Globalization, Social Issues and Public Policy - Coursework Example

Globalization, Social Issues and Public Policy Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Executive summary The concept of community has been defined by various scholars according to their own understanding. However, with reference to all the definitions provided, there is an agreed understanding that a community is characterized by people living within a certain geographical location, sharing common beliefs, interests and values. There have been various issues of concern in the modern societies that have spurred the establishment of community groups to help deal with such concerns. These include matters such as globalization, environmental degradation and human rights. Some of the community groups that have been established for dealing with these concerns include the Greater Milwaukee Human Rights Network, which deals with human rights issues, Citizens Against Pollution (CAP) dealing with pollution control and the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) that deals with globalization matters. The activities of these groups revolve around dealing with the respective concerns, and these have well been elaborated below. Table of Contents Executive summary 2 Table of Contents 3 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 Community 4 2.1 Community groups 6 3.0 Issues of concern to community groups 6 3.1 Pollution 7 3.1.1 Citizens against Pollution (CAP) 8 3.2 Human rights 10 3.2.1 The Greater Milwaukee Human Rights Network 11 3.3 The impact of globalization 12 3.3.1 Negative effects of globalization 13 3.3.2 Positive effects of globalization 13 3.3.3 Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) 14 4.0 Conclusion 15 5.0 References 16 1.0 Introduction There have been numerous definitions put forward regarding the definition of community. This concept has also been viewed from different perspectives, for instance, the sociological, economical, technological and political perspectives. Apparently, people have joined and come up with community groups, each comprising of its own objectives and values. However, there have been various issues of concern that have been identified, as affecting the community groups. Some of these issues include globalization, environmental concerns and issues to do with social equity. As a result, some of the community groups have devised ways of dealing with such matters, in an aim to ensure that the negative impacts are minimized. For instance, some community groups have taken active roles in matters to do with sustainability, human rights and anti-globalization. With this in mind, the following essay seeks to provide the various definitions of community that have been put forward by various scholars, and further provide an example of three community groups. The essay will also outline the issues that have been of concern to the outlined community groups, discussing the benefits and the constraints of the issues identified. The final part of the essay will look at how the outlined community groups have reacted to these issues, illustrating their success areas with regard to the exercise of community leadership. 2.0 Community According to the Social Development Commission for the Government of Jamaica, in its publication about Community Rights and Responsibilities, a community can be defined as a group of individuals from a common geographic area, with common value systems, needs and interest, and having shared or similar experiences (Barzilai, 2003 p.67). On the other hand, there has been an argument that a community is not just about the people who are living within it, since communities already existed before its current residents were born, and it is speculated that it will continue existing even after all its residents have left (Henrard, 2000 p.135). Apparently, some communities are comprised of members who may have moved to other locations temporarily. This therefore means that the community is something more than its very components, its contemporary residents or community members, but also incorporates individuals that have been brought together by religion, lifestyle, specific interests and hobbies (Chipuer & Pretty, 1999 p.648). There is also a view that the community can be defined in terms of mutual respect. A community can be formed without common beliefs, shared identity or without the need of people defining themselves with relevance to each other. Therefore, a community can be described as a state of mind, or a sense of belonging that is generated from the feeling of acceptance regardless of an individual’s identity (Barzilai, 2003 p.106). From the various definitions of community that have been provided, some of the common elements denoted are, the community as a process, place and institutional structure. The community as a process involves the socialization and the interaction within the members of the community. The community as a place incorporates that feature that denotes the geographical location of the people, while the view of the community as an institutional structure refers to the institutions attending to the needs of the community members (Chipuer & Pretty, 1999 p.650). A major characteristic of the community is that its members share institutions. In my own understanding therefore, a community can be described as a distinct geographical location, with people having common social, cultural and economic ownership of resources, and share common interests, values, needs and objectives. 