The Loss of the Frontier - Essay Example

? The Consequences for Social Life of the Loss of the Frontier The Loss of the Frontier During the colonial time, there was a demarcation of zones of control in which the colonists managed and called their territory. In this way, there was no interaction or interference with the political territories of the different colonial regimes. The cultural and social units were split into different regions and hence through demarcations, divergent cultures were placed in the same or common boundary. There was therefore no interference since the societal interaction was limited to the territory of individuals and their leaders. The colonial states therefore created order within the colonial territories and hence the possibility of conflict emerging between different communities was limited to certain levels due to reduced interaction. This also saw the reduction in the cultural diversity and the exchange of cultural values between different colonial societies. The postcolonial state and the freedom that has been created as a result of revolution within different countries have resulted into different consequences to the society. According to Singh & Schmidt (2009), these consequences are directly or indirectly related to the artificial boundaries that were created by the colonial power. It is important to note that the post colonial and the decolonization movements adopted the boundaries that were created by these colonialists and hence created a nation state. Even though it was imagined that the nation so created is different from the colonial one, it was not different, the nation remained the same throughout. The concept of imprisonment within the territories created the state nations through colonial territorial cartographies. It is this state nation that resulted to the creations of borders in which the frontiers territories were lost. However, the creation of borders has resulted into certain benefits within the borders with regard to the interaction with other nation states. However, it has dismantled the order that existed before and hence has resulted to certain adverse impacts. The problems that have been created by the building of the nation states include; the problems of minorities, ethno-nationalism, sub-state nationalism, ethnicities and separatism (French, 2000). All these have resulted from the diversity in the territorial lands that were converted into the nation states. The root causes of all these problems are the increasing interaction between different communities that has increased the vulnerability of conflict. This can be described as globalization often termed as economic globalization which is the increase in the levels of interaction between individuals and other business entities. This has increased the way individuals access information, perform business, transfer information, competition and the general flow of capital in different economies. This has resulted into the positive impacts as well as the negative consequences. Globalization refers to the integration of regional economies, cultures and societies with regard to transportation, communication and trade. The concept also describes the changes that have taken place in the contemporary society with regard to the interaction and socialization process across the world. The society that has gone through this concept is therefore said to be globalized. While many scholars argue that globalization has resulted into the increased benefits, others have taken contrary opinion, stating that this has resulted into more bad than good. The latter school of argument asserts that globalization has increased the possibility of the intra-national conflicts and the international conflicts while reducing intercultural contacts (Steger, 2009). In this context, it is evident that there is increasing concern and debate about the world peace and the international relations. This is because globalization and the creation of the borders have interfered by the territorial system and there is no longer secrecy or confidential interaction. One of the major impacts of globalization and the creation of borders is the fading of culture. With globalization, there is possibility of close interaction between different nation’s cultures. In the process, individuals are capable of exchanging their cultures as a result of this interaction. This provides opportunity to the individuals to learn other society’s culture and interact with them at a close range as well. This is important and advantageous to the border nations as there is possibility of learning from others and hence it leads to the process of civilization. However, the increasing interaction and exchanging cultural values has resulted into great consequences especially for the developing nations. While the developed nation command a lot of influence on the developing nations, the possibility of individuals picking certain cultural ideas depends on the power. According to Reich (1992), the concern is that the bigger nations such as the United States of America may overrun the developing nations ‘culture and hence the customs and the values of these developing nations may fade. This has been seen in most developing nations especially Africa in which there is increasing adoption of the western culture. Environmental degradation and inequality are also other consequences that have resulted from the creation of the borders and the loss of frontiers. While it provides more opportunities and increases competition, the rate of environmental degradation has increased as well. Foreign investments in other nations especially the developing nations are given as one of the reasons for the degradation of the environment. As observed by Sheila (2004), globalization has opened wide market for the multinational companies and hence the number of these companies has continued to increase in the developing nations. This is because they are taking advantage of the high rate of unemployment as well as the struggling economies to ensure that they maximize their profits at the expense of the well being of the people. Less stringent cost of business operations in different developing nations is looked as the reason for the exploitation of the natural resources in those particular nations leading to environmental degradation. While sustainable development stems from the policies of all major developed nations, the developing nations have not taken this issue seriously and hence the business communities are taking advantage of this by importing the technologies that are impractical within their borders to the developing nations. According Bhagwati (2005), globalization and the creation of borders has driven away the competition in the agriculture and industry. The emission of gases to the atmospheres by the major players in the industrial sector who are mainly from the bigger nations like the United States of America is a clear indication that globalization has interfered with the sovereignty and is threatening this principle. This is because certain developing countries must act in accordance to the requirements of these major nations in order to entice investments from these nations. This is perceived as a threat to the principle of sovereignty that requires that national policies be made with regard to the needs of the nation and not the foreigners. Income inequality as a consequence of globalization has adversely affected the developed nations. It is important to recognize that before the loss of frontier, exportation of labor was not possible because the territories were controlled by the colonial power. While globalization has created wide market for skilled labor as well as increased competition, it has also created income inequality among the skilled workforce in the developed nations (Vogel, 1992). They are able to compete well in the international market and hence command higher wages while the production workers have not been able to compete well. This has resulted to them not able to command higher wages in the international labor market. The result of this is the change in work flow such that the developing nations benefit from low value added element of work that was previously performed in the rich nations. On the other hand, the higher value is retained and hence there is high increase in the value added per worker. The trends in which the income disparities continue to grow between the rich and the poor has been seen in many developed as well as developing nation. The growing gap between the incomes between the poor and the rich is estimated