Globalization and Cross-Border People Movements: The Case of Recent Revisions in US Immigration Legislation

Abstract

Much of the literature on globalization portrays the world as divided into ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, with the losers being the poorest and weakest societal members, and the winners being the most powerful. From this perspective, the losers as opponents are pitted against the winners as supporters of globalization. This chapter argues, however, that attitudes towards globalization are often more complex. It is quite common for societal groups and states to support some aspects of globalization that benefit them, and at the same time to oppose other aspects of globalization that pose a real or presumed threat to them. Globalization also sometimes creates strange bedfellows, with Rightist and Leftist groups joining together to keep out foreign influences. The cross-border movement of people is one area where there is often a more generalized negative societal reaction to globalization. Although many states and societal groups support freer trade and capital flows, they are far more resistent to the freer movement of people. Thus, ‘among factor exchange systems financial markets are the most globalized, [while] labour markets are the least so. No other area of economic life remains so much under the thrall of states and so resistant to globalizing effects.’¹