chapter1.globalisation an overview

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Chapter 1: Globalisation: An overview

To whatever extent globalisation (however defined) actually is occurring (andto whom), its alleged positive benefits or negative costs are difficult to assess.

The deeper questions are: cui bono? and who is being globalised (or de-

globalised), to what extent and by whom?

(Ferguson, 1992,:62)

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1.1. Introduction

Globalisation is not new, but the present era has distinctive features.

Disappearance of borders, shrinking of space and time are linking peoples lives

more deeply, more intensely, more immediately than ever before. It affects all

aspects of human life.

David Korten (1998) categorises globalisation into five broad areas "One face is a

globalising civil society. Another is an emerging global consciousness of our

mutual dependence on the life support systems of a small planet. A third is the

globalisation of communications. A fourth is the globalisation of the consumer

culture. A fifth is economic globalisation...the erasing of economic borders to

allow the free flow of goods and money"( Korten 1998:).

This complex process, involves an interplay between economic and cultural

dynamics. New international cultural elements are brought together with

historical national elements, leading to a necessity to consider it in terms of both

change and continuity (Du Gay1997). The result is a process that feeds both the

contest and the struggle of globalisation.

Governance and technology when added to the interplay has resulted in people

everywhere becoming connectedaffected by events in far corners of the world.

The collapse of the Thai baht, for example, caused a dramatic increase in

unemployment in Southeast Asia. This in turn resulted in a decline in global

demand with ensuing slowdowns in social investment in Latin America and

sudden increases in the cost of imported medicines in Africa (UNDP1999).

Economic globalisation undoubtedly holds the spotlight. In particular the

integration of national economies driven by market expansion which dominates

social and political outcomes and impacts not just on the economic well being of

people but on every aspect of their livelihoods

This chapter will consider the global economy in the context of livelihoods. It will

analyse the many aspects of globalisation (economic, social, cultural and

technological) in order to understand future development prospects of the South

and its effect on Southern countries.

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globalisation as a recognition of what is conceived as increasingly worldwide

interconnections, interchanges and movements of people, images and commodities.

(Friedman 1994: 194)

1.2. The evolution of GlobalisationThe old duality of First and Third Worlds has not been modified by globalising forces

but has been reinforced, even exaggerated (Marflet1998).

Probably the most dominant view of globalisation is as the organisation of economic

production and the exploitation of markets on a world scale. It has a long history. One

which shows us that the fate of most of Africa, Latin America, Asia and elsewhere has

been closely tied to the expansion of Europe since 1492 (Stavrianos 1981). From a

European perspective, world economic development dates back to the fifteenth

century. It can be clearly associated with the economic and imperial expansion of the

great powers1. From the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, mercantile companies

were globally institutionalised structures. Their existence included virtual diasporas of

trade colonies employed by single companies (Bauman 1998)2.

From the late nineteenth century, European and American multinational and

transnational corporations emerged as the key shapers of the international

economy. For many, it was the increasing integration of their business activities

that set in motion the dynamics of the globalisation process. (Hoogvelt 1997,

Friedman 1994, Robertson 1994). The advent of global corporations in the

twentieth century is a continuation of this process of overcoming national

boundaries and achievement of world scale advantages. Robertson (1994)

tracked this progression as a temporal historical path of global circumstance

(see Box 1). Within this he argues the need to consider the interrelationships

between four reference points: national systems and the system of international

relations needs to be considered with the conceptions of individuals and human

kind as illustrated below:

Box 1 Temporal Historical Path of Global Circumstance

The Germinal Phase: 1400s to the 1750s Century Europe; Growth og national communities,

downplay of medieval transnational system, Expansion of the Catholic Church, Heliocentric theory of

the world, Gregorian Calendar

1European period of discovery dominated by, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and UK.2

This familiar characteristic of commercial organisations is, however a concept that predates European domination reaching back to

the ancient world of great empires of powerful globalised organisations and powerful globalising cultures

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The Incipient phase: Europe 1750s until 1870s; Shift towards homogenous, unitary state, formalised

international relations, increase in legal conventions and agencies concerned with international and

transnational regulation and communication.

The Take Off Phase: Global 1870s until 1920s focus on four reference points of globalisation; national

societies, generic individuals, a single international society, singular concept of humankind,globalisation of immigration restrictions, sharp increase in number and speed of global forms of

communication, global competitions (olympics and Nobel prizes), implementation of world time and

near global adoption of gregorian calander, first world war.

