Globalization and

Development
INTRODUCTION

 Over the past decade, the concept of globalization has invaded public space
as well as the social sciences, including development studies.
 In many ways, internationalization of the world economy has changed the way
societies and states are structured and governed, simultaneously with the
contraction of time and space, as explained by geographer David Harvey
(2005).
 Scholars, practitioners, and experts debate the scope, depth, and impact of
globalization’s reach into economics, politics, culture, the environment, and
so on.
 There is an abundance of excellent analysis on this “hot” topic.
Changing Paradigms

 Here the focus is on the impact of globalization on development and

developing countries.
 The development community faces many questions:
 Is globalization really transforming the architecture of the world we are living in?
 How can we understand the contradictory patterns of economic growth, as
evidenced by growing social gaps in many parts of the world?
 How are China and other emerging developing countries becoming economic
leaders? Is this phenomenon changing the reality of what used to be called the
“developing world”?
 Is the pattern of globalization forcing development scholars and practitioners to
revise their perspectives and theories?
GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
 In the early 1990s, when the concept of globalization became widely used,
many scholars and policy makers working on development were taken aback.
One of those was Fernando Henrique Cardoso, one of the founders of the
famous dependency school that had such great influence on thinking in
development studies in 1970s.He changed his earlier analysis, giving this
globalization-and-development debate a rather provocative spin.
 After becoming president of Brazil in 1993, Cardoso shunned the earlier
theories of development.
Success Stories

 World Bank in 2004 produced an enormous volume of analysis, arguing that developing
countries could and should prosper and progress through fully globalizing and integrating into
the world economy.
 The Bank specifically documented when it presented as the East Asian Miracle, where the
combination of shared Confucian cultural heritage, strong government guidance, and export-
led economics produced high economic growth and prosperity.
 The idea was that East Asia was the model whereby developing countries that opened their
borders would find competitive niches and attract foreign capital, thereby triggering
economic growth , as indeed happened in countries like China and South Korea. Not only did
these countries experience rapid economic growth, but in addition, poverty declined rapidly
there.
 China’s economy continues to grow as compared to North America and Western Europe.
Between 1990 and 2012, China’s share of total world exports rose from 1.8 percent to 10.4
percent. China is on the track to become the world’s biggest exporter, overtaking Germany.
Time and Space Contracting

 Put simply, globalization translates into new sets of relations and activities,
mostly in the economic arena, that are taking place irrespective of the
geographical location of participants.
 Time and space are no longer insurmountable, as they were in the past
because with modern communication and transportation, everything moves
everywhere, including goods, services, and people. Therefore, the geographic
divide between the North and the South appears o have become blurred.(Pl.
refer to box 6.2)
 This is not to say that the gap has disappeared . Rather globalization is
generating a new pattern whereby poverty and wealth are redistributed
through a reconstituted structure of exclusion. For Harvey, current patterns of
development under globalization lead to shifts in patterning of uneven
development, both between sectors and between geographical regions.
Trade and Growth

 No one could deny that enormous changes have taken place in the past two decades in
developing countries and at a broader level as well.
 World trade, in particular, has reached an unprecedented level. In 2013, exports and imports
of goods and services exceeded $23 trillion, an increase of over 2 percent from the previous
year.
 At the same time, exports from developing countries are growing much faster in comparison
with the rest of the world. In 2013, the share of developing economies in the world
merchandise trade set new records, with exports rising to 44 percent of the world total.
 Much of the exports has been encouraged by IMF and World Bank to open their economies,
liberalize trade, and increase exports.
 Impact of globalization on trade which is increasing than production, and the role played by
the invisible hand .i.e. market. Most countries of the world are the members of WTO which s
the champion of international globalization, liberalization, and economic integration.
 Conviction of World Bank.
Who is Benefiting?

 Reason of poverty of Sub Saharan Africa?

 Reason of richness of countries is that they concentrate their productive
capacities and export on high value goods and services.
 Only 12 developing countries are really participating in the expansion of
trade.
 For the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the growth of
exports in many poor countries does not necessarily lead to poverty
reduction. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates
that about 805 million people were suffering from chronic undernourishment
in 2012-14, out of which 791 million people live in developing countries (FAO,
2015).
Who is Benefiting?