2.1 Community groups A community group is comprised of members who share common interests, concerns and goals. They often differ in size and in the intricacy of inner relationship among the members (Henrard, 2000 p.114). This is probably the reason as to why we find many groups existing within a community since each is for formed fro a specific objective or goal. One important fact to note about community groups is that its members often see themselves as capable of mobilizing themselves to satisfy their needs, have the potential of developing a sense of security and self fulfilment, since they work together identifying and meeting common goals and objectives, and sharing common interests (Henrard, 2000 p.76). Some common examples of community groups include youth clubs, local action groups, local history groups, residents and tenants associations, disabled community groups and neighbourhood groups. Community groups provide avenues where like-minded individuals can connect and share ideas regarding specific issues affecting them, or certainly require transformation, and come up with significant measures that could be implemented to improve the situation. Indeed, community groups have significant impacts to the world (Chipuer & Pretty, 1999 p.646). 3.0 Issues of concern to community groups Community groups are formed for meeting specific community needs (Henrard, 2000 p.57). Historically, the community groups that existed were formed because its members shared common historical backgrounds and belonged to the same culture or religion and therefore their activities revolved around their culture or religious faith. It is also postulated that few community groups existed. The numbers of community groups have largely increased in the modern world and one of the major factors that is attributed to the rising numbers of community groups is due to emergence of factors affecting communities such as globalization, child abuse, health related matters, abuse of drugs and substance abuse, and depletion of resources such as water, forest and land resources, hence leading to increased cases of poverty. It is important to note therefore that each community group has specific objectives it seeks to obtain and therefore the main activities of the community group revolve around fulfilling its outlined objectives. Issues of concern to community groups are well elaborated below. One of the issues of great concern to community groups is environmental concerns. Environmental concerns encompass such aspects as pollution, environmental degradation, climate change, land degradation, resource depletion, land use and conservation among others. In the contemporary society, environmental concerns have gained has been of great interest to many activists, groups, and organizations who call for measures to protect the environment. In this case, we will focus on pollution as an environmental concern and assess how certain community groups have reacted to the issue and their achievement in relation to exercising community leadership. In addition, we will evaluate the pros and cons associated with the group’s active role in anti-pollution measures. 3.1 Pollution In the contemporary society, pollution has become a major environmental concern. The aspect can be defined as the introduction of various contaminants into the natural environment that results to disorder, instability, discomfort or harm to the ecosystem (Roy, 2001 p.45-56). Pollution takes various forms including air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, soil contamination and radioactive contamination among others. Air and water pollution are deemed as the main forms of pollution, with industries and automotives emitting dangerous gases to the atmosphere and waste products to the waters. In particular, the negative impacts of pollution are what has resulted to the increased call for measures by various groups and organizations, and governments Acts to control pollution. To name a few, pollution is linked with such consequences as health problems including reduced functioning of the lung, cancer, cardiovascular problems, and premature death; depletion of aquatic animals, and destruction of plants (Roy, 2001 p.93). In order to protect the global environment from these adverse impacts of pollution, countries worldwide, organizations and community groups have taken various measures to regulate pollution and alleviate the adverse impacts. One such community group is Citizens against pollution in California. 3.1.1 Citizens against Pollution (CAP) Citizens Against Pollution (CAP) is a regional environmental community group in Hayward, California, which educates its citizens regarding the toxic exposure among other risks of local fossils-fuel power plants. In addition, the group educates individuals on the advantages of using other energy alternatives. CAP main responsibility is to protect the California desert from becoming a dumping ground for toxic and radioactive, sewage sludge, and municipal garbage (Balaswamy, 2007 p.41). In its efforts to fight pollution, CAP has faced various challenges from organizations and power plants. For instance, RCEC rejected CAP’s request to obtain an auxiliary boiler, which would reduce the emission of nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. However, the group has received adequate support from individuals and organizations who object the activities of such firms. Moreover, CAP has settled different lawsuits including the Gravins emission lawsuit. The company agreed to comply with the groups request to control emissions thus reducing the adverse effects caused by the same. In its role to control pollution and mitigate its adverse effects, CAP has filed various lawsuits with different plants/industries banning them from emitting or constructing such plants (Balaswamy, 2007 p.104). For instance, the Alameda County Health Department, through CAP efforts estimated that, the construction of RCEC, a power plant in California would lead to the emission of more than two million metrics tons of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulate soot, which as a result would affect the health of the populations, causing respiratory problems and serious illnesses. The group requires that, any power plant to give adequate information to allow public to react upon the same. In addition, all power plants employing natural gas, the shutdowns and starts ups require to be termed as pollutants or energy generating emissions with every release. Therefore, in its efforts to fight pollution and therefore save individuals lives, CAP requested RCEC to install Best Available Control Technology (BACT), which would strictly limit emissions (Balaswamy, 2007 p.156). However, this measure resulted to