Globalisation refers to the process of global integration of the economies of nations by allowing the unrestricted flow of goods, services, investments and currencies between countries. Nation states pursued globalization in the hope that this would lead to prosperity. They believed that globalization would bring them agricultural modernization, industrialization, urbanization, and hyper-consumerism resulting in increases of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). Unfortunately, such developments have often been accompanied by increasing social and environmental destruction throughout the world.
The process of globalization is having unprecedented impacts, both positive and negative, on life at the individual, village, town, city and national levels.

For example, greater openness to global economy, on one hand, enables us to weather economy crisis and spurs economic development. Greater foreign investments spurred employment and resulted in the reduction of poverty. Countries like China and India benefits from globalization and boost their economic growth.

On the other hand, the opportunities connected with the globalization process are often overshadowed by the one-sided pursuit of economic growth and global competition. As it summarized in the figure, six forms of growth are identified as leading to unsustainable development.

Jobless growth results when economic output increases amidst high unemployment and underemployment.

Ruthless growth is forcing millions of people to live in poverty, constraining them from developing as full human beings while a few individual billionaires/millionaires enjoy an income level equivalent to the combined income of the millions in poverty. Globally, for example, the 1999 UNDP Human Development Report estimated that the $140 billion combined asset of Bill Gates and the two other top owners of Microsoft is more than the combined gross national product (GNP) of the 43 least economically developed countries and their 600 million people.

Futureless growth results from the destruction of nature through improper mining practices, use of pesticides, insufficient and improper environmental planning for the construction of dams and a range of other ecologically unsound development projects.

Rootless growth refers to the cultural decay and loss of meaning and identity which often accompany economic growth fueled by globalization and the entrance of materialistic lifestyles of industrialized countries.

Voiceless growth is economic growth racing ahead of direct human rights and democratic processes and participatory governance essential to modern societies.

Meaningless growth results when some combination of the other five forms of undesirable growth blocks the creativity of the human spirit. The resulting loss in creativity, perspective, meaning, hope, and morality necessarily expresses itself in suicide, violence, drug addiction, crime, corruption and other social ills.