to be highest in the United States of America. This reflects the living standards of individuals and hence it follows that there is increasing difference in the living standards. According to Held (2001), the United States o America is one of those nations that have experienced the greatest impacts of income differences. This was higher before 1970s but after this year, it rose sharply and is now almost comparable to the developing nations. This is contrary to the perception that United States that it is one of the richest nations of the world. The measure of income by percapita income statistics therefore does not show the true living standards of individuals. Brain drain is another consequence of globalization in which talent is driven away by the poor countries inability to pay talented individuals. Due to globalization, importation and exportation of labor has been made easier and right now it is easier to manage work force from different parts of the world. There is competitive pays for talented individuals in the international market and hence the poor nations are wasting their resources in the training of professionals who end up working for the rich countries. This is because the rich nations are able to pay higher than the developing nations. As a result of this, it is difficult to train and have the professionals working in the same countries that they are trained if that nation cannot pay competitive wages. As observed by Gainsborough (2009), brain drains have impacted on the financial status of African continent more than any other nation of the world. This is approximately five billion dollars for employment of about 150,000 in a year. These statistics stands at ten billion dollars per year in India in which the students cost was very high recently. Sweatshops is the idea that the developing nations are taking advantage of the high rates of unemployment in the developing nations and hence are exploiting their workers by paying them relatively low compared to their countries. The major multinational companies have often utilized the advantage of the low wage rates in the developing nations (Sachs, 2005). Manufactures have utilized this opportunity to make huge profits by manufacturing at low costs I those nations compared to the richer nations. Moreover, they also get ready markets for their products from the same nations. In this context, globalization has resulted not only to the exploitation of the wages but also to the exploitation of the individual products’ markets. For example, Nike Company which manufactures pairs of shoes is one of the richest companies that have established several outlets in other nations in which it exploits the cheap labor. This has been made possible in these nations by the less stringent laws that are meant to encourage investors into these poor nations so that the people may get employment. Globalization and the creation of borders have also resulted into the development of serious diseases as well as other medical complications that never existed before we lost frontier. According to Longworth (2007), increased levels of transportation as well as the development of faster and convenient methods of movement has resulted into easier transportation of dangerous diseases from one region to the other. During the fourteenth century, the black deaths killed almost a quarter of the total population of Russia. As a result of this, there are increased concerns to the level of travel in most nations. Different nations have increased their levels of check at different ports and hence are making important rules and regulations to prevent these interactions with people. HIV and AIDs is also another example of a disease that has been spread by globalization that has made it easier for individuals to move from one region to the other and hence has carried dangerous infectious diseases to those regions. Research has also shown that there is high rate of TB infected individuals especially those from foreign nations. According to Bhagwati (2004), the creation of borders and globalization has also resulted into the increasing rate of conflicts within and international Arena. Different communities that are found within the different nation states created by the boarders have often engaged in several conflicts. Just after the revolutionary periods, the nations have in one way or another involves in conflicts within its ethnic communities. This is attributed to the differences in culture which was created by the colonizer. The conflicts were evident in many nations especially after the independence in those particular nations. America is a good example where the civil wars claimed several lives and property. Other conflicts within other nations were also recorded after independence or after the frontier. International conflicts are also evident in the history of many nations across the world. Before we lost frontier and adopted borders, it was not easier for a nation to invade the other nation since the territories were controlled by the colonizer. In this context, different territories later became nation states were independent and interaction that could lead to conflicts were highly avoided. However, in the contemporary society, the interaction between different communities and nation states has been increased and as a result, this interaction has increased the vulnerability of the nation states to conflicts. Suspicion and lack of trust that resulted from the first and the second world wars are clear indications of the impacts of border system on conflicts and its management (Sachs, 2005). Invasion by major nations such as American Invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of some of the most dangerous conflicts that have been witnessed in the recent past. These kinds of invasions and conflicts were not possible before we lost frontier because the interrelatedness and the order was in existence. The levels of interaction and sharing of information is also another aspect of globalization that has resulted into great consequences. While the information access is important for the purpose of sharing of knowledge and ideas across the globe, it also affects the moral standards and personality development. Since the transfer of information from one place to the other has been made easier, it is also important to note that certain information may not be beneficial but detrimental to the well being of the society. For example, the ease with which information is easily accessible and lack of screening of the information have resulted into the decay in the moral status of the young children as well as the youths. The media also plays important role in this by promoting capitalism instead of their roles in educating and empowering the public. The easily accessible information from the media either though the electronic means or other means has been detrimental to the moral society since there has been importation of foreign policies and cultures that have been detrimental to their future roles in the society. The loss of frontier and the control of territory with the development of border have therefore resulted into great consequences alongside other benefits References Bhagwati, J. (2004). “In Defense of Globalization.” Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. Sheila L. C. (2004). “Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World.” Rowman & Littlefield. (2004). Longworth, R. C. (2007). “Caught in the middle of America’s the age of globalism.” New York: Bloomsbury. Steger, M. (2009). “Globalization.” New York: Sterling Publishing, 2009 Singh, A. & Schmidt, P. (2000). “Postcolonial theory and the United States: Race, ethnicity, and literature.” Mississippi: University press of Mississippi. Gainsborough, M. (2009). “On the borders of state power: Frontiers in the greater Mekong sub-region.” New York: Routledge. French, H. (2000). “Vanishing Borders: Protecting the planet in the age of globalization.” London: World watch. Reich, R. (1992). “The Work of the Nations, Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism.” Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992 Bhagwati, J. N. (2005). “In defense of Globalization.” New York: Oxford University Press. Vogel, E. F. (1991). “The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia.” Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Held, D. (2001). “Globalization in the Oxford Companion to Politics of the World.” Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sachs, J. (2005). “The End of Poverty.” New York, New York: The Penguin Press. Read More