Struggle for Hegenomy Phase: 1920s to late 1960s; disputes and wars, League of Nations, United

Nations, principle of national independence established, the Holocaust, atomic bomb, cold war,

crystallization of the third world

The Uncertainity Plhase: 1960s until 1990s; heightening of global consciousness, moon

landing,postmaterialism,end of cold war, spread of nuclear and thermonuclear weaponry,sharp

increas in global institutions and movements, global communication explosion, societal problems of

multiculturality and polyethnicity, individual concepts complexed by gender, sexual and ethnic

considerations, civil rights a global issue, islam as a global movement, earth summit in Rio

Robertsons(1994)

Walter Mignola (1998) refines this, attributing the Globalisation process solely to

the Western expansion of order since 1500. He linked Wallersteins world system

(1979) 3 and Elias civilising process (1982). In a similar way to Robertson,

Mignola combines Wallersteins modernist view of global economy with Elias

allurement to the enlightenment. Through this he links power and order with

economic gain and cultural dominance. Where Robertson writes of five phases ,

Wallerstein distinguishes between National, imperial and global economies,

Mignola quite simply attributes globalisation to three previous stages of Western

expansion under the banners of Christianisation (Spanish Empire) Civilising

Mission (British Empire and French Colonisation) and Development/

Modernisation (US Imperialism).

Esteva, Frank, Rodney at al support Mignolas stance. They claim the social and

economic problems of Africa, Asia and Latin America were caused by the capitalistic

3Wallerstein (1979) distinguished between a National, Imperial and world / global economy, he defined three systems:

Mini systems- social systems agrarian or hunter gatherers, complete labour division and single cultural framework, independent of

a world system

Empire systems- social system with single division of labour, common political system but multiple cultural systems

World/Global system- combination of capitalism and world economy focused on the west with single division of labour but multiplepolities and cultures

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penetration of European imperialism with attendant transfers of wealth through

plantations and mining from formerly prosperous, advanced and self-sufficient nations

to Europe.

Since the 1950s different terms have been invented, almost entirely by the West to

define the global condition, in turn promoting Modernity, the Euro-centric order:developed/ underdeveloped/developing, first/ second/ third, core/ periphery/semi

periphery, North/South and so on. Use of first, second, third categories were based on

Western social and economic indicators to measure the process of development in

different centrally planned and market economies. (Schelling 1998). Interestingly, if

such classifications referred historically to those societies which, ethnically, racially,

socially and culturally first approximated to todays multicultural, economic and social

spatially polarised cities in the West, what is now the Third World would historically be

labelled the First World. Anthony King (1993) illustrates this comparing the society,

culture and space of early twentieth century Calcutta with London. King claims that

Modernity wasnt born in Paris but Rio.

The Euro American paradigm of Modernity have neither meaning nor Salience

outside the narrow geographical confines of Euro-America where they developed

Anthony King 8:93

1.3. Globalisation and sociocultural change

Globalisation opens peoples lives to culture and all its creativityand to the

flow of ideas and knowledge, but the new culture carried by expanding global

markets is disquieting.

Human Development Report 1999

Social change is an essential element of the Globalisation process. Historically social

change is believed to occur in a linear or cyclical fashion, both combining pessimistic

conceptions and optimistic views (Midgely1995). These views are summarised in Box

2Box 2 The history of Social change

The globalising ancient world of the Greeks, Chinese, Indians attributed social change to a cycle of

progress and decline from or towards a Golden Age (Chambliss 1954). Whereas Judaism

Christianity and Islam broadly believed in a decline from a Golden Age (Adam and Eves expulsion

from Eden) and a linear progression towards redemption and a new Golden age

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Auguste Comte 1789-1857) viewed social change as a progressive process, dividing historical time

into a series of six epochs towards social perfectibility .(Mill 1989; Midgley 1995; Sbert113), defining

progress as the development of order under the influence of love with development as the precursor

to improvement

His work was acknowledged by Emile Durkenheim (1858-1917) Karl Marx(1818-1883) and Max

Wber (1864-1920) Whose different approaches subsequently had considerable impact on the theories

of social change (Martinussen 1997)

Durkenheim was concerned with processes of social change in the long term, in particular the division

of labour in society as part of the industrialisation process, advocating that division of labour would

eventually replace religion as the most important force of social cohesion. His approach has a

profound impact on the modernisation theory of the post war era.

Marx focused on the totality of society and the ways in which this changed over sustained long

periods. He believed that social change is prompted primarily by economic forces, which through

technological progress and forces of production would determine societal change in social and political

spheres.

