Globalization: What It is and What It is Not?

The term globalization has entered the political lexicon since the latter half of the twentieth century. Scholars from various disciplines sought to explain and explore the complex and contested nature of globalization, its impacts on the global political economy, and its sustainability. Defined as the growing worldwide interconnectedness, this phenomenon is both commended for fostering economic growth, uplifting millions from extreme poverty, and criticized for exacerbating inequality, cultural imperialism, and new forms of dependency. Perhaps nowhere in the world are these contradictions more evident than in the Global South —a politico-economic division that has undergone profound changes due to globalization, especially since the economic liberalization policies adopted by the respective governments of this region in the 1990s. Drawing on the perspectives of critical scholars like Marx, Smith, Sameer Amin, Michael Hardt, et.al, this paper critically examines the distributional aspect of globalization. Based on the critical political economic perspective of globalization, it concludes with the argument that globalization may have brought certain opportunities, but its unequal distribution of costs and benefits has reinforced a new form of colonialism, deepened social hierarchies, widened global inequalities, marginalized local economies, and provided MNCs access to a “global labor pool.”