Globalization and Justice

Introduction

Globalization the contrivance of consistent integration of different economies across the globe which is rapidly spreading. Supported by the rampant advancement of technology, trade liberalization and rising importance of economic growth, globalization has exposed nations to competition that is higher than ever in the past. Globalization mainly incorporates the prevalence of social, economic, legal and cultural perspectives across every region in the globe. Besides, it enables intense levels of consistency among different location due to the current prevalence. In this, context globalization has been achieved because of the increased integration of countries via growth investment, trade, and capital flow. Globalization has enhanced almost every aspect of human life and society. The intensity of globalization has not only spread its impacts on the economic sector but also within the social and justice settings. Globalization is an essential occurrence in the human history which is not only connected to economic matters but also creates opportunities for human mind and legal systems expansion. Arguably, globalization has existed throughout history but has become more rampant in the recent and is the source of the spread of democracy. The ability to quickly access information in the technology era has resulted in increased awareness of justice. Justice, particularly in the prosperous democracies, is supported by an intellectual movement that pressures the law developers to enact policies. Concerning globalization, it is evident that it has brought humans to the happenings across the globe and it cannot be denied that globalization has brought about profound implication about justice delivery, socially and legally.

Justice refers to the legal or logical framework by which objectivity is applied. Globalization and justice are directly connected since globalization entails a process through higher levels of interactions, integrations, and interdependencies among global societies. Thus, justice is not restricted to the legal description as it contributes to different sets of the society such as legal, economic and social aspects[1]. However, adequate justice is only present in the developed countries while the less developed ones do not benefit enough. It is undeniable that globalization augments typically efficiency and economic development and enlarges societal and personal interactions leading to stability. Nevertheless, globalization has induced discontent due to claimed injustices both within the criminal and social sectors. The connection amid globalization and injustice thus merits focus in the quest of determining whether the claims of discontent are available and the effects of globalization on each.

Ethically globalization is accountable for the rapid economic growth and stability across the globe. Globalization has created extraordinary working opportunities as well as fostered efficiency and economic development via the integrated global markets. There has been increased reduction of market exchange barriers which makes globalization a benefit rather than a concern. Economic and social stability is not a source of worry, but social and legal injustices are. The international trade theory asserts that globalization has negatively affected justice through trade liberalization[2]. Despite the fact that the modern society is more improved as a result of free trade there are those that gain while others are subjected to losses. In the developed or wealthy countries, the less skilled workers have lost from globalization. In that employers are now sourcing the most skilled laborers from the international market leading to the expansion of the income gap. Globalization has led to the widening of the gap amid the wealthy and poor since they have more working opportunities due their exposure.

While unarguably globalization has had the significant implication of socio-economic growth, its contribution to justice development is far from achieving satisfaction. Justice entails being fair and objective to every individual who demands political willingness. In most of the developing nations that embrace democracy, corruption has become widely accepted in the quest of fitting within the globalization demands. Another problem lies in the treatment subjected to immigrant labors[3]. Even with the existence of authoritative labor laws that seek to ensure that employee’s rights are guarded, immigrants continue to be mistreated, and most of them work under an undesirable condition which clearly illustrates the current injustice. Even though the ability to investigate and establish any human rights infringement has increased in the recent, it is rather apparent that more and more people have emerged as losers in the globalization game.

The most common philosophical notion is that individual’s morals and laws have generally failed to adopt the same speed as the ongoing economic growth as well as technological changes. The outcome is then probable to be a massive focus of wealth as well as authority, and this is not a justified restriction. In other words, there are likely threats to justice as fairness is getting lost slowly as nations are focusing on increasing their wealth in general thus neglecting the need for equality to the most unstable societies. Globalization is the state where the effects of the hastening and individuals necessity for technology advances continuously eliminate any existing restriction about resources and time. In the creation of wellness for the respective nations, it is encouraged legally for the participants to uphold impartiality. In this context, justice is achieved through the realization of coordination and collaborative operations while taking account of sustainability. Injustice is experienced due to the lack of fairness when formulating rules and principles.  Fairness in the development of laws that govern all the existing interest can only be achieved in the instance where there is zero interests conflict thus increasing the ability to expect all potentials for higher changes rapidly and accurately[4]. Justice in the globalized era rather than before has become a rare thing because of the absence of mutual collaboration as most of the participants mainly the developed nations are in search of perfection.

