries. One opinion that the impact of free trade within globalization policies would mean is that goods, technology, services and such would be unimpeded by governmental regulations which would cause the nations as a whole to become more unified which would in turn lessen the conflicts between economy, society and politics. The opinion of internationalization policies encourages free trade in much the same way except with specific trade agreements between nations which in turn protects economic powers.