Weber opposed both of these view points, refusing to attribute social change to economic processes

alone, citing protestant Calvinism as the critical element in the breakthrough of capitalism in western

Europe (Weber 1965; Matinussen 1994) He focused on human motivation and rationality as

determinants of social change. This was also the view of the fourteenth century Islamic scholar Ibn

Khaldun who attributed the cause of social change to human activities, a cyclical process of human

conflict between the sedentary farmers and urbanites and war like nomads. [an interesting view point

when regarding the events of September 11th 2001] (Midgely 1995)

Where Marx wrote society Weber wrote individual, where Durkenheim focused on division of labour,

Weber focused on modes of organisation and rationality citing a logical gap between is and ought

between how society exists and how it is perceived.

Talcot Parsons (1902-1979) was heavily influenced by all three. He reduced Webers complex theory

to functionalism, replacing Marx who he regarded as superfluous (Parsons 1937) and adopted

elements of Durkenheim to develop a theory of social change towards a eurocentric ideal in which

any social system comprises of four sub systems that relate functionally to maintain the whole. A

collective of sub systems relating functionally to maintain a whole. Within this whole, events,

decisions and activities in one part result in significant consequences for individuals and communities

in quite distant parts:

The economic (adaptive function)

The political (mobilisation fot collective purposes)

The social ( integrative function)

The cultural (provision of governing value system necessary for reproduction of the system through

time) (Appadurai, Hoogvelt, Hannerz, Friedman, Robertson, Waters et al)

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The revival in interest in large-scale transformation of the late 1940s and early 1950s

focused on the economic and societal development of the South (what was then

labelled as the developing world). Modernists such as Harry Truman and Talcot

Parsons strove to emulate the Great transformation of nineteenth century Europe asthe potential transformation of the developing world in its\ own image

Modernisation, progress and order (Gertz 1963) with little or no consideration to the

globality of this proposed social change.

Parsonss work became the backbone of modernisation in the 1950s, economic

progression towards a European idea. He dealt simultaneously with continuity in

western theory and the system of modern societies (Parsons 1971). He argued that

western societies had differentially acquired greater adaptive capacity than all

others emphasising that adaptive capacity is not necessarily, the paramount object of

human value (Parsons 1971:3). He maintained that his assessment of the superiority

of a western adaptive capacity did not preclude the possibility that a post modern

phase of development may somehow emerge from a different social and cultural

origin and with different characteristics (Parsons 1971:3). According to Cuddihy,

Parsons captured modernity with from within the eye of calm of the modernisation

hurricane where all is calm and intelligible, but for the ethnic outsiders Cuddihy

regards modernism as a trama (1987:14). Toye defined the outcomes of

Modernisation as typical social patterns of demography, urbanisation, and literacy;

typical economic patterns of production and consumption, investment trade and

government finance; and typical psychological attributes of rationality, ascriptive

identity and achievement motivation ( Toye 1993:31)

Parsons (1968) endorsed a liberal interpretation of global society. He described a

global order of organised collectives operating in a framework of institutionalised

norms with consensus only on broad principles. His theories of the interplay of

particularism and universalism rendered the world as a single society, suggesting

global expectations of distinct identities within society4. Robertson supports Parsons in

that a global social system has emerged, a product of compression of civilised

structures, national; societies, intra and cross national movements and organisations,

sub societies and ethnic groups, intra-societal groups, individuals and so on

4Particular interpretations of the human condition are marked by their place in the global field , says Robertson. There is asimultaneous process underway in which universal and particular (local) elements are both active the result is the particularisation ofuniversalism (the rendering of the world as a single space) and the universalism of particularism(the globalised expectations thatsocieties. Should have distinct identities)

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(Robertson 1992:61). Such views pave the way for global fundamentalism

movements attempting to define the globe exclusively in terms of one set of value

principles. They also highlight the importance of principles legitimising pluralism and

the danger of global order as more and more parts of the world become affected by

what happens elsewhere, if not through communication technologies, through physicaland financial exposure.

