Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

During the long Cold War demonstrators frequently took to the streets to protest atomic weapons and the dangers of nuclear war. With the collapse of the Soviet Union that concern faded, but globalization emerged as the next hot-button issue to ignite widespread political protests. Protests began in Europe with attacks on McDonald's restaurants in August 1999. A few months later, the protests spread to Seattle, where thousands of demonstrators marched, smashed storefront windows, and disrupted a ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Quickly, the antiglobalization protests ricocheted around the planet to intergovernmental summits, meetings of international agencies, and top-level business conferences. Over time new issues, such as the war in Iraq, would occupy the protestors. But public opinion polls indicate continuing widespread unease about globalization in most high-income countries. A BBC poll, released in 2008, showed an average of 56% in six western European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom) saying that economic globalization is growing too quickly.So what is globalization and why has it become so controversial to many ordinary people, but an irreversible new reality to most business and government leaders? In a modern setting globalization can be viewed broadly as a dynamic, synergistic process which over time integrates ... log in or subscribe to read full text