 According to Oxfam international, the contrasting experiences of Latin America

and East Asia illustrate that globalization induced growth and poverty can coexist.
 Even when the market expands, “poor people are often excluded from
opportunities, by a lack of productive assets, weak infrastructure, poor education,
and ill health” (Oxfam International, 2000).
 Amartya Sen (2002), a well known economist believes that the main issue is not
globalization itself but inequitable sharing of its benefits.
 Wealth is being created, but too many countries and people are not sharing in its
benefits (World Commission on the social dimension of Globalization, 2004).
 The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as he richest 85
individuals in the world. All in all, the richest 1 percent account for 48 percent of
world income (Oxfam International, 2014).
Sub-Saharan Africa on the Margins

 Even the most ardent promoters of globalization will admit hat Africa is
facing a tough challenge (Box 6.5).
 Currently many African countries appear to be trapped n a vicious circle of
interlocking handicaps, including poverty, illiteracy, civil strife,
environmental pressures, poor governance, and inflexible economies largely
dependent on a single commodity.
 The bleak picture is however shifting towards better.
China: Exception or Trend???
What Is New?

 What does appear to be new is the speed and intensity of interconnections

among entities across the world.
 Around the world, 24 hours per day, financial markets are imposing
immediate economic decisions. New technologies, at least partially, have
created another reality, namely the, “world factory”, managed by the world
firm, under a world label, where everything from production to marketing
and design is integrated across continents and communities.
Who Makes the Decisions?

 Globalization has a profound impact on politics. The concept of nation state is

losing its significance because of multinational corporations.
 The UN is frequently bypassed by multilateral and multilateral structures and
trade accords such as the North American Free Trade agreement (NAFTA),
that makes decisions over a wide range of matters, including the maintenance
of peace. Similarly, WTO, G8 and now more inclusive G20.
ANOTHER GLOBALIZATION

 Clearly, globalization appears set to remain at the center of hot debates. The
Global South is “re” and “de”-composing itself into a myriad of contradictory
processes.
The New Face of Imperialism

 Some analysts believe that globalization is just another face of imperialism,

allowing the powerful, mostly in the Global North, to extend their reach and
widen the net of international capitalism.
 “Triad”, a new center of power.
 Alliance of East Asian countries (except China) with the triad.
Global South

 According to a UN report on inequality (2014), 55 percent of the global income is

concentrated in countries accounting for 16 percent of the population.
 Global South is now being reconfigured into emergent economies and those which
are being left further behind. And at the same time , pockets of poverty are
becoming visible in traditional north.
 Concept of “Deterritorialization”.
 USA still trying to preserve its imperialism.
 Globalization is not a natural, evolutionary or inevitable phenomenon (but rather) a
political process that has been forced on a weak by the powerful….Global in the
dominant discourse is the political space in which the dominant seeks control,
freeing itself from local, regional, and global sources of accountability arising from
the imperatives of ecological sustainability and social justice (Vandana Shiva, a
critique of globalization).
Beyond the Triad

 Globalization remains a process led by a few countries mostly in North

America and the European Union and Japan.
 Changes in the patterns of development in a few countries of Global South.
 China’s role in shaping global economy.
 South is also under rapid change by the means of various regional groupings.
 Efforts by BRICS.
 Reforming global organizations;
 New Development Bank (NDB);
 Development of Trans Pacific Partnership.
Rebels with a Cause

 Some countries mostly in South America want to go even further and demand
policies opposite to Washington Consensus.
 There are differences among economic giants even.
 Nevertheless, in the last two decades, South American countries have made
serious efforts to make their strengths and capacities converge. MERCOSUR is
a case in point. Apart form this is ALBA.
MOVEMENT FROM BELOW

 Ascendancy of global civil society.

 Alter-globalist movement.
From Chiapas via Seattle to Bangkok
and Tunis
 Emergence of Zapatista National Liberation Army in Mexico which rejected
the policies of NAFTA.
 In Seattle in 1999, that cry was taken up by a wide coalition of US and
international NGOs and social movements that was later defined as an
alliance of “teamsters” (trade unions) and “turtles” (environmentalists).
 Crash of financial institutions on Wall Street in 2008.
 The Arab Spring, 2011.
CAN THE WORLD CHANGE?

 Demand for another globalization through various movements for a counter

hegemonic project.
 One manifestation is World Social Forum (WSF).
FACING THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE AND
LOOKING AHEAD