What Is Globalism?

A Word Closer to Home Than You Think

Globalism is the idea of seeing the world not as regions or countries — “Tokyo,” “Japan” — but as one system called Earth. The word comes from “globe,” and its adjective “global” is something we hear all the time. In Japanese it's called chikyu-shugi, “Earth-ism.”

It may sound difficult, but once you know concrete examples, you'll find it lurking close to home. This article explains the pros and cons of this way of thinking and how it relates to your life.

The Advantages of Globalism

Globalism sees the Earth as one system — in other words, it has no concept of borders. That has big advantages.

Countries differ in food self-sufficiency (rice and so on) and mineral resources such as coal. Countries with low self-sufficiency and few resources struggle to develop industry and stay poor. Globalism can help solve this: without borders, people can work abroad, learn other countries' technologies and industries, and possibly use them to develop their own.

Since prices differ between rich and poor countries, rich countries can hire workers at lower wages, which stimulates both economies.

The Disadvantages of Globalism

Simply put: a widening gap between rich and poor countries, and economic stagnation. When markets globalize, competition intensifies. Companies in rich countries expand overseas in search of cheaper labour, leading to the decline of domestic industry and rising unemployment.

Workers from poorer countries also flow in seeking jobs, taking employment in the host country and pushing wages down further. This vicious cycle causes lost job opportunities, income inequality and poverty for the country's own citizens.

A disadvantage that has become clear recently is the faster spread of infectious diseases. Economic development goes hand in hand with movement of people, and when that happens on a global scale, epidemics spread dramatically faster — which in turn has dragged down the world economy.

Examples of Globalism

Advances in Communications Such as Social Media

To exchange information across borders, communication technologies like social media developed rapidly. With the spread of the internet in the 1990s, exchanging information unconstrained by physical location became widespread. The global pandemic then spread video conferencing such as Zoom in Japan not only among heads of state and executives but among ordinary office workers too.

Expanding Markets

As part of expanding markets — promoting free trade — agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have been concluded, and free trade is being expanded through deregulation of tariffs and import restrictions. Whether Japan should join was once a hot topic in the news.

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