Globalization; an Opportunity or a Threat towards World Peace? (An Empirical Analysis Using the GMM Method)

Mohamadian Mansour, Sahebe; Golkhandan, Abolghasem

Globalization; an Opportunity or a Threat towards World Peace? (An Empirical Analysis Using the GMM Method)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Assistants Professor, Department of Economics, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

² Ph.D., Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Lorestan University, Lorestan, Iran.

Abstract

There has been a seemingly growing and unstoppable trend towards Globalization during the past few decades that has affected various fields. Some believe that globalization can pose a serious threat to world peace. On the other hand, others argue that globalization offers an opportunity for creating a more peaceful world. In this regard, the main purpose of this article is to examine the impact of globalization by analyzing relevant sub-indices including economic, social and political globalization and their relationship with the degree of militarization (considered as a negative indicator of movement towards world peace) in 171 countries around the world, during the 2001-2021 time period. For this purpose, the methodology of this paper relied on drawing on the theoretical literature and applying the panel data method in order to identify and model the factors affecting the movement towards militarization and globalization.
The results obtained using the SGMM estimator show that the effect of globalization and all its sub-indices on the Global Militarization index (GMI) is negative and significant. Moreover, among the sub-indicators of globalization, economic globalization had the greatest effect in reducing militarization in countries around the world. Therefore, it can be argued that globalization is not only, not a threat to peace in the world, but furthermore, it helps to facilitate movement towards world peace. Based on other results, it can be argued that improving the level of democracy, improving the functioning of institutions and reducing regional arms competition will have a significant effect on reducing the militarization process, consequently, facilitating movement towards world peace.

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