One can, however, say that the tenets of globalization suggest that activities going on in any part of the world should involve the other parts of the world.
It can therefore be said that the world is systemized into a whole unit with a lot of sub units. And when a sub-unit faces or encounters a predicament, it affects the other units in some ways. Therefore, one cannot help but agree to the fact that globalization only sees to the shrinking of the world into what a lot of people generally regard as a “global village”.
GLOBALIZATION: ITS PRACTICES.
Globalization as it is seen today has progressed faster than envisaged, that is if expressions such as that of former President of the US, George Bush is anything to go by when in his words he said “the enemy is uncertainty. The enemy is unpredictability”.
Expressions as this exposes the fact that even proponents or advocates of globalization were in themselves not sure about its successes. Can it then be said that the uncertainties motivated the ‘force and pull’ shape that globalization has taken so far?
If the world is a village, then every issue must be given equal attention. But what is operational today is quite contradictory or disparate from the concepts of globalism.
It is profound in today’s world to see economic and trade issues taking more important positions in world affairs. And while the issue of democracy takes important position also, the actual of governance in developing countries are downplayed. This then provides us with the answer that there is no such thing as ‘equality’ in the operations of globalism as it is today.
Looking at economic issues also, some areas play more important roles than others in today’s world. Let’s take factors of production as clear-cut example of our area of discuss. For production to be effectively carried out there must be free movement of its factors viz labour, capital and organization (if need be). Amongst these factors, capital obviously takes the center stage. But how does this capital in question flow?
In the flow of capital, the Least Developed Countries (or LDCs as they are known) is at the mercy of the technologically advanced countries. While Foreign Direct Investments are marginally low, it is carried out with the aim of such advanced countries to spend the least to make the most. What then becomes obvious is the enormous capital flight that takes the toll at the end of the day.
But wait a second, does this mean that even in practices such as these, such LDCs cannot make the most of it to their own benefit? Let’s try to see how this can be done.
GLOBALISM AND LDCs: FUSION FOR GREATNESS.
The obvious truth is that the world is not a level playing field. As such no one country is ready to forfeit its interest for another country. But one thing is certain democracy and capitalism are two different ideologies as people often misconstrue these concepts. While democracy portends freedom to live, capitalism though portends freedom, but what kind of freedom? It is freedom to exploit and to gain at the expense of another.
LDCs must therefore avail themselves of the opportunity of moving away from being economically dependently countries to socio-economically independent countries. But if they must move away, how then do they hope to achieve such a feat? Again let’s see how this can be done.
ADVANTAGES OF GLOBALIZATION TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
A very grave mistake made by developing countries is to believe that globalization means westernization. The era has gone whereby we see every concept as having neo-colonialist tendencies. And even if they have, we live in an age where one can stand against oppression in whatever form. This is the reason that accounts for anti-globalization protesters to be sometimes given fair hearing especially by the media.
However, pessimists might see this opinion as being utopian in nature. They might say: how can this be when developing countries are in themselves dependent on the world powers for livelihood? They might even ask; with the kind of leaders we possess; how can this be achievable?
My conviction is born out of history. Looking critically at the history of the French Revolution, the 16th cent Reformation, the American revolution, the great Mahatma Gandhi struggle, the unflinching struggle of Nelson Mandela etc, one cannot help to agree that independence is achievable in every area.
CONCLUSION.
No mistakes should be made at interpreting this article to be encouraging violence. In fact I discourage it as much as possible. The only lesson I am trying to bring out from here is that globalization can be given different interpretations by developing countries for their own good.
Summarily, globalism has different meanings. And to achieve greatness in this global world, you need to give it your own workable meaning to make it work for you.
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