How Has Greece Been Affected By Globalization
To what extent has Greece been Affected by Globalization, Socially, Politically, Environmentally, Economically and Culturally?
(above is a picture of the Greek flag)
Greece is a relatively small country situated in the Southern East part of Europe. It is made up of many different islands and is mostly surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. The picture on the right is the current flag of Greece. The capital of Greece is Athens, situated in the middle of the country and on the edge of the country’s largest island. Athens is most famous for for being one of the oldest cities, with recording 3440 years of history (Wikipedia, N.D), in the world as well as a pinpoint to the start of current human civilization. The official language of Greece …show more content…
is Greek. As of July 2014 the overall population of Greece is just under 11 million (10,775,577) (CIA Factbook, July 2014). Out of these 11 million people, roughly 6 million of them have access to internet, which allows them to connect with others and know what is happening in the world. The life expectancy in Greece is around 80 years old, thirtieth in the overall worldwide ranking. Greece is currently a Parliamentary Republic, although before it was called the Kingdom of Greece. The GDP per capita for Greece is $23,600 (CIA Factbook, July 2014). In Greece there are a total of 68 airports, the busiest being the one in Athens which has a total of 12,459,081 passengers per year. This is a major point of entry for people to come and leave Greece. Greece has a total income from trade of $35,179,710,397 and loses almost the double of $62,341,250,082 which means it has a trade balance of -$27,161,539,685. Globalization is defined as ‘the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale’ creating the inter-connectedness between countries. Greece has been impacted, both positively and negatively, by globalization under different aspects: Socially, Politically, Environmentally, Economically and Culturally. Recently Greece has been suffering from a huge economic crisis, having borrowed a big amount money from other countries creating a huge internal debt. According to BBC’s reports, the European Union showed some generosity by cutting down the debt by 44 billion euros. in addition to the 40 billion euros bailout aid. Nevertheless, beside this huge support from the European Community, Greece was not able to properly adjust its internal costs and expenses basically reaching a situation of so called “default” or bankruptcy where there were no more funds to pay back debts and even simply payroll for the public administration. This situation of unbalance between excessive costs and revenues was present for long time even before Greece joined the Euro. Then, when
The diagram above represents Greece’s total debt to each country they did join the Euro, the people of Greece started spending even more due to inflation caused by the currency exchange from the Drachma to the Euro that, as in all Europe, increased the overall cost of living. To keep the same standard of living, Greece started to spend more money than what was actually available finally bringing the country to the current economic crisis. On the bright side, Greece joining the Euro increased their economy enormously as well as surpassing many European Union countries (Globalization 101, February 10th 2010). Greece was able to benefit from joining the European Union tremendously as the European Union is one of the strongest economy world wide, accounting 23% of the world’s GDP (Economics Help, May, 24 2014). This result has been achieved since the European Union has put a law about ‘free trade and the removal of non-tariff barriers’ which helped reduce costs of goods for the consumers. In the end, Greece has both received benefits and drawbacks when the role of globalization came to play in the country. They were able to get support from other countries in the EU to further develop their economy and infrastructure but also might have borrowed a bit too much resulting into a huge debt. Similar to the economy aspect, Greece has been suffering from government and political benefits as well as problems.
