An Inconvenient Truth

As we know, globalization does not affect all the parts of the world at the same way. Has globalization been a good process for Africa?

In his article "The Impact of Globalization on Africa", Alhaji Ahmadu Ibrahim studies negative and positive impacts of globalization on Africa. The main points described by him are described below

"The negative impacts of globalization on Africa

1. Tendon (1998) states that the cold war which was born out of the process for globalization has had significant consequences for Africa. During its height in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the cold war itnessed the emergence of authoritarian regimes in the form of one-party or military regimes. This was largely a result of the support of the two blocks to keep African countries in their respective camps. This has in turn, substantially reduced Africa’s international negotiating power and its ability to maneuver in the international system. In sum then, the cold war and its demise has worked against democracy and economic development in Africa.

2. Specific impact of globalization on Africa were identified according to Oyejide (1998) in the  political sphere, the most important consequence is the erosion of sovereignty, especially on economic and financial matters, as a result of the imposition of models, strategies and policies of development on African countries by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization.

3. More important is the fact that globalization for most part does not facilitate the establishment of the economic conditions necessary for genuine democracy and good governance to take solid roots and thrives.

4. Economically, globalization has, on the whole, reinforced the economic marginalization of African economies and their dependence on a few primary goods for which demand and prices are externally determined. This has, in turn accentuated poverty and economic inequality as well as the ability of the vast number of Africans to participate meaningfully in the social and political life of their countries.

5. As a result of the cultural domination from outside that goes with globalization, African countries are rapidly losing their cultural identity and therefore their ability to interact with other cultures on an equal and autonomous basis, borrowing from other cultures only those aspects that meet its requirements and needs.

6. The scientific and technological forces unleashed by globalization have facilitated the extinction of the indigenous development of technology and distorting patterns of production in Africa.

7. Globalization on the whole impacts negatively on the development and consolidation of democratic governance. One form of this is the reduction of the capacity of governments to determine and control events in their countries, and thus their accountability and responsiveness to their people, given the fact that the context, institutions and processes by which these decisions are taken are far from democratic.

8. Globalization introduces anti-developmentalism by declaring the state irrelevant or marginal to the developmental effort. Development strategies and policies that focus on stabilization and privatization, rather than growth, development and poverty eradication, are pushed by external donors, leading to greater poverty and inequality and undermining the ability of the people to participate effectively in the political and social processes in their countries. Welfare and other programs intended to meet the basic needs of the majority of the population are transferred from governments to non-governmental organizations that begin to replace governments making them to lose the little authority and legitimacy they have.

9. By imposing economic specialization based on the needs and interests of external forces and  ransforming the economies of African countries into series of enslaved economies linked to the outside but with very little linkages among them, Democracy, with its emphasis on tolerance and compromise, can hardly thrive in such an environment (Rodrik 1994).

10. Further, Mule (2000) views that the economic specialization imposed on African countries makes rapid and sustainable growth and development impossible, conflicts over the distribution of the limited gains realized from globalization becomes more acute and politicized. Vulnerable groups, such as women, the youth, and rural inhabitants, fare very badly in this contest and are discriminated against. This further erodes the national ethos of solidarity and reciprocity that are essential to successful democracies.

11. Globalization, by insisting on African countries opening their economies to foreign goods and entrepreneurs, limits the ability of African governments to take proactive and conscious measures to facilitate the emergence of an indigenous entrepreneurial class. (Mowlena 1998).

12. Globalization has encouraged illicit trade in drugs, prostitution, pornography, human smuggling, dumping of dangerous waste and depletion of the environment by unscrupulous entrepreneurs.

13. Globalization has freed labour across boundaries and facilitated brain drain. It facilitated “brain drain” in developing countries, thus reducing further their human capacity.

Positive impact of globalization on Africa

1. Globalization has eased international trade and commerce, facilitated foreign investment and the flow of capital while calling for greater accountability and responsiveness of leaders to their people, globalization has often pressed African leaders to adopt policies and measures that are diametrically opposed to the feelings and sentiments of vast majority of their people.

2. By defining basic and generally accepted principles of democratic governance, such as good governance, transparency and accountability, in narrow terms, conditioned by particular historical, political, social, and cultural factors, while leaving little or no room for adapting them to different societies and cultures.

3. There are international lobby and pressure groups in various fields. There are universities and institutions of higher learning with all their power to impact knowledge, skills and attitudes that shift behaviours of societies and state leadership as well as followership. All these combine to reinforce the phenomenon of globalization and force the state to shift its behaviour and the way it relates with both its “subjects” and its internal and external partners.International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 15; August 2013 

4. Globalization opens people’s lives to other cultures and all their creativity and to the flow of ideas and values.

5. Information and communication technologies have eased interaction among countries and peoples.

6. It is creating a global village out of a wide and diverse world.

7. One major positive impact of globalization on Africa is that it has made available information on how other countries are governed and the freedoms and rights their people enjoy.

8. It has also opened African countries to intense external scrutiny and exercised pressure for greater transparency, openness and accountability in Africa."

After reading about those controversial topics related with globalization, we can see how deep the effects of international decisions can be.and how it can affect millions of lives. My definition of global citizenship may has changed a little after reading about that
A global citizen may be someone who understands that the world as it is today has a lot of problems. Someone who assumes his role as a global citizen through the development of critical thinking and is able to start changes that can spread throughout the world