Dimensionality of Globalization, Global Governance, and Generational Sustainability

Introduction

The world is increasingly shifting towards global market engagements and global governance strategies to enhance global competition necessary for the achievement of generational sustainability and at the same time maximizing the inherent benefits of liberal democratization in a global polity. This would also mean a holistic approach involving multidomestic, international, global or transnational movements that a country can use to compete successfully in the global supermarket. The United Nations Report (2001) describes globalization as a multidimensional process of unprecedented rapid and revolutionary growth in the extensiveness and intensity of interconnections on a purely global scale. This view practically manifests itself in various dimensions such as in the process of global governance or democracy, global technological environment, cultural globalization, as well as economic and financial globalization. In terms of global democratization, global governance refers to a unique process of competitive global leadership which seeks to bring together national governments, multilateral public organizations, and civil society organizations, for the purpose of achieving commonly beneficial and accepted goals for generational sustainability. To this extent, generational sustainability would involve the application of global governance that will create a global environment that while sustaining the interests of the present generation will not in any way compromise or jeopardize the interests of the future generations. It is envisaged that generational sustainability can progress based on certain global forces. This includes outcomes or changes in international relationships, changes in national economic, political cultural, legal and technological advancements. It requires the collapsing of trade barriers, the growth of representative democracies, and reliable institutions and communication, necessary for forging a global economy. The concept of global economy refers to the increasing integration of fragmented national markets for goods and services, into a single global market. It is expected therefore, that in such a market organizations or institutions can deal and collaborate together in the notion and nomenclature of the borderless world. This does not in any way suggest that national borders are entirely irrelevant, but it is necessary to emphasize that certain influences or variables such as the Internet, competition and international trade have made the world to look like a global village. International trade is creating and promoting a vicious cycle. It is also predicted on the theory of absolute advantage where one country could specialize and exchange those products or services it produces or provides more efficiently for those produced efficiently by another nation and therefore increases its overall gross domestic product (GDP) or wealth. On the other hand, the theory of factor proportion in international trade suggests that nations will specialize in the production and trade of either capital intensive products or labour intensive products, depending on if their comparative advantage lies in capital or labour globalization. Therefore, international trade is now a permanent practice because membership in world trade organizations like the World Trade Organization(WTO). Can limit a country’s ability to create laws regarding the conduct of business within its borders since each law must pass through the scrutiny of the WTO (Kalisiki, 2001, Dicken, 1992).