Thanks to the impact of globalization on Greece’s politics, Greece is now a member of the European Union, one of the most well established political groups worldwide. Now any person from any country with the European Union is allowed to travel across all countries that are part of the EU without a passport or visa, creating no boundaries between countries making a europe a country of its own. As a matter of fact, another benefit is that now people can find a job anywhere within these countries having easy access to all of them. Greece is now moving towards a more democratic country which seems to be the ‘ultimate form of political stability by the world (Mehlika Fathima N.D). Ever since the joining of the Euro, the Greek government had a huge problem having been corrupt and having a huge debt crisis. Therefore joining the European Union again had both positive and negative impacts as it allowed them to become united with other countries taking advantage of all the benefits of being in the European Union has to give even though, on the negative side, all these benefits came at the price caused of daily living …show more content…
cost. Globalization has affected all countries environmentally. The amount of changes our world went through in terms of environment is just amazing. Globalization is a dynamic process that is developing in different periods and stages and the most recent one started from 1970 and onwards. In ancient times Greece was actually the center of the globalization influencing all the other western cultures and societies. Regarding the present, Greece has increasingly become very industrialized and extremely populated (Countries Quest, N.D) and because of this now Greece has had recent air sanity problems. Each year, hundreds of Greeks go to the hospital due to the air pollution that is going on around Greece (Countries Quest, N.D). Not only has this pollution affected people but some of the famous antique buildings of ancient greece. In attempt to prevent the destruction of these
The picture above is the Gulf of Saronikos historical creations, the government tries to limit the amount of vehicles entering the country, especially Athens (Countries Quest, N.D). It’s also been said that the government encourages its civilians to try to use eco-friendly vehicles as much as possible (Countries Quest, N.D). Not only does Greece have air pollution problems, there have been reports of severely bad water quality as well. 50% of the industrial waste all goes to the Gulf of
Saronikos, in addition to the whole of Athen’s sewage. The pollution in the Saronikos gulf has ‘contributed’ to all the pollution that occurs in the Mediterranean Sea. Greece has again been affected by globalization positively as it has been able to gradually develop as a nation yet also harm its environments including famous monuments and greenery. Another aspect of Greece that Globalization has affected immensely was socially. Increasing migration from Africa and Eastern Europe is becoming more and more a problem in Greece especially during hard economic times such as the present moment when unavailable economic resources would be be needed to help support these illegal immigrants in addition to the local people. As consequence, unemployment became a huge problem in Greece now that, considering the overall general poor economic situation, it is already hard for the locals to get a job, and the chance is decreasing more and more having more immigrants coming in the country. Until to the late 70s, the ratio of immigrants to emigrants was fairly balanced, keeping the population relatively stable (Migration Policy, March 8, 2012). Then, around the 80s, there were small groups from different regions including Asia, Africa and Poland who settled in well because they found construction and agricultural work. These people then communicated to others about them finding jobs which lead to a higher immigration rate. In 1986, the total amount immigrants was 90,000 within the country. Now, there is a registered 167,000 ‘foreigners’ in Greece which has a population of just over 10,000,000 people, an incredible 53% increase within only 10 years. (Migration Policy, March 8th 2012). These are just a few of the many social problems in Greece affected by Globalization. The last aspect to look into is the cultural one.
Greece has both a rich history and culture that makes them stand out from other regions. According to Chris Tsolakis, the real problem in Greece is not economical but instead cultural. He believes that the economical aspect lies on the surfaces of problems of mainly ethical origins. Chris Tsolakis feels that the people don’t understand ethical concepts anymore such as respecting the law, the difference between what is right and what is wrong, human equality etc. (Chris Tsolakis, August 3rd 2012). He feared that globalization will have an effect on the society and culture of the country as globalization will bring new ideas and concepts around the world that may interfere with the local one which could make a country lose in time their identity in terms of value, beliefs and culture. Although this can be a limitation, it could also benefit others. Many people don’t have the chance to leave their country, or even their own city, but now being in contact with foreigners, the locals can get to know other people from different cultures. Then again, some of these culture might not get along well and cause troubles and protests in the country, which is something Greece does not need at this moment of time as they have other problems to deal
with. In Conclusion, Globalization has obviously had a huge impact on Greece positively and unfortunately also negatively. Greece has been developing at an enormous rate aftre joining the European Union that had supported Greece economically for long time creating a huge growth but, at the same time, a huge internal debt that Greece itself is now unable to repay. Greece also had a huge benefit of joining the European Union politically as now people can go around most European countries as there are basically no boundaries between the regions as it is kind of like a country of its own. This means that people could find jobs in other countries easily, if they don’t find one in their own country which is very likely in Greece now especially during this big economic crisis. Greece, like any other country, has had some environmental issues with all the industrial pollution floating around the country. This is due to the numerous factories, industries and water waste that is not treated properly. They even ruin many historical artifacts from Ancient Greece as well as polluting the Mediterranean Sea. Migration, gradually increasing each year, became a big problem in Greece. Due to its convenient location close to Africa and Eastern Europe, Greece is easily accessible for anyone that is looking for a better life in Greece or in the European Union in general. In the beginning it was acceptable because firstly there were not many of them and secondly the country was doing well financially as well. Now both of these factors have become worse which makes the Greek government to face additional problems. Lastly local culture has been altered ever since globalization. People think differently and they start losing their ethical beliefs. This could be due to the influence of other ideas and thoughts from other countries that globalization process has brought into the country. Globalization can have huge benefits and make a country develop in ways never thought before, but they could also lose valuable aspects that defines a country. Considering this situation there are a few modifications that can be done to help improve Greece with its problems.