It is through globalization that the rate of poverty, in general, has been reduced through global integration and free trade. The achievement has been desirable in bringing about economic and social justice mostly to the developing nations. However, those asserting on the undesirable implication of globalization of justice hold that the system is biased and thus necessitates a complete refurbishment to ensure that it becomes more accommodating to the developing nations. Besides globalization is not sustainable since the current use of the existing resources exceeds the environmental ability to generate more. Environment sustainability is only achievable in the case where their rate of using the resources is minimized[5]. The distribution of resources is not justified as the rate of resources use is high which contributes to high levels of pollution for the developing economies to enlarge theirs. It is clear that whereas the developed countries are developing rampantly because of globalization, the developing nations are far behind in freeing themselves from the poverty oppression.

With the presence of high inequality, the impoverished populace fails to acquire a share of their revenue from the global trade. The notion is that globalization only adds wealth to the rich while it fails to ensure that the poverty level of the rest is uprooted[6]. Globalization is partially responsible for the growing inequality gap across the world. While the globalization force is accounted as particularly authoritative for the decrease in poverty most nations mainly, the rising ones have been left far behind[7]. The segregation which entails to socioeconomic injustice is driven by the dominance of weak guidelines and governance within the non-integrated countries, taxation and additional barriers such as weak economies that limits individual’s abilities to gain access to the developed market.

The effect of globalization on justice is profound. Globalization has connected nation’s justice system with the rest of the nation’s criminal justice. Law enforcers can currently access an individual’s information instantly. In the past, there were no reliable databases to show the individual’s criminal records[8]. It means that criminals have lost their ability to escape from their felony. Due to the need to increase fairness within the democratic nations, the systems can borrow from each other and implement the criminal justice aspects that appear to be more practical and useful. Through globalization, the criminal justice system has become more flexible and efficient in dealing with criminal issues. Ethics has also been upheld through the increased ability to prevent the violation of individual’s rights[9]. The improvement is evident based on the collaboration of nations in fighting criminal justice while guarding individual’s freedoms such as the presence of the international criminal court.

Globalization is a critical element in today’s arguments and questions about fairness. In actual sense, political theory, as well as applied ethics discussion subjects, have to take into consideration the current globalization issue[10]. With the expansion of global economic and political actions and the inclusion of the entire world into one worldwide financial structure, the questions of how to uphold the rule of law, implementation of human rights, inequality and poverty eradication have become central to all these discussions. As it stands, it is evident that global society is currently at a place that is characterized by profound social injustices[11].

Globalization has become one of the significant challenges for most professions which are involved in dealing with sick, economically as well as politically isolated social groups. Due to the ever-increasing variances, profound alterations in the lives of societies and the entire realm are facing a substantial challenge in assisting the economically and politically isolated social groups. Although there are arguments on economic growth and social justice, it is without a doubt that global forces affect social justice, in terms of education, practices, workers and service provision[12]. Globalization has changed all areas of human life and has also influenced many social organizations to a greater level. It therefore operates in both an uneven and unequal degree. It has further divided the world into classes of capitalists and the poor.

Conversely, only a smaller global populace has access to maximize capitals while the majority of the citizens are trapped within the malicious circle of scarceness. The basic pattern of the social fairness in our society has conversely changed with the emergence of economic growth.  Social justice as a philosophy therefore, inhabits a fundamental role in determining the social life of millions of marginalized and oppressed social groups globally[13]. Nonetheless, this institution of social justice which flourished globally in the course of the mixed economy and country’s welfare, seems to be declining in the economic growth era. Social fairness has slowly lost meaning in the age of globalization. This has been evidenced by the negative development in societal work brought about by globalization.

To start with, globalization has led to commodification of welfare benefaction. The idea of market economy in globalization considers individuals as commodities which are used in manufacturing system. The theory of survival for the fittest by Charles Darwin has dominated the idea of economic growth. The government institution has on the other hand, assured societal well-being and communal fairness to the marginalized people. Nevertheless, globalization has reduced the role of the government significantly.  However, it is quite essential to comprehend that democracy cannot exist without social justice[14]. Regrettably, new fiscal policy as well as globalization is depriving the social race of their welfare. Man is treated as a commodity and a man has to compete for them to survive. Conversely, in the implementation of these financial reform policies, “social security net” such as equal job opportunities, learning, healthcare, and resources were not provided for by the states. Governments paid just slight attention to these significant human problems in globalization[15].