Globalisation concerns the intersection of presence and absence, the interlacing of

social events and social relations at a distance with local contextualities (Giddens

1992:21)

Giddens, together with Harvey relate to a competing theory of Globalisation, one that

builds on an understanding that world compression is based around the compression

of time and space. Using this as a starting point they contrast the subsystem

approach of Parsons with the work of Pierre Bordieu. He viewed the symbolic

orderings of space and time as a framework for experience through which we learn

who or what we are in society. Giddens and Harvey see the organisation of space

defining relationships, between activities, things, concepts and people, in turn

becoming a key to power. For example, the freedom to move capital wherever needed

world-wide provides a decisive advantage to the capital owning international

bourgeoisie over the mass workers who are restricted in their movements and

migrations by the passports they carry. In capitalistic economies space is expressed in

time, echoing Marxs economy of time to this all economy reduces itself(Marx 1865).

The distance needed to travel in order to do business or to transport commodities to

their final destination. Harvey argues that time defines the value of space and

ultimately money itself. Giddens refers to this as time space distantiation, the

measure of the degree to which friction of space has been overcome to accommodate

social interaction. The impact of technological advances in compressing time and

space again defining globalisation as the intensification of world wide social and

economic relations, linking distant localities in such ways that local happenings are

shaped by events occurring many miles away and visa versa.

The most dynamic of many of todays global corporations transport weightless goods

comprising of information rather than material through global media networks and

satellite communication technologies. As with the first missionaries to Africa, the

communicational concept acquires a cultural significance biased towards the provider

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of the information. (the number of television sets per 1,000 people almost doubled

between 1980 and 1995, from 121 to 235.) Cable News Network, CNN, is a global

organisation producing reality for viewers in most of todays world. One of its own

advertisements romantically depicts examples of its viewers from various parts of the

world its different cultures and physical appearances in an imaged argument for theunity of humankind under CNN (Hall 1992). Entertainment as the USAs largest export

industry, grossing over $30 billion world-wide in 1997 supports Halls ascertation that

USA as the dominating power of what he terms Global Mass Culture. A modern means

of cultural production centred on the West, with respect to the language, the

technology, concentration of capital, techniques, imagery and stories of Western

societies, to recognise and absorb cultural difference with a framework of an American

conception of the world, stage managing interdependence. The spread of global

brandsCoke, Sony, Nikeis setting new social standards from Dar es Salaam to

Prague to Buenos Aires. Friedman (1994) feared that such onslaughts of foreign

culture threaten to annihilate both the plurality and the diversity of culture, supporting

the fear among the cultural elites of the 1960s of the defi americain and the

hegemony of coca cola culture, spanning large regions of the world.

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cultural imperialism as the order of the day, but at the same time being

deployed as an instrument of imperialism. Becoming both a mask and a sword

in the imperialist armoury.Panikkar 375:1995

The return to the local - Support for indigenous and national cultures, enabling

them to flourish despite western cultural dominance is the alternative

response. This has been the response of many Islamic nations that feel

threatened by the process and the systems. Hall (1992) refers to this as a social

and cultural flux. According to others, globalisation is fragmenting as it co-

ordinates, resulting in a search for authentic secure locations in an increasingly

fluid social environment. Giddens, for instance, argues that: Globalisation is

experienced in different ways throughout the globe withstanding its main thrust

towards inter relatedness (1990:175). Others ( e.g. Hall 1992; Harvey 1989;Morley and Robins1995 ) support the view that globalisation should not be

merely the imposition of a single social order or cultural practice not merely

Westernisation or the spread of consumerism- but a process that brings into

being new social and cultural locations. As Featherstone (1990: 2) writes, a

generative frame of unity within which diversity can take place or in the

eloquent words of Mahatma Gandhi:

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to bestuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely

as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. (Gandhi 1910)

1.4. Global governance

... a cosmopolitan or global democracy would take an integrated and systemic

approach to issues; build on effective decision-making at local, national and regional

levels; and develop networks of institutions and processes that enable global actors to

develop joint policies and practices on issues of common concern. (John Huckle

2001:2)

The post war period signified a new alignment of global power and the beginning of a

global governance structure. The ensuing fifty years, as described above, saw social

transformation and political struggle, predominantly mediated by changes in the

emergent and increasingly powerful global economy (Allen &Thomas 1999)

The move towards internationally co-ordinated finance and trade from national

centred economic behaviour was negotiated at Bretton Woods in 1944. It resulted in

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the Marshall Plan, a framework for a new world system, to regulate the financial,

economic and political workings of the world through global institutions.