be stringent. CAP, thus asks the Board of Appeals to enforce a requirement that promotes the Clean Air Act. This according to CAP is by obtaining an auxiliary boiler that reduces the emission of nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. However, the rejection of this request by RCEC due to the high costs of installation, CAP considers it as the best practice for clean air, and has obtained adequate support from organizations and friends who objects the present application of RCEC. Citizens Against Pollution has also succeeded in settling the Gavins emissions lawsuit. The settlement terms requires the power plant to maintain its sulphuric acid emissions below or at fourteen parts per million during the normal plant operation whilst SCR is in use and below or at 22 parts per million when Selective Catalytic Reduction is not in use (Balaswamy, 2007 p.84). The SCR is deemed to lessen the emissions of nitrogen oxide, which leads to the formation of smog (urban ozone). In the settlement, American Electric Power also agreed to be carrying out periodic testing of the levels of sulphuric acid emissions and in addition to monitor the company’s (Ohio Power Company) emissions alleviation system during the testing process (Balaswamy, 2007 p.118). The results of such assessment would be reported to the Citizens Against Pollution counsel. Members of Citizens against Pollution are constantly calling for individuals and organizations to support them in their efforts of controlling environment pollution, which as a result will offer a health place to live in. 3.2 Human rights These are defined as the internally recognized customs that help in protecting individuals all over the world from severe legal, social and political abuses. Proponents of human rights claim that every individual is endowed with some entitlements, simply on the ground of being human. These rights exist in law and morality, and at both global and national levels (Jacobs & White, 1996 p.67). In this way therefore, human rights can be viewed in an egalitarian and universalist approach. Examples of the human rights as provided by various constitutions include freedom of religion, right to life and right to fair trial in the law court. Generally, human rights seek to address matters to do with universality, existence, justification, nature and content (Henrard, 2000 p.106). The primary sources of the modern notion of human rights are the human rights treaties and document that followed global organizations like the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe, the African Union and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The impacts of enhancing the understanding of human rights among citizens include enabling the citizens to exercise their rights and freedom, and eliminate discrimination (Ramcharan, 2002 p.78). The citizens are as well protected from unjust practices that will infringe their human rights. There have been various community groups that have been formed to enhance the understanding of the human rights among citizens. One example of such groups is outlined below. 3.2.1 The Greater Milwaukee Human Rights Network The issue of human rights is one of the main concerns in our societies today (Alston, 1999 p.53). Most governments have clearly outlined the rights and freedoms entitled to their citizens in the constitution. However, most citizens are still being marginalized and do not have full access to their rights as citizens. The Milwaukee Human Rights Network was formed with the basic aim of promoting the understanding of human rights. The group seeks to mobilize local actions to help address social issues within the human rights framework in Milwaukee area. The group seeks to attain their objective through relations between the City of Milwaukee’s Equal Rights Commission and the community, and through education and training of the activist community groups. Racism and poverty affect human rights and the dignity of people. Poverty is closely associated with illiteracy in that most of the poor people have no access to education facilities and as a result remain illiterate (Hodgson, 1998 p.143). Apparently, the illiterate people in the society are the ones who have no or little understanding of their rights and this is the reason as to why most of them end up being marginalized. The community in Milwaukee area is one characteristic of a marginalized group. Most of its members were not aware of the their basic human rights as citizens and as a result the Milwaukee Human Rights Network was formed in order to enhance a set of accountability structures to help this community understand their rights and freedom. This is based on the provisions of the United Nation to Eliminate Racial Discrimination (CERD), United Nations Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This community group is currently involved with educating and training human rights activists, who are expected to reach out to the community members to enlighten them on the importance of understanding their rights. The key areas of concentration include housing, poverty, education anti-violence initiatives, criminal justice, health care and employment. This is due to the realization of the importance of understanding human rights. 3.3 The impact of globalization Another issue that has been of great concern to community groups is the impact of globalization. Globalization is the growing unification of world’s economy through the reduction of barriers to the international trade, which include; import quotas, tariffs and export fees (Held & McGrew, 2001 p.89). The main aim of this is to ensure increased material wealth as well as in goods and services through a worldwide division of labour enabled by good international relations, competition and specialization. Globalization describes the way in which regional economies, cultures and societies have been integrated through trade, communication and transportation. The term is mostly associated with economic globalization meaning integration of regional economies to the international economy by ensuring good capital flows, presence of military, trade, migration and spread of technology (Held & McGrew, 2001 p.124). It is recognized that the globalization is usually because of combination of economic, political, biological, socio - cultural and technological factors. The term can also be used to refer to the circulation of ideas and culture across nations through acculturation (Fernando, 2010 p.59). Globalization has had both a positive and a negative contribution to the world’s economic order. 