INTERNET CENTRED DIVERGENT GLOBALIZATION : ARMAGEDDON AT THE END OF DIGITALLY DIVIDING PRECIPICE

AUTHOR: Mustafa Emre Civelek

CATEGORY: Globalization

“The sign of cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union is Berlin wall however new age -not defined properly as yet - has the internet as definitive symbol.  Internet deserves being symbol of new age due to its acceleratory role as catalyst in the globalization procedure. Conversely this main symbol of globalization cause a global division named as digital divide. Consequently I decided to call this phenomenon as  - Divergent Globalization - “

 M. Emre CİVELEK , July 23, 2003

  The age before collapsing of Berlin wall is named as cold war which is a term used to describe political and ideological struggle. Albeit this term is used for defininig the period elapsed from 1947 to 1962 as limited. But I prefer to use this term for a long term between 1945 (The end of World War II) – 1989 (Collapse of Berlin wall) . In this age political and ideological struggle cause the world to polarize. In those days it was thought that this obstinate contest between the capitalist and communist ideologies would cause an inevitable nuclear war . But this terrific end did not occur. Because another process we can named it as first globalization had been continuing to develop in background simultaneously  from the beginning of twenty century. This first globalization period begun  due to proliferation of transportation means and commenced an  irreversable process which can succinctly be difined as “forming of universal values between nations living around the world” . What this process done is to blend local culture each other and to generate common values shared by nations around the world.  So as to explain the term “irreversable”  I want to give an historical example: French revolution took place in 1789 . After this in 1804 Napoleon retrograde this revolution and retuned monarchy back by declaring himselves as emperor. But French revolution trigger an irreversable paradigm shift around the world and especially this revolution exerted destructive influence on Ottoman Empire and subsequently other empires had collapsed.  Similarly first globalization started an irreversable quantum leap in regular people’s mind. Ceases such as  World War I , Communist social revolution , World War II and lastly cold war could not prevent globalization period from developing. Therefore collapsing of Berlin wall is not considered beginning of globalization age because globalization started at the beginning of twenty century due to proliferation of transportation means. Collapsing of Berlin wall is a turning point in  globalization  process. Because after this event it was  understood more clearly that finance and trade have an important role on international affairs. Indeed, the only thing forming relation between nations is technology. Because imminent changes will cause creative destruction. Therefore in recent global model the friends in the past may turn the potantial enemies. The preemptive war which is new defence concept of United States has this philosophy in the background. The main philosophy is to control raw material and energy resources in order to prevent the rivals which has the capability to generate creative destruction , from achieving swift thechnological developments. At last this preemptive and unilateral war might turn out in the reverse of what was expected. Because across the world hostility toward preemptive war of United States is already inflamed. Preemptive war is carried out against individuals which have the capability to generate unexpected progression as well as governments. Control of governments is easier than control of individuals. Internet increase this probability , because it increase the power of individuals and create New Ecosocial System individuals which can be named as super powered individuals. This kind of individual can acquire power to manage creative destruction process.  Strengthening such individual cause an other phenomenon to happen. Name of this phenomenon is digital divide. Concisely digital divide can be defined as follows:

 “The name of bilateral irregularity arising from asymmetry between indivuals that use different means so as to get information. Succinctly main reason of this phenomenon is emergence of internet.”

 In globalizing world digital divide may be considered as main instability component. Principal aspect of  digital divide is diverging precipice between the individuals using internet effectively and on the other hand the individuals not having effective communication means. In unilateral world (being United States as unique super power ) equilibrium between New Ecosocial System individuals and national government is continuing to increase its importance day by day as well as military and financial equilibrium. An other imminent thechnological development expected to generate creative destruction in global trade and to increase global trade volume is the development of paperless environment for international trade transactions . Substitution  electronic document for paper documents will cause integration between institutions to be achieved.  This incident will be turning point of  divergent globalization. Because reaching full integration between trade partners and other institutions involved in trade transactions , by means of electronic documens , decrease the operational costs into unprecedented level. Thus the companies continuing to use calassical means will  experienced  relentless creative destruction. I am confident that electronic equivalent of paper documents would result in cost saving , increased efficiency  and effectiveness in administrative and operational procedures , reduction in human errors and elimination of fraud and forgery in commercial transactions. Thereto the emergence of such technology  may force present business  practices in private and public sector  to upgrade.  Cost saving resulted from usage of electronic documents in public sector  is anticipated to reach considerable level which can allow governments to allocate more public revenues for  sustainable development. Concisely sustainable development can be defined as follows:

 “Sustainable development means that a development programme not consuming natural resources in order future generations to sustain their lives. Balance between human being and nature is important for sustainable development. Sustainable development is a concept that contains social , ecologic , economic and cultural aspects.”

 On the other hand for the private sector cost saving means that more investment for research and development. Consequently cost saving resulted from usage of electronic commercial documents offers unprecedented productivity boost in many areas and increase welfare of community. However elimination of manual processing from business procedures cause a real creative destruction , because it will cause a lot of people to lose their jobs and to shift their sector as digital precipice increasingly deeper. At the end of this creative destruction individuals of New Ecosocial System might get high salaries , contrarily the individuals confined to the digitally divided precipice might lose their jobs. Therefore digital divide is a real jeopardy for the countries not increasing education level of their population because the people which are not educated might be dumped on the lap of relentless creative destruction. Internet literacy main indicator of education level in emerging world of New Ecosocial System.  Therefore governments should take actions for increasing internet literacy so as to protect their current boundaries. Because in the history it can be observed clearly that technologic developments determine the boundaries between countries. Creative destruction is not far , because information technology is evolving faster than ever before. Extarnal integration which is most important point is about to be achieved. Therefore countries and companies that want to sustain their entity should set their short run strategies depends upon imminent creative destruction.   

 Emergence of advanced web technologies  such as web based platforms for electronic documents and trade points on which all trading partners combined effectively  will accelerate divergent globalization process. Finally divergent globalization phenomenon might cause a global and unprecedented social revolution.