Bretton Woods Institutions

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), to provide long term finance for

investment, later known as the World Bank,

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) source of short term finance;

The United Nations (UN) forum for international political and military stability

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to regulate international trade and commodity

prices, later known as the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Adapted from AlKanaan and Cooper 2001

Contrary to statements at the time this restructuring of the world economy and

system of global governance was dominated by the North. The UN in particular was an

opportunity for Southern Countries to effectively participate in international affairs but

Northern Countries opposed UN involvement in economic issues. The OECD

(Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), dominated by the G85

became the arbiter of global power and trade. This was challenged an expression of

solidarity by the Southern States, the G77, now with a membership that exceeds 120,

a caucus within the UN to represent and promote the interests of Southern States

across the whole agenda of global issues. The increasing globalisation of the world

economy and the growth in power of global production networks have reinforced the

need for a global governance structure as Ravenhill states a growing number of

issues on which there are mutual interests between North and South and on which the

cooperation of Southern Countries will be necessary if the industrialised countries are

to attain their goals (Ravenhill 1990) Undoubtedly, Globalisation today, is driven by

market expansion. Trade in capital and information concentrates power and wealth

within a select group of nations, corporations and people who dominate social and

political outcomes. Boom and bust economies indicate market instability with profit

challenging ethics and equability. The increasing power of global corporations that

seek to operate as if there are no national boundaries with what Kenichi Ohmae

(1989) refers to as equidistance of perspective

Trans-national corporations are increasingly taking decisions about resource

ownership. For example, the patenting of Basmati rice has lead to a lot of discussion

around intellectual property rights and patenting regimes. These new patterns of

ownership over resources that are locally held have important consequences for the5 The Group of eight (G8) comprises of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK andUSA is the most powerful grouping within the OECD.

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sustainable use of resources by the communities that own them. This requires a

governance framework that develops a supportive environment for sustainable

livelihoods at all levels at which decision-making takes place. It calls for co-ordinated

and effective decision-making requiring new channels of communication and

representation between the global and the local. The Commission on GlobalGovernance describes governance as:

. . . the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private,

manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process, through which conflicting or

diverse interests may be accommodated and co-operative action may be taken. It

includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce compliance, as well as

informal arrangements that people and institutions either have agreed to or perceive

to be in their interest. (CGG, 1995, p.2)

Governance operates at all levels from the local to the global and its agents include

not only governments and intergovernmental institutions, but also non-governmental

organisations, workers and citizens movements, transnational corporations, and the

mass media. Political-economic and technological advancement of the last thirty years

has superseded previous developments in driving the transformation of economic and

cultural globalisation processes resulting in todays global information economy

characterised by:

New marketsforeign exchange and capital markets linked globally, operating

24 hours a day, with dealings at a distance in real time.

New toolsInternet links, cellular phones, media networks.

New actorsWorld Trade Organisation (WTO) with authority over national

governments, the multinational corporations with more economic power than

many states, the global networks of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and

other groups that transcend national boundaries.

New rulesmultilateral agreements on trade, services and intellectual property,

backed by strong enforcement mechanisms and more binding for national

governments, reducing the scope for national policy (UNDP 1999:78)

Mohan questions whether this increasing interconnectedness if not through

communication technologies, through physical and financial exposure signals greater

interdependence Mohan(1997). He regards the disparity of economic and political

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power and a key factor in the reduced autonomy of many Southern Nation States.

Hirst and Thompson (1992,1999) refer to the emergence of this era of globalisation as

a process determined by primarily international processes rather than differential

performance of national economies, corporations and govt elites. In their globalised

world there is no single hegemony or guarantor state, economics and politics would be

entirely separate. There would be a rejection of dominant logic of economic efficiency

with a world of industrial rather than political or military order. Culture would be totally

disregarded with ICT as the basis of international civil society.

Global enterprises seemingly paying little or no heed to national economies or their

governments Northern or Southern, who are in turn increasingly powerless to control

and regulate its activities. Looking at the recent experiences of the UK Government

with BMW s purchase and consolidation of the UK motor production industry and

more recently Corus steel, it raises the question: Who is the Hegemon of our Global

Society?6

Global Governance is clearly wider than government and makes use of markets and

market instruments as well as laws, regulations and planning. This suggests that

contrary to the democratic processes recommended by Commission on Global

Governance and the Real World Coalition7, Global Governance is becoming

increasingly controlled by the financial superpowers of global commerce. Challenging

this power has been the focus of global civil action, demonstrations at WTO summits,

meetings of African nation states to agree a consensus prior to these meetings have

been another. Trans National Corporations such as Chiquita Bananas sponsoring

Clintons presidential campaign resulted in a lot of pressure to challenge GATT

agreements between the EU and the windward isles. (Oxfam 2000). Hence,

involvement of a wide range of actors in governance domains is regarded as essential

if any development is to remain sustainable. (Huckle 2001)