3.3.1 Negative effects of globalization According to Held and McGrew, (2001 p.69), the negative impacts of globalization include: Globalization has led to increased job insecurity. In the past people enjoyed permanent jobs unlike today where people are living in fear of losing their jobs due to increased competition that has led to a reduction in the daily wages and hence reduced standards of living. It has also resulted to the exploitation of labour whereby employees especially child workers and prisoners are to work in poor working conditions ignoring safety standards in production of cheap goods. There is a rapid growth of industries by companies causing increased pollution mostly in the developing countries where measures to control and mitigate the adverse effects of pollution are poor. Due to the infrastructure development, deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS have been spread to the innermost corners of the globe by travellers. An effect on the local cultures by the foreign cultures through the internet and television are also of great concern. 3.3.2 Positive effects of globalization Despite the negative side, globalization has widened media coverage globally and this has drawn the worldwide attention on violation of human rights leading to an increased improvement in the human rights. The increased competition by companies has forced them to lower the prices of commodities and this is an advantage to the end consumers. Globalization has generated the notion of outsourcing. In developing countries such as India, work such as insurance, customer support, accounting, marketing and software development is outsourced. The company that outsources the work benefits from reduced costs since in developing countries the wages is lower as compared to that of the developed countries. Globalization is seen as an instrument, which should benefit all humankind, and as a result, its negative impacts cannot be ignored. Consequently, these impacts have to be addressed in order to ascertain global peace and prosperity (Fernando, 2010 p.93). Various organizations, groups, and individuals have taken several steps in addressing the same. One such group is Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). 3.3.3 Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) SEWA is an Indian union of women labourers who works together in seizing job opportunities that are available. Through globalization, SEWA has been able to reach a wider population especially the rural women in India. Other opportunities, which have been aided by globalization, include the union has been able to establish a Women’s Cooperative Bank; and Indian businesspersons can be able to reach different markets in various parts of the continent, and through these opportunities and freedoms, women have been able to raise their standards of living through the generation of an increased income. The rapid growth in technology has benefited the group significantly. With the aid of computers, satellites, and telephones, SEWA women have been able to share business knowledge at the same time reaching a wider population, which has assisted in the growth of their businesses. Globalization has assisted SEWA women to network and share ideas in the international market. Therefore, in this case, globalization has helped in solving the issue of increased job insecurity among employees, which results to lower standards of living. 4.0 Conclusion This essay has focused on the concept community and the issues that are of great concern to community groups. Human rights, environmental issues, and globalization are some of the concerns discussed in this paper. These issues have affected the society both negatively and positively, and as a result, various groups and organizations have taken various steps in addressing the same in order to mitigate the negative impacts. Such groups include The Greater Milwaukee Human Rights Network, which advocates for human rights, Citizens Against Pollution (CAP) which has a responsibility of protecting the environment against pollution, and Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Through the adequate support form individuals and organizations, these groups have succeeded a lot in their efforts against the adverse effects of these concerns. 5.0 References Alston, P. (1999). Promoting human rights through bills of rights: Oxford: Oxford University Press. Balaswamy, B. (2007). Communication for sustainable development. London: Concept Publishing Company. Barzilai, G. (2003). Communities and law: Politics and cultures of legal identities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press Chipuer, H. M., & Pretty, G. M. H. (1999). A review of the Sense of Community Index: Current uses, factor structure, reliability, and further development. Journal of Community Psychology, 27(6), 643-658. Fernando, S. 2010. "Glocal" working: Living and working across the world with cultural intelligence. Milan, Franco Angeli. Held, D. & McGrew, A. (2001). “Globalization”, in the Oxford companion to politics of the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Henrard, K. (2000). Devising an adequate system of minority protection. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Hodgson, D. (1998). The human right to education. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing . Jacobs, F. & White, R. (1996). The European Convention on Human Rights. Oxford, Clarendon Press. Ramcharan, B. (2002). The security council and the protection of human rights. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Roy, M.H. (2001). Pollution: causes, effects and control, 4th Ed. New Delhi: Royal Society of Chemistry. Read More