Aastha Agrawal

All India Rank: 14

Prize: CL Course worth Rs. 10k.

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• UPSC attempt given before- NO
• Pre-qualified - NO
• Main Qualified- No
• Final Selected - No
• Graduation: B.Tech(Mechanical Engineering)
• College: VSSUT, Burla

Globalization & its impact on Democracy

Globalization is characterised as free flow of ideas, people, information and capital across the borders. While Kenichi Globalization can be defined as the interaction and interdependence between various nation-states in the world, leading to its social, economic, cultural, and technological integration. As a direct consequence of the European colonization, people from different nations shared similar colonial experiences, bringing them together. This along with the prolific trade and cultural exchange has led to the gradual emergence of a global entity among the masses. The exponential growth and the unfathomably wide reach of the internet have further accelerated the process. In the virtual world, where national borders are seldom visible, and cultural identities often mixed, people are citizens of the world as a whole.
The awareness of varied and better political systems across the globe has given the power to people in dictatorial and autocratic states to demand democratic rights. The recent changes in the social condition of women in Saudi Arabia are proof of the impact of globalization on the most vulnerable sections. The gradual trickling od democratic ideas across borders into authoritarian states have made democratization, or least a popular demand for it, inevitable. Globalization has increased the accountability of the governments, making them answerable not only to their citizens but the international community as a whole. It has also helped new and developing democracies to create more wealth through international trade, allowing them to sustain their newfound political order. People facing similar injustices across various countries, can band together and demand universal justice, such as in case of women's rights and labor laws. Globalization has made governments more transparent, inclusive, efficient, and diverse, giving people several international sticks to measure their governance by. 
On the flipside, globalization has also set a price on democracy and forgotten its value. As long a nation has the economic upper hand, it can discard all democratic ideals and still be a key player in global politics., most notably, The Republic of China. Democracy is based on the basic principle of giving people the power to choose their rule-makers. Globalization, effectively strips away that power, as rule-makers in developed nations can affect the lives of people in developing nations. It has also helped sustain authoritarian regimes by creating nationalist insecurities among people. It has a very clear bias towards the western ideals of governance and culture, taking away the voice of the third world. The loss of culture, identity, and individual expression due to globalization have eroded the very things democracy sought to protect. India has witnessed various levels of globalization and its subsequent impact on our democracy.  While India has an extremely global constitution, with many ideals borrowed and inspired by several constitutions of the world, we have been struggling to fully embrace the global community. With its own overwhelming diversity, India has a nation has found it historically difficult to impress the global sensibilities. Currently, we are having a strong cultural impact on our globe and going on a path of intellectual diplomacy. While we have a dazzling social and economic global system, we need to build a global political infrastructure in order to be truly democratic as a world.