Good Governance

The World Bank (1992) defined good governance as synonymous with sound development management

in four areas:

6The assets of the top three billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all least developed countries and their600 million people. The recent wave of mergers and acquisitions is concentrating industrial power inmegacorporations at the risk of eroding competition. By 1998 the top 10 companies in pesticides controlled 85% of a$31 billion global marketand the top 10 in telecommunications, 86% of a $262 billion market.(UNDP1999)

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The Real World Coalition suggests that good governance results from well functioning and accountable institutions(economic, political, judicial, educational, etc) that citizens regard as legitimate and worthy of support. Suchinstitutions allow them to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and empower them as critical and activecitizens. Stronger international bodies are needed to guide and manage globalization and these should address gapsbetween national and global governance, and between the rhetoric and reality of democracy and active citizenship

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Public Sector management: Government must manage its financial and personal resources

effectively through appropriate budgeting, accounting and reporting systems and by rooting out

inefficiency, particularly in the parastatal sector

Accountability: Public Officials must be held responsible for their actions. This involves effective

accounting and auditing, decentralisation, micro-level accountability to consumers and a role for non

governmental organisations.

The legal framework for development: There must be a set of rules known in advance, these

must be enforced, conflicts must be resolved by independent judicial bodies and there must be

mechanisms for amending rules when they no longer serve their purpose

Information and transparency: There are three main areas for improvement, a) information on

economic efficiency; b) transparency as a means of preventing corruption; and c) publicly available

information for policy analysis and debate

Adapted from Turner & Hulme (1997 :231)

The DFID White Paper on Globalisation supports this placing considerable emphasis on

good governance transparency, accountability, participation; reducing those areas of

public life where corruption can thrive. For example, widespread ratification of global

human rights treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the

Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, hold

little meaning if governments continue to fail to abide by the obligations those treaties

place on states. Efforts are being made to get beyond these circumstances. Civil

society groups, particularly NGOs often play a valuable role because they operate

outside the accepted institutional roles and conventions. Local government reform

programmes are designed to give ordinary citizens more purchase on decisions that

affect their lives, and more chances to give their grievances a voice.

The importance of understanding both the formal and informal systems of governance

should not be underestimated. Governance institutions and power structures through

the reform procedures, rules and routines guide the customers, norms and

expectations and resultant behaviour. In order to facilitate participation and supportpositive interaction between state, market and civil society, it is essential that there is

clarity as to the specific roles, responsibilities, rights and relations between these

processes.

1.5 Globalisation and technology

globalisation is a communicational concept, which alternately masks and transmits

cultural or economic meaningsJameson (1998:55)

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Changes in means of communication, flows of resources and of people have further

contributed to the erosion of social boundaries and bring greater interconnectedness.

As already described, such processes have been at work for centuries.

Communication technology can be viewed as a double-edged sword. From an

economic and historical perspective, it has added to the continuum of such power andorder with access to information replacing religion and military prowess, the

controllers also shifting from nation states to global corporations. The necessary

connection between buyers and sellers is becoming a virtual connection, with

economic prowess being related not to being in the right neighbourhood but as

Mitchell (1990) surmises having the right lists for sending out advertising. Allen

(1992) transposes Mc Cluhans phenomenon of Global Village as a cyber village in

which the information and communication networks are the main conduits of all

economic activity and function. The other edge is the ability of these remarkable

innovations in information and communication technologies to potentially laid the

foundations of a greater degree of modernisation in all the countries of the world.

Through technological innovation, people today can have social relations and

organised community relations regardless of space; or the territory they share. This in

turn permits the emergence of imagined communities, cultures and even systems of

authority and social control across borders.

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The global corporations have secured control of an organisational and

technological capacity that combines instantaneous electronic transactions with

the accelerated distribution of physical goods through just in time delivery

systems. Production in the advanced capitalistic societies, Castell and Carnoy

(1993) argue, shifts from material goods to information processing activities,fundamentally changing the structure of these societies to favour economic

activities that focus on symbolic manipulation in the organisation of production

an in the enhancement of productivity. It has heavily influenced the economic

direction of information. The communicational concept has become filled with

financial transfers and investments all over the world. The with networks are

swollen with e-commerce of flexible capitalism, which again raises issues with

how all over the world is defined and who actually participates. Technological

advance, as a basis for reconstructing and democratising social relations

throughout the globe is a common assertion. However, as Vincent writes it is

the technology rather than the communication that has become global. Vincent

1997

Despite the plummeting costs of communications and easy to use innovative tools

people with more than 140 million users of the Internet in 1998,approximately 80% of

the worlds population still lack access to the most basic communication technologies.

