Critically discuss the following statement using examples of one or two countries – “Globalization condemns smaller and economically vulnerable countries into further depths of poverty”.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Globalization generally refers to increasing global interconnectedness. Globalisation of ‘Markets’ thus refers interconnectedness in terms of global demand for products e.g. Coca Cola operates in about 200 countries catering to standard and localised beverage products; Globalisation of ‘Production’ refers to interconnectedness in terms of producing intermediaries of products at a global level, thus achieving a high quality production at optimum cost. E.g. Apple Inc. sources its spare parts from a variety of countries that specialise in that production, e.g. the US for design, Korea for internal microchips, India for software, and China for final assembly. Finally, economic interconnectedness refers to a ‘borderless’ world economy Cavusgil et al 2010).
What is the relationship between globalization and poverty? Does globalization condemn smaller and economically vulnerable countries into further depths of poverty? The answer to this question varies depending on two schools of thought that have dominated globalisation literature. A cursory glance at globalization literature reveals a deep chasm between those who believe globalization has been nothing but a disaster for the world, referred to as Global Pessimists or Internationalists (Hirst and Thompson 1999 p2) and those believe it has been a positive force for good, notably known as Transformationists (Held 2000).