ok, had dial-up for awhile at home, so posting was basically out of question.
One of the questions from the list of topics was how war fit into the picture of globalization. This topic actually affects me directly, so i’ve decided to talk a little about it. For the last 20 odd some years, my dad works for a company, previously Olin and Primax, now General Dynamics. Basically, they make weapons, his branch makes tank artillery. As long as i can remember, he has always been traveling to other countries for his latest projects, whether it be Taiwan, Egypt, Sweden, or the latest, South Africa. In Taiwan and Egypt, general dynamics were building a factory there for our artillery to be made. right now the project he is involved with consists of recieving South Africa’s plans of their latest technology in weapons. They are actually one of the leading countries in advanced weapons, about five to ten years ahead of us. If the US had no need for the technology from South Africa, my dad would have a bit of a problem.
There are other ways war affects globalization. For example, the economy. War can either improve or kill the economy. The defense budget is almost automatically boosted for war, and if the rest of the budgets cannot cope with their losses, the rest of the economy is going to end up in trouble. Another factor that is usually forgetten as well, is the culture. Most of America’s culture reached these other countries when the soldiers ended up in another country, bringing with them ideas and taking some back to the States. War has always had a tendency to either bring countries together or tear them apart. The UN wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for WW2. China ceases their civil war to combine forces during Mao to fight off the Japanese. The fall of the Soviet Union helped to create the globalized world we have today. War and globablizaton go hand in hand.