20% of the population of Northern countries had almost 80% of world telephone lines

the bottom fifth just 1.5%. The disparity in access to ICT is growing. In 2001 96 per

cent of Internet host computers reside in the highest income nations with only 16 per

cent of the worlds population. There are more Internet hosts in Finland than the

whole of Latin America and the Caribbean, more in New York City than on the entire

continent of Africa. (UNDP 2001)

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Giddens, together with Harvey (1994) relate to information technology as the

new force of Globalisation. As Vincent writes the market place can be easily used

to control access to the information superhighway. The greater expense of

access, the higher the likelihood that larger portions of the worlds population

both developed and developing- will remain information poor (Vincent1997:187). Electronic ghettos have been produced in which access is restricted

to VDUs and television screens resulting in varying experiences of time-space

compression across the globe. For those excluded this is not even life in the slow

lane. It is life on the hard shoulder (Thrift 1995:31). UNDP recognise the

immense scale of the challenge of achieving universal access. The consistent

illusiveness of the global information infrastructure despite public policy reform

and market liberalisation has prompted a renewed focus on making technologies

work for human development (UNDP2001) They perceive now as the time for

collective action to transform the growing digital divide into a digital opportunity.

Yet there has never been a better time for collective action and to build of their

efforts to nurture a willingness amongst all stakeholders including multinational

companies, governments and non governmental organisations and communities

to work together to eradicate digital inequity among rich and poor, young and

old, men and women. (UNDP 2001:10)

1.6 Global Poverty and Growth

In 1949 US President Trumans infamous inaugural speech declared that the vast

majority of the worlds population was underdeveloped, building on the last two

centuries of Europeans industrial development and colonising of the untamed world.

Post war restructuring of the 1950s and 1960s resulted in a boom for the North,

based on employment and low inflation, aka the Golden Years for the USA, Western

Europe and Japan. An emphasis was placed on economic development support and

growth in the South towards a modernity goal emanated by the USA. None of the

Southern countries had industrial bases insufficient to sustain the predicted social and

economic development through trickle down effects. The end of the 60s attributed the

lack of economic development in the South to an historical condition of blocked,

distorted and dependent development (Toye 1987)

The 1970s saw a shift away from growth-at-all-costs as the way forward in

development thinking towards an emphasis on employment and redistribution with

growth. An increase in oil prices resulted in some oil producing nations like Saudi

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Arabia made vast profits, which were deposited in commercial banks of the USA,

Europe and Japan. Increased oil prices together with a decline in commodity prices

saw a reduction in demand for credit. Desperate to lend this money, commercial and

official lending to Southern countries at low interest rates grew to support industrial

development increased service provision.

In an attempt to reduce inflation, OECD countries slowed their economies, depressing

prices and demand for commodities, allowing interest rates to rise. For much of the

South, now dependent upon commodity, exports and borrowing as a source of foreign

exchange the consequences were dire. Interest soared to 18 to 20 % raising annual

debt burden on Southern countries six fold. In 1982 Mexico became the first country

to demand a longer period to repay its debts. The banks agreed, but insisted that

debtor countries should first reach agreement with the IMF on an adjustment

programme. Poorer indebted countries grew from 31 to 42 in the 1980s while, the

gradual increase in aid linked to donor GNP since the 60s saw a gradual decline.

Western Banks turned to lending at home, enjoying the consumer credit boom of the

1980s (Allen 1999)

IMF Structural Adjustment programmes followed a three-point programme: to control

inflation, to boost exports and reduce imports.

Control inflation: Make borrowing more expensive, cut public expenditure, raise

the cost of public services, abolish subsidies, for example on basic food stuffs and

hold back or reduce real wages

Boost exports: Usually near impossible, with the world economy in recession and

Southern countries in competition with each other

Reduce imports: Many Southern countries are heavily dependent on imported

goods, particularly machinery and equipment. As imports are cut, local economies

are thrown into complete disarray

Increasing global concern with poverty and sustainable development became visible

with a multitude of World Summits during the 1990s, from the 1992 Rio Summit on

Sustainability, the 1995 Beijing Summit to 1995 World Summit for Social

Development (WSSD) to the 1999 World Trade Summit in Seattle. Each summit

framed its reflections with the global implications of trade and development of the

environment, the social and economic structure of the world.