Moreover, priority has been given on market mechanisms as well as trade and industry development at the expense of social growth to respond to poverty, marginalization of social groups and disparity. Most nations have invested so much into globalizing activities as it is used as a means of opening profitable doors to the multinationals. However, it is for the fact that the coming of multinationals has its challenges and it is for a fact that they are interested in exploiting their profits by utilizing the private resources[16]. These multinationals are not concerned about people’s welfare, including their environment, infrastructural expansion or even societal justice provision. In many states today, there has been a significant redistribution of wealth where the rich continue to get rich by the day. The middle-class professions have hugely experienced the consequences of wealth redistribution, and it is not considered in the global view on social rights[17].

The way leading to fiscal progression through economic growth encompasses the tussles to achieve fairness and accessibility. When there is inaccessibility and unfairness within the society, social injustices becomes inevitable. Moderation in most of the societal practices, learning, authority and job opportunities, is vital for upholding social stability contained by states as they adjust to global competition[18]. Fair access to all of these products and facilities for the public along with the ability to pay for all of these commodities in means that do not jeopardize the welfare of societies, is at the center of this economic growth storm.

The current global fiscal shifts have had great impacts on the working class people across all nations. Globalization has resulted to a decline in job opportunities in all forms of industrial production mostly in America. Nevertheless, there has been numerous job opportunities in the unindustrialized states but they have not led to improved living conditions for the employees. Over the years, benefits of globalization has spread all over poorer nations. However, just like any other nation, distribution of wages will continue to endure inequality since societies have varying capabilities and motivation[19]. The current international financial and radical order is characterized by unfairness. This involves poverty in certain regions and affluence in the other regions. It also encompasses unequal supremacy associations. This order is to a great extent the outcome of colonialism which most colonies are still involved in. many decades after these colonies independence, most of the suppliers of raw materials and basic industrial commodities for global markets are dominated by worldwide elites[20]. Nevertheless, poor social groups in unindustrialized nations are debarred from international markets following restrictions caused by their geographical location[21]. On the contrary, higher income societies often inspire self-improvement while the low-income societies are ruled by a domineering ruler who may not wish to give power to the poor people since allowing them to become economically stable would threaten their ruling.  Therefore, individuals from poorer nations, are excluded from all benefits that comes along with economic growth.

Globalization brings about the rule of law and allows the nation to experience the advantage of accessing the markets. Unfortunately, lacking this rule of law to protect rights of the marginalized social groups, the weak are unable to protect their possessions from appropriation by the powerful in the public. Including the marginalized social groups in globalization will, therefore, be of the essence in delivering societal fairness as equal opportunities, access to global markets and the statute of law will be provided to them. Therefore, the disadvantaged in developing states will perceive globalization as an advancement of public uprightness[22].

Conclusion

To sum it up, globalization as a progression has brought about so many affirmative benefits and improvement in cost-effective, industrial and in science fields. However, as evidenced in the above discussion, it is evident that economic growth has its negative side as it has brought about some undesirable consequences such as inequality and inaccessibility hence hindering social and criminal justice delivery. Also, globalization has evoked discontent due to the claimed social injustice. It has been viewed as undesirable within the public justice concept since it acts as a constraint on redistribution by the state. It is however not only blamed for being just a hindrance to justice in general due to limitations imposed by the federal government but also as being the sole reason for inequality due to unjust earnings distribution in the markets. The operational role of our legal system has also been largely influenced and re-shaped by the socio-economic elements of economic growth. The argument in this paper, therefore, has proven that globalization has resulted in growth. However, this has not come with the general improvement injustice but with costs about internal equality, and also human rights. It is true that the global economy is doing great, but the reality is that societies in this globalization era are not doing quite great. Global inequality and unfairness are therefore rising relentlessly. It is for this reason that it is concluded that globalization is one of the main contributing factors to injustices in our societies. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Agartan, Kaan. "Globalization and the question of social justice." Sociology Compass 8, no. 6 (2014): 903-915.

Armstrong, Chris. Global distributive justice: an introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Bassiouni, M. Cherif, ed. Globalization and its impact on the future of human rights and international criminal justice. Cambridge, UK: Intersentia, 2015.

Collste, Göran. "Economic globalization and global justice." Sustainable Development and Global Ethics (2007): 111-126.

