Research Paper on:
Debate on Globalization

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
debate pivots around conflicting claims relative to the forces and processes of contemporary globalization. On the one hand, there are "globalists," who maintain that the worlds economies have undergone a  fundamental and irreversible change due to the forces of globalization. Globalists assert that the fate of national communities is being increasingly shaped by regional and global forces. On the  opposite side of the debate are the "skeptics," those individuals who maintain that the globalists claims are exaggerated and largely unsubstantiated. The skeptics argue that the world has  not been irreversibly altered by globalization and that the power of national governments, as well as geo-political factors, remain the determining forces of our age. The following discussion surveys the  positions of both sides of this ongoing debate. Basic Concept of Globalization Globalization, while amorphous in many aspects, does exhibit undeniably material aspects in so far as flows of  trade, capital and people across the globe can be identified (Held and McGrew, 2000). These elements are supported by different types of infrastructure, such as physical systems (transport or banking  systems), normative systems, (such as trade rules ), and symbolic systems (such as English as a lingua franca) (Held and McGrew, 2000). These factors establish the necessary pre-conditions for recurring  forms of global interaction (Held and McGrew, 2000). Rather then chance encounters, globalization refers to "entrenched and enduring patterns of worldwide interconnectedness" identified (Held and McGrew, 2000, p. 3).  Nevertheless, the concept of globalization connotes much more then merely normalized trade across regions and frontiers. The implication inherent in the term "globalization" is that there is an increasing intensity  to global flows so that states and societies become increasingly intertwined in worldwide systems and networks of interaction (Held and McGrew, 2000). As a consequence of this development, the