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Alongside this forum, major institutions such as the World Bank reviewed their

definition of poverty as an income based issue and instituted a process of participatory

poverty assessments. From these and other work by leading academics (Moser, Sen

Chambers, Holland) came the accepted realisation that poverty is complex and

multidimensional and that an integrated approach that links the micro (local) to themeso (national) and macro (global) level is needed if poverty is ever to be eradicated.

From the standpoint of many Southern countries the implementation of World Bank

and IMF structural adjustment and stabilising policies forced them into the globalising

process. (Asfar 1999) Structural adjustment, in particular through its emphasis on

free markets and free trade resulted in the South becoming institutionalized in the

global development process. Finally in 1998, the World Bank president (Wolfensohn

1998) admitted that Structural Adjustment Policies have failed to deliver sustainable

development to those living in poverty

According to the Human Development Report (1999) in order to pursue human

development, globalisation has to mean:

Ethicsless, not more violation of human rights and disregard of human values.

Developmentless, not more poverty of countries and people.

Equityless, not more disparity between and within nations and generations.

Inclusionless, not more marginalisation and exclusion of countries and people.

Human securityless, not more vulnerability of countries and people.

Sustainabilityless, not more depletion and degradation of the environment.

(HDR1999:39)

The global forums and summits, through their discussions and understandings of our

global interdependence prompted the shift in paradigm within the development

agenda from the modernist economic growth at any cost to sustainable livelihoods

and rights based approaches to development. The UN Millennium Summit purpose was

to consolidate the goals and commitments of these Global conferences and summits of

the 1990s at the highest level.

The UN Assembly adopted the following Millennium Declaration

"We are committed to making the right to development a reality for

everyone""We resolve therefore to create an environment at the national and

global levels alike which is conducive to development and to the elimination of

poverty "

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"We are concerned about the obstacles developing countries face in mobilizing the

resources needed to finance their sustained development "

Discussions were dominated by globalisation as the major factor that the

international system had to face but commitment focused on poverty eradication

as the primary goal of policy, particularly development cooperation policy as it

acknowledged that the world is becoming increasingly global yet inequality is

rising.

50 years ago, the world traded around a billion dollars a day; today, the same one-billion-dollar-

trade is happening every 90 minutes.

Today, 2 billion dollars of foreign direct investment (FDI) moves around the world every day.

Africa receives 6 to 8 billion dollars of FDI a year which means investors spend at most 4 days

a year thinking about Africa!

20% of worlds population commands 80% of its income

"it would be wrong to be blind to the economic benefits that globalisation has

brought to some. It would also be wrong to imagine that we can turn back the

clock on globalisation. The real question I see is how can we humanize

globalisation, how can we shape it in such a way that it can benefit all instead of

some?". (OHCHR 2000)

The most recent DFID White Paper on globalisation stated that making globalisation

work for the poor is a moral imperative and also a matter of common interest in that

many of todays contemporary global challenges8 are exasperated by inequality and

poverty. It states, Its purpose is to focus on the challenges of globalisation and to

define a policy agenda for managing the process in a way that will systematically

reduce poverty. (DFID 2000:14)

1.7 Summary

In this chapter, we have reviewed globalisation as an historical and continuing process

of sociocultural and political economic transformation. We have seen how globalisation

as a term is used to characterise the growing interconnectedness of todays world.

The increasing ease of flow of goods, capital services, information and people across

national borders feeding a budding single global economy. Globalisation has

undoubtedly influenced the process of social change and with it anxiety and public

8 War and conflict; refugee movements; violation of human rights; international crimer;terrorism ; illicit drugs trade, HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation

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concern regarding the globalisation or homogenisation of the worlds culture into a

modernist ideal. The speed of Globalisation is what clearly distinguishes the present

day with past eras. This has been driven by the emergence of information and

communication technologies and its resultant influence of world trade, mobility of

capital diffusion of global norms and proliferation of global treaties.

As with all processes there are winners and losers and today globalisation has

undoubtedly favoured the growth of trans national corporations and their power over

both the political and economic markets of the world. In parallel global society and

global concern and empathy have also been strengthened.

In the following chapter, we will further examine the role of globalisation and in the

reduction of world poverty and the development of global poverty reduction strategies

to manage globalisation.

chapter1.globalisation an overview

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