Collste, Göran. "Globalization and Global Justice: A Thematic Introduction." De Ethica 3, no. 1 (2016): 5-17.

Hassoun, Nicole. "Globalization, Global Justice, and Global Health Impact." Public Affairs Quarterly 28, no. 3 (2014): 231-258.

Kauder, Björn, and Niklas Potrafke. "Globalization and Social Justice in OECD Countries." (2015).

Kercher, Kim. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Impact of globalization and international business." (2007).

Mandle, Jon. "Globalization and justice." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 570, no. 1 (2000): 126-139.

Midgley, James. "Perspectives on globalization, social justice and welfare." J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 34 (2007): 17.

Midgley, James. "Perspectives on Globalization, Social Justice, and Welfare." Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 34, no. 2 (2007): 17.

Nelken, David. "Introduction: Comparative criminal justice and the challenge of globalisation." In Comparative Criminal Justice and Globalization, pp. 11-18. Routledge, 2016.

Powell, Jason L. "Governing globalization, and justice." International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 48 (2015): 52-64.

Rothe, Dawn L., and David O. Friedrichs. "Crimes of globalization: New directions in critical criminology." Londres, Royaume-Uni: Routledge (2015).

Silbey, Susan S. "“Let them eat cake”: Globalization, postmodern colonialism, and the possibilities of justice." In Ethnography and Law, pp. 65-93. Routledge, 2017.

Steger, Manfred B. Globalization: A very short introduction. Vol. 86. Oxford University Press, 2017.

 

[1] Midgley, James. "Perspectives on globalization, social justice and welfare." J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 34 (2007): 17.

[2] Mandle, Jon. "Globalization and justice." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 570, no. 1 (2000): 126-139.

[3] Hassoun, Nicole. "Globalization, Global Justice, and Global Health Impact." Public Affairs Quarterly 28, no. 3 (2014): 231-258.

[4] Nelken, David. "Introduction: Comparative criminal justice and the challenge of globalisation." In Comparative Criminal Justice and Globalization, pp. 11-18. Routledge, 2016.

[5] Rothe, Dawn L., and David O. Friedrichs. "Crimes of globalization: New directions in critical criminology." Londres, Royaume-Uni: Routledge (2015).

[6] Steger, Manfred B. Globalization: A very short introduction. Vol. 86. Oxford University Press, 2017.

[7] Hassoun, Nicole. "Globalization, Global Justice, and Global Health Impact." Public Affairs Quarterly 28, no. 3 (2014): 231-258.

[8] Mandle, Jon. "Globalization and justice." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 570, no. 1 (2000): 126-139.

[9] Silbey, Susan S. "“Let them eat cake”: Globalization, postmodern colonialism, and the possibilities of justice." In Ethnography and Law, pp. 65-93. Routledge, 2017.

[10] James, Midgley. "Perspectives on Globalization, Social Justice, and Welfare." Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 34, no. 2 (2007): 17.

[11] Björn, Kauder, and Potrafke, Niklas. "Globalization and Social Justice in OECD Countries." (2015).

[12] Göran, Collste. "Economic globalization and global justice." Sustainable Development and Global Ethics (2007): 111-126.

 

 

[13] Kaan, Agartan. "Globalization and the question of social justice." Sociology Compass 8, no. 6 (2014): 903-915.

[14] James, Midgley. "Perspectives on Globalization, Social Justice, and Welfare." Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 34, no. 2 (2007): 17.

[15] Kim, Kercher. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Impact of globalization and international business." (2007).

 

[16] Kaan, Agartan. "Globalization and the question of social justice." Sociology Compass 8, no. 6 (2014): 903-915.

[17] Göran Collste. "Globalization and Global Justice: A Thematic Introduction." De Ethica 3, no. 1 (2016): 5-17.

[18] James, Midgley. "Perspectives on Globalization, Social Justice, and Welfare." Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare 34, no. 2 (2007): 17.

 

[19] Björn, Kauder, and Potrafke, Niklas. "Globalization and Social Justice in OECD Countries." (2015).

[20] Chris, Armstrong. Global distributive justice: an introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2012.

[21] Kaan, Agartan. "Globalization and the question of social justice." Sociology Compass 8, no. 6 (2014): 903-915.

 

[22] L, Powell, Jason. "Governing globalization, and justice." International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 48 (2015): 52-64.