Economical: Spending Review. Government officials should get together and compare their current spendings figures with the ones of other more developed countries and adjusting the expenses accordingly .
Social: Limit the Amount of Migration. The Greek government should put a law on the amount of immigrants allowed to enter the country, depending on the availability of the internal resources.
Cultural: Privatize Historical Monuments. The Greek government should allow private companies that are interested in historical monuments to be able to maintain and restore them in exchange of the possibility of gaining the income generated by the management of the monuments itself (For example tickets to visit). This way both the state and the owner can have a benefit of the situation.
Political: Strict laws. Greece should also put strict laws on public spending to avoid misuse of public money and resources.
Environmental: Tax Reduction. There should be a tax reduction to incentivate companies that have action plans of going Green.
Bibliography:
BBC News,. 'Q&A: Greek Debt Crisis'. N.p., 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Cia.gov,. 'The World Factbook'. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Culture.polishsite.us,. 'Joining European Union, List Of Benefits (II) - Polish Culture'. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Econ.economicshelp.org,. 'Economics Essays: Benefits Of European Union'. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Fathima, Mehlika. 'GLOBALIZATION AND ITS SOCIAL-CULTURAL-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS'. Academia.edu. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Regula, deTraci. 'Everything You Need To Know About The Greek Flag'. About. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Countriesquest.com,. 'Environmental Issues - Land And Resources - Greece - Europe'. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Globalization101,. 'What Greece Thinks About Globalization'. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Nejtillemu.com,. 'Välkommen Till Nejtillemu.Com'. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Insights, Global et al. 'Greece: Trade Statistics >> Globaledge: Your Source For Global Business Knowledge'. Globaledge.msu.edu. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Internetworldstats.com,. 'European Union Internet Usage And Population Stats'. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
(above is a picture of the Greek flag)
Greece is a relatively small country situated in the Southern East part of Europe. It is made up of many different islands and is mostly surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. The picture on the right is the current flag of Greece. The capital of Greece is Athens, situated in the middle of the country and on the edge of the country’s largest island. Athens is most famous for for being one of the oldest cities, with recording 3440 years of history (Wikipedia, N.D), in the world as well as a pinpoint to the start of current human civilization. The official language of Greece …show more content…
is Greek. As of July 2014 the overall population of Greece is just under 11 million (10,775,577) (CIA Factbook, July 2014). Out of these 11 million people, roughly 6 million of them have access to internet, which allows them to connect with others and know what is happening in the world. The life expectancy in Greece is around 80 years old, thirtieth in the overall worldwide ranking. Greece is currently a Parliamentary Republic, although before it was called the Kingdom of Greece. The GDP per capita for Greece is $23,600 (CIA Factbook, July 2014). In Greece there are a total of 68 airports, the busiest being the one in Athens which has a total of 12,459,081 passengers per year. This is a major point of entry for people to come and leave Greece. Greece has a total income from trade of $35,179,710,397 and loses almost the double of $62,341,250,082 which means it has a trade balance of -$27,161,539,685. Globalization is defined as ‘the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale’ creating the inter-connectedness between countries. Greece has been impacted, both positively and negatively, by globalization under different aspects: Socially, Politically, Environmentally, Economically and Culturally. Recently Greece has been suffering from a huge economic crisis, having borrowed a big amount money from other countries creating a huge internal debt. According to BBC’s reports, the European Union showed some generosity by cutting down the debt by 44 billion euros. in addition to the 40 billion euros bailout aid. Nevertheless, beside this huge support from the European Community, Greece was not able to properly adjust its internal costs and expenses basically reaching a situation of so called “default” or bankruptcy where there were no more funds to pay back debts and even simply payroll for the public administration. This situation of unbalance between excessive costs and revenues was present for long time even before Greece joined the Euro. Then, when
The diagram above represents Greece’s total debt to each country they did join the Euro, the people of Greece started spending even more due to inflation caused by the currency exchange from the Drachma to the Euro that, as in all Europe, increased the overall cost of living. To keep the same standard of living, Greece started to spend more money than what was actually available finally bringing the country to the current economic crisis. On the bright side, Greece joining the Euro increased their economy enormously as well as surpassing many European Union countries (Globalization 101, February 10th 2010). Greece was able to benefit from joining the European Union tremendously as the European Union is one of the strongest economy world wide, accounting 23% of the world’s GDP (Economics Help, May, 24 2014). This result has been achieved since the European Union has put a law about ‘free trade and the removal of non-tariff barriers’ which helped reduce costs of goods for the consumers. In the end, Greece has both received benefits and drawbacks when the role of globalization came to play in the country. They were able to get support from other countries in the EU to further develop their economy and infrastructure but also might have borrowed a bit too much resulting into a huge debt. Similar to the economy aspect, Greece has been suffering from government and political benefits as well as problems.
