Globalization: Developmental Boon Or Bane?

ball-shapedisation Developmental Boon Or Bane?Years ago, globalisation was the curious buzzword which was viewed with much optimism by much of the world, including the poor and under veritable nations . The merge of the worlds economies augurd great opportunities for growth and instruction especiall(a)y for Third adult male economies. Today, on that point argon two prevailing sentiments on globalisation either that globalisation has resultanted to prosperity for the poor nations or that it has resulted to the prosperity of the rich at spending of the worlds poor (Irogbe, 2005). This paper posits that eon globalization have provided a purge of benefits for underdeveloped nations, the wheels of globalization has led to the widening poverty gap, the deterioration of internal economies, marginalisation of the South, cultural homogenization, and environmental degradation.Main Features of GlobalizationGlobalization is a complex process which has many facets sparing, politi cal and cultural. To understand this more concretely, discussed are the main features of globalization from the perspective of the developing world and how it is concretely manifested. look at globalization from a Third World lens is crucial to our understanding of it (Yotopoulous Romano, 2007). This is because, when viewed from the perspective of the First World, it is lento to appreciate the obvious benefits of globalization. For instance, globalization has enabled Americans to get hold of a wide range of products and run from all over the world. The margining of the worlds economies have allowed us to enjoy dear(p)s previously in approach pathible to us because of high cost for instance, fruits such as pineapples, bananas, and mangoes that is non homegrown in the United States. We can listen to world music, Africa, Jamaican, Latin American, and Arabic rhythms through and through our iPod all day long. What is not clearly visible to us is how the wheels of globalization imp act the farmer in Southeast Asia, the coffee growers in Latin America, and the agricultural workers in Africa. economical integrationWhile faster interlink through advanced technology and transportation is the just about popular idea about globalization, globalization is a fundamentally economic phenomenon. The economic promise of free cope and free competition was supposedly designed to dish out Third World economies to tuck market access previously insurmountable to penetrate (Lechner Boli, 2004). This has been true. Underdeveloped countries have been able to export their topical anaesthetic products to developed markets unlike in the past (Sen, 2000). However, the king-sizeger picture suggests because of the inherent asymmetries of the worlds economies, globalization also leads to asymmetrical instruction benefitting the rich countries more than the poor (Yotopoulous Romano, 2007).Economic integration through the merging of the global economies takes on collar prin cipal(a) forms liberalization, privatization, and deregulation (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000). Liberalization is the downgrading of the social goals of theme development, combined with the upgrading of participation in the world market (McMichael, 2004, p. 158). This is achieved by decrease and eventually removing the barriers to flow of goods, capital, and services among countries, e.g. the removal of tariffs on agricultural products such as corn, rice, or beef. deregulation doer the reduction of the reduction of the role of governments in regulating trade and production and in providing services (Yotopoulos Romano, 2007). It adheres to the belief that the market is the virtually competent and effective determinant of what should be maturated and what would be consumed. Privatization in its purest sense means divestiture of render-owned enterprises or SOEs (McMichael, 2004). What used to be an ideological battle betwixt big government/welfare states and more marketless state has moved into the mainstream economic development debate under the guise of sound economic management and good governance (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000, p. 45). A deregulated market freed from the visible hand of government is the most efficient, less burden near system that will result in economic progress through foreign investments, so goes the argument. Economic pragmatism and value are the main motives for privatizing today, driven mainly by balance-of-payment imperatives and the need to respite the burden of development from the public to the private sector (Leeds, 1990).To drive these three key strategies of economic globalization, two main institutions are responsible the worlds transnational corporations (TNCs) and the triumvirate of public global financial institutions (Buckman, 2004). The global TNCs hold tremendous entrance in global trade because it has cut back over investment, employment, and traffic decisions which vanquish the decision-making power of most developin g countries. The triumvirate of the the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World coin bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) act as a global overseer of the processes of economic globalization (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000). In theory, the triumvirate could be held accountable by the worlds governments but in practice, it has become a major global bureaucratism wielding enormous, largely unaccountable influence (Buckman, 2004, p. 87). The global privatization network includes multilateral and isobilateral lenders, large MNCs, merchant banks, stockbrokers, accounts and management consultants, legal firms, marketing, specialist consultants, and think tanks (Leeds, 1990). The TNCs control the lions share of the world trade. The strongest among them, act more cohesively, in close