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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT NAME: RACHAEL WANGARI QUESTION Discuss the causes of conflict in Africa and its remedies. Abstract This paper is about the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments of different nations, this process is driven by international trade and investment and aided by the information technology. The effects of this process are felt in different aspects of the human life including on the environment, on our culture, on the political systems in different countries, on the economic development and prosperity, and also on human physical well-being in different societies around the world (Zhu, K., Kraemer, K. L., & Xu, S. 2006). The benefits of globalization for example migration and remittances can be useful for economic development in the short run while their long term economic impacts in the society can be negative especially in the areas that deal mostly with industry and export. Moreover, it can have a negative effect in the future creating a loss in the human capital and distorting traditional forms of the social structures within our societies. Globalization is a multidimensional phenomenon which not only touches political, economic, social and the cultural spheres of any society but also tries to reshape the traditional way of studying the “social world and human nature” (Robinson, 2005). Globalization is mostly associated with “intensification of the worldwide social relations”, global economic integration, the de-territorialization and also the time-space compression (McGrew, 2008). To determine its extensity and impact on a particular society, an analysis of each of these aspects should be done separately. Taking into consideration complexity of the phenomenon I would like to concentrate only on socio-economic effects of globalization on socio-economic development for proper explanation of my arguments. The main idea is to examine how some of the countries that are still in the transitional process are respond and adapting to the rapidly spreading conditions of globalism as represented by integration into the world economy, elimination of most trade barriers, extraordinary mobility of the human capital, goods and services as well as by interconnectedness of both ideas and norms that reshape not only the understanding of existing social and political institutions but also transforms them into new socio, political and economic entities (Bhandari and Heshmati, 2005). The transformation can be observed by the adoption and implementation of the western political and economic models that include democratization of political regimes and the liberalization of the economies. Both financial and industrial globalization has increased substantially and it is creating new opportunities for both industrialized and also the now developing countries. The largest of its impacts has been on developing countries, who now are able to attract foreign investors and foreign capital. This both positively and negatively effects those countries. There is an increase in the standard of living as the economic globalization gives governments of the developing nations an access to foreign lending. When these funds are used on infrastructure which include roads, health care, education, and other social services, the standard of living in that country increases. If the money is used only selectively, however, only a few citizens will participate in the benefits. Many cultures in developing countries have been changed through globalization. It is now common to find that the developing countries are now immitating America and European countries’ culture. Before globalization, it would be so hard and time involving or even impossible to know about other countries and their cultures. Sophisticated technological tools of globalization like televisions, radios, satellite and internet, it is now possible today to know what just happened in any country soon after someone captures the event and shares it. Moreover, people worldwide can also know each other better through globalization. It is now common to see more Hollywood stars showing the cultures different from America. In addition, the young people in the different poor nations among who are mostly the teenagers wearing Nike T-Shirts and Adidas footwear, playing Hip-Hop music, using Apple iPad and iPhone and eating at MacDonald, KFC and Domino's Pizza . The only way to distinguish them is never by their culture but rather, their language. One the other hand, many developing countries are concerned about the rise of globalization because it might destroy their own culture, traditional, identity, customs and their language. Many Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, as developing countries have been affected negatively in some areas. Their cultures and traditions have been changed, they wear and behave like developed nations, only a very small percentage wear their traditional cloths that they used to before globalization. Furthermore, globalization leads to disappearing of many words and expressions from local language since many people now use English and French words. In addition, great changes have taken place in most family life, young people trying to leave their families and live independently when they are 18 years old, and the size of the former large extended family tends to become smaller. Globalization helps developing countries to deal with the rest of the world so as to increase their economic growth and solve their poverty problems. In the past, developing countries were not able to tap on the world economy due to trade barriers. They cannot share the same economic growth that developed countries had. However, with globalization the World Bank and International Management encourage developing countries to go through market reforms and radical changes through large loans. Many developing nations began to take steps to open their markets by removing tariffs and free up their economies. The developed countries were able to invest in the developing nations, creating job opportunities for the poor people. For example, rapid growth in India and China has caused world poverty to decrease (Soubbotina, T. P. 2004). It is clear to see that globalization has made the relationships between developed countries and developing nations stronger, it made each country depend on another country. Developing countries depend on developed countries for resource flows and technology, but developed countries depend heavily on developing countries for raw materials, food and oil, and as markets for industrial goods (Porter, M. E. 2011). One the most important advantages of globalization are goods and people are transported easier and faster as a result free trade between countries has increased, and it decreased the possibility of war between countries. Furthermore, the growth in the communication between the individuals and companies in the world helped to raise free trade between countries and this led to growth economy. However, despite globalization having many economy and trade advantages in the developing countries, it is also observed that there are many disadvantages that globalization has created for the poor countries. One reason is that globalization increases the inequality between the rich and poor, the benefits of globalization are not universal and the richer are getting rich while the poor are becoming poorer. Many developing countries have benefited from globalization but then again, many of such nations do lag behind. In the past two decades, China and India have grown faster than the already developed nations. However, countries like most in Africa still have the highest poverty rates, in fact, the rural areas of China which do not tap on the global markets also suffer greatly from such high poverty levels. On the other hand, developed countries set up their companies and industries within the developing nations to take advantages of the low wages and this causes pollution in the foreign countries with poor regulation on the issues of pollution. Furthermore, setting up both companies and factories in the developing nations by developed countries affect badly the economy of the developed countries and also increase unemployment by the introduction of technology and machines in the production processes. In conclusion, the process of globalization has involved all the countries in the world. Developing countries like India, China, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Africa and Jordan have been affected by globalization either negatively or positively. The economy of the above countries have improved under the influence of globalization. The size of direct foreign investment has also increased and a lot of bad habits and traditions erased. Despite the very many advantages, globalization has brought many drawbacks to these countries as well. Most customs and cultures have disappeared such as traditions clothes and some initially valued language and expressions have changed. In addition, the violence and drugs abuse cases have increased and a lot of deadly diseases now spread faster under the influence of globalization. However, although globalization has many disadvantages than its advantages, we believe that globalization has brought into the developing countries more benefits than the detriments. For example, there is an increased market opportunity for people in both developed countries and developing countries to sell as many goods to as many people as the tariff allows. This is a golden age for business, commerce and trade in general. Reference Zhu, K., Kraemer, K. L., & Xu, S. (2006). The process of innovation assimilation by firms in different countries: a technology diffusion perspective on e-business. Management science, 52(10), 1557-1576. Appelbaum, R. P., & Robinson, W. I. (2005). Critical globalization studies. Psychology Press. Soubbotina, T. P. (2004). Beyond economic growth: An introduction to sustainable development. World Bank Publications. Porter, M. E. (2011). Competitive advantage of nations: creating and sustaining superior performance. Simon and Schuster.