Thanks to the impact of globalization on Greece’s politics, Greece is now a member of the European Union, one of the most well established political groups worldwide. Now any person from any country with the European Union is allowed to travel across all countries that are part of the EU without a passport or visa, creating no boundaries between countries making a europe a country of its own. As a matter of fact, another benefit is that now people can find a job anywhere within these countries having easy access to all of them. Greece is now moving towards a more democratic country which seems to be the ‘ultimate form of political stability by the world (Mehlika Fathima N.D). Ever since the joining of the Euro, the Greek government had a huge problem having been corrupt and having a huge debt crisis. Therefore joining the European Union again had both positive and negative impacts as it allowed them to become united with other countries taking advantage of all the benefits of being in the European Union has to give even though, on the negative side, all these benefits came at the price caused of daily living …show more content…
cost. Globalization has affected all countries environmentally. The amount of changes our world went through in terms of environment is just amazing. Globalization is a dynamic process that is developing in different periods and stages and the most recent one started from 1970 and onwards. In ancient times Greece was actually the center of the globalization influencing all the other western cultures and societies. Regarding the present, Greece has increasingly become very industrialized and extremely populated (Countries Quest, N.D) and because of this now Greece has had recent air sanity problems. Each year, hundreds of Greeks go to the hospital due to the air pollution that is going on around Greece (Countries Quest, N.D). Not only has this pollution affected people but some of the famous antique buildings of ancient greece. In attempt to prevent the destruction of these
The picture above is the Gulf of Saronikos historical creations, the government tries to limit the amount of vehicles entering the country, especially Athens (Countries Quest, N.D). It’s also been said that the government encourages its civilians to try to use eco-friendly vehicles as much as possible (Countries Quest, N.D). Not only does Greece have air pollution problems, there have been reports of severely bad water quality as well. 50% of the industrial waste all goes to the Gulf of
Saronikos, in addition to the whole of Athen’s sewage. The pollution in the Saronikos gulf has ‘contributed’ to all the pollution that occurs in the Mediterranean Sea. Greece has again been affected by globalization positively as it has been able to gradually develop as a nation yet also harm its environments including famous monuments and greenery. Another aspect of Greece that Globalization has affected immensely was socially. Increasing migration from Africa and Eastern Europe is becoming more and more a problem in Greece especially during hard economic times such as the present moment when unavailable economic resources would be be needed to help support these illegal immigrants in addition to the local people. As consequence, unemployment became a huge problem in Greece now that, considering the overall general poor economic situation, it is already hard for the locals to get a job, and the chance is decreasing more and more having more immigrants coming in the country. Until to the late 70s, the ratio of immigrants to emigrants was fairly balanced, keeping the population relatively stable (Migration Policy, March 8, 2012). Then, around the 80s, there were small groups from different regions including Asia, Africa and Poland who settled in well because they found construction and agricultural work. These people then communicated to others about them finding jobs which lead to a higher immigration rate. In 1986, the total amount immigrants was 90,000 within the country. Now, there is a registered 167,000 ‘foreigners’ in Greece which has a population of just over 10,000,000 people, an incredible 53% increase within only 10 years. (Migration Policy, March 8th 2012). These are just a few of the many social problems in Greece affected by Globalization. The last aspect to look into is the cultural one.