cooperation with their respective(prenominal) governments, to assault or defend markets (Bello, 1997, p. 5). Hence, globalization also means the most intense competition even among industrialized economie s. For instance, the United Sates and the vocation interests it represents stands to gain the most from globalization, which is why it has tried to dominate both the GATT-WTO and the APEC (Benyon Dunkerley, 2000). While sublime unilateral measures to protect its own market, the US is trying to prevent another(prenominal) countries from acting in the same way by invoking the principles of free trade. On another plane, many Northern governments, despite the neoliberal ideology of reducing the role of the state in economic matters, sedate heavily subsidise their agricultural products. These then become very cheap and when dumped into the markets of developing countries, local products cannot compete. This explains why farmers in Chile, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia have undergo destruction of their local economies such as in textile, transport, and even cultivation (Bello, 1997 McMichael, 2004).Political marginalizationGlobalization has also resulted to the polit ical asymmetries leading to the marginalization of the South. Globalization has proceeded under the premise that modernization is the key towards the genuine development of the Third World. However, the dependency theory of development suggests that modernization will simply lead to increasing domination of the major world economic players to the scathe of the poor nations. The basic decisions in global trade are still influenced by the dominant countries, leaving symbiotic nations with few choices because the parameters have already been set by the former (Willis, 2005).It is in the South where globalization as a political process really reduces the role of the nation state in terms of deciding the direction of development through macro-economic policies. analog to this is the qualitative strengthening of the institutions of global economic governance (Bello, 1997, p. 8). The main instrument for this has been the debt trap, whereby highly indebted countries are compelled to un dergo structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in exchange for more loans. The infamous SAPs of the IMF, and so-called development loans from the World Bank routinely come with harsh conditionalities that require developing nations to abandon master(prenominal) domestic programs that serve the population. These include education, health services and environmental programs, which dont produce revenues to repay IMF and World Bank loans or interest. This system leaves countries utterly dependent upon market and pricing systems over which they have no control. Meanwhile, they have accustomed up the ability to determine their own destinies. The greatest mystery of channel is how any of the promoters of such rules and conditions (among others) could possibly argue that these rules could help nations rise from poverty. Clearly, this is a blueprint for dependency and poverty creation.Cultural homogenizationGlobalization is a phenomenon that crosses and erases geographical and political bord ers and makes all countries start to look the same. As a result of globalization, local products, services, and glosss disappear into a global culture, a culture defined not by the global citizenry but kinda the worlds economic and political superpowers mostly North America-owned corporations. Because of globalization, sight on each continent are exposed to and consumed by a North American culture defined by Nike running shoes, MTV, Coca Cola, and McDonalds. Some people have re-named the process of globalization and called it McDonaldization or CocaColonization.Not only does globalization create one bland culture the world over, it forces people to pitch their lives to promote this culture. Poor Filipino farmers end up being compel off their land and into factories producing running shoes and video cameras for North Americans, Brazilian rainforests are destroyed in order to make room for ogre beef farms producing hamburgers that will be consumed by the worlds richest people. Because of its focus on corporations access to the free market, globalization has led to an increase in the gap between rich and poor. The worlds poorest people have experienced deepening poverty while the incomes of a very few rich people, have soared. The arrival of the meshing has raised a number of democratic possibilities. However, its decentralised structure has prevented business and the media from gaining control over it. Numerous attacks against people and organisations take place all day on the Web taking action against them is not an easy task. Although there is a great deal of insecurity on the Web, that does not prevent people around the world to use it for their transactions and their communications, since it is a more democratic and less controlled media (Cohen Kennedy, 2007).ConclusionThe implications of globalisation for a national economy are many. Globalisation has intensified interdependence and competition between economies in the world market. This is refle cted in Interdependence in regard to trading in goods and services and in movement of capital. As a result domestic economic developments are not determined entirely by domestic policies and market conditions. Rather, they are influenced by both domestic and international policies and economic conditions. It is thus clear that a globalising economy, while formulating and evaluating its domestic polity cannot afford to ignore the possible actions and reactions of policies and developments in the rest of the world. This constrained the form _or_ system of government option available to the government which implies loss of policy autonomy to some extent, in decision-making at the national level.