Evolution of Globalization

The documentary The New Rules of the Game was informative about something that people do not take the time to think about in their every day lives: globalization. I was reminded of the importance of globalization and the risks that are involved with it. As quoted in the documentary, "there are risks to be taken with globalization, but at the same time, there are no substitutes for globalization." I think that this quote pretty much sums up the entire documentary in a nutshell. Globalization is essential in the growth and maturity of developing nations. It acts as a bridge between powerful, wealthy nations and third world countries. Goods travel in and out of countries, and through these exchanges of goods, wealth is accumulated. However, globalization comes with a high price. As shown in the documentary, many Southeast Asia countries have experienced a collapse of their economies due to the greedy natures of people involved in the global market. As in the case of Thailand, the bankers who were relentlessly lending out money and the people who were thoughtlessly receiving the money at a low interest rate ultimately caused the fall of Thailand. "Contagion" spread across Asia like wildfire, consuming economically stable nations such as Korea and Japan. I actually lived in Korea at the time the IMF incident took place so I know first hand the hardships that people experienced during these times. It was a frightening to realize that globalization can have such a negative impact on the world due to a relatively small incident that happens in a relatively small country like Thailand.