Greece has both a rich history and culture that makes them stand out from other regions. According to Chris Tsolakis, the real problem in Greece is not economical but instead cultural. He believes that the economical aspect lies on the surfaces of problems of mainly ethical origins. Chris Tsolakis feels that the people don’t understand ethical concepts anymore such as respecting the law, the difference between what is right and what is wrong, human equality etc. (Chris Tsolakis, August 3rd 2012). He feared that globalization will have an effect on the society and culture of the country as globalization will bring new ideas and concepts around the world that may interfere with the local one which could make a country lose in time their identity in terms of value, beliefs and culture. Although this can be a limitation, it could also benefit others. Many people don’t have the chance to leave their country, or even their own city, but now being in contact with foreigners, the locals can get to know other people from different cultures. Then again, some of these culture might not get along well and cause troubles and protests in the country, which is something Greece does not need at this moment of time as they have other problems to deal
with. In Conclusion, Globalization has obviously had a huge impact on Greece positively and unfortunately also negatively. Greece has been developing at an enormous rate aftre joining the European Union that had supported Greece economically for long time creating a huge growth but, at the same time, a huge internal debt that Greece itself is now unable to repay. Greece also had a huge benefit of joining the European Union politically as now people can go around most European countries as there are basically no boundaries between the regions as it is kind of like a country of its own. This means that people could find jobs in other countries easily, if they don’t find one in their own country which is very likely in Greece now especially during this big economic crisis. Greece, like any other country, has had some environmental issues with all the industrial pollution floating around the country. This is due to the numerous factories, industries and water waste that is not treated properly. They even ruin many historical artifacts from Ancient Greece as well as polluting the Mediterranean Sea. Migration, gradually increasing each year, became a big problem in Greece. Due to its convenient location close to Africa and Eastern Europe, Greece is easily accessible for anyone that is looking for a better life in Greece or in the European Union in general. In the beginning it was acceptable because firstly there were not many of them and secondly the country was doing well financially as well. Now both of these factors have become worse which makes the Greek government to face additional problems. Lastly local culture has been altered ever since globalization. People think differently and they start losing their ethical beliefs. This could be due to the influence of other ideas and thoughts from other countries that globalization process has brought into the country. Globalization can have huge benefits and make a country develop in ways never thought before, but they could also lose valuable aspects that defines a country. Considering this situation there are a few modifications that can be done to help improve Greece with its problems.
Economical: Spending Review. Government officials should get together and compare their current spendings figures with the ones of other more developed countries and adjusting the expenses accordingly .
Social: Limit the Amount of Migration. The Greek government should put a law on the amount of immigrants allowed to enter the country, depending on the availability of the internal resources.
Cultural: Privatize Historical Monuments. The Greek government should allow private companies that are interested in historical monuments to be able to maintain and restore them in exchange of the possibility of gaining the income generated by the management of the monuments itself (For example tickets to visit). This way both the state and the owner can have a benefit of the situation.
Political: Strict laws. Greece should also put strict laws on public spending to avoid misuse of public money and resources.
Environmental: Tax Reduction. There should be a tax reduction to incentivate companies that have action plans of going Green.
Bibliography:
BBC News,. 'Q&A: Greek Debt Crisis'. N.p., 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Cia.gov,. 'The World Factbook'. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Culture.polishsite.us,. 'Joining European Union, List Of Benefits (II) - Polish Culture'. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Econ.economicshelp.org,. 'Economics Essays: Benefits Of European Union'. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Fathima, Mehlika. 'GLOBALIZATION AND ITS SOCIAL-CULTURAL-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS'. Academia.edu. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Regula, deTraci. 'Everything You Need To Know About The Greek Flag'. About. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Countriesquest.com,. 'Environmental Issues - Land And Resources - Greece - Europe'. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Globalization101,. 'What Greece Thinks About Globalization'. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Nejtillemu.com,. 'Välkommen Till Nejtillemu.Com'. N.p., 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Insights, Global et al. 'Greece: Trade Statistics >> Globaledge: Your Source For Global Business Knowledge'. Globaledge.msu.edu. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Internetworldstats.com,. 'European Union Internet Usage And Population Stats'. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.