Globalization as a Form of Imperialism - Essay Example

GLOBALIZATION IS A FORM OF IMPERIALISM College Globalization is a Form of Imperialism Modern economists have reveal a new stand that shows that there is great relationship between the post-World War II globalization strategy and the economic backwardness in developing countries. While the majority of scholars hold the opinion that globalization is a war that was directed towards poverty reduction, there enough evidence that the globalization strategies have favoured only the powerful nations in the world. After the post war period, super power nations globalized by exploiting weaker nations because they could not afford to fight back. International monetary policies have favoured developed nations and have failed to foster development of countries whose economies have remained stagnated. The implication of this is that the rift between the powerful nations and the developing nations continue to widen. On this note, it is possible to say that globalization is a form of imperialism through which super power nations have set out plans to exploit weaker nations. Globalization refers to the expansive strategy that nations have embarked on to push expand their operations beyond their geographical boundaries and to add value to their economic strategies. The term globalization gained roots after the second world war after a period when western countries ventured into international markets to take advantage of economic opportunities in other countries. Notably, there has been a great acceleration of globalization since the year 1980 owing from the development of the global strategies within many nations (Veneziani, 2009). A number of factors have led to the increase in globalization during this period. To begin with, the search for cheap raw materials in potential countries has pushed many western countries to venture in regions such as Africa where these raw materials are available. Secondly, the constrained domestic markets have pushed business organizations to push their business organizations to the global market. Lastly, technological advancements in this era have given countries and business organizations the synergy demanded in venturing in international market (Inglis, 2011). As such, the last three decades have been a period of global consciousness and many countries have found a strong basis to launch an international interdependence. The impacts of this global trend have raised questions on the ideal nature of globalization and the way different countries have benefited from it. Globalization started way after the world war II a time when most western nations intended to expand their territories, expand their economic industry by taking advantage of cheap labour and cheap raw materials. Therefore, the European and the western nations set out their strategies to explore the world and landed in the other continents such as Africa and Asia. This formed the colonialism period when many countries in Africa served under the nations super power nations. When the European nations entered the African countries, they took advantage of the defenceless nations to develop their industrial sector from different cheap raw materials and to source forced labour that would work well for their growing industrial sector. the reason why these countries colonised African nations is because they intended to dominate and become the super power nations in terms of economy and strength. Since this was a war of the weak against the strong, it would be right as the highest level of imperialism in a globalization era (Perraton, 2004). Countries that were already poor continued to be poor as their natural resources were exploited by the powerful nations. most economists have arrived into a concession that the reason why developing countries have stagnated economies is because they suffered an economic exploitation during the colonialism period. The globalization strategies after the colonialism period were under the hand of the international bodies such as the world bank and the inter-monetary funds. These powerful banks were located in the western countries and endowed with the power of controlling the global monetary policies. Stiglitz (n.d.) asserts that these organizations designed policies that showed disparities between the super power nations and the developing nations. To begin with, the IMF and WB provided policies that treated nations differentially often favouring the developed countries. While these bodies were supposed to administer equity-based policies that would contribute to the development of weak economies, these bodies designed policies that acted differently. For instance, the high interest loan rates that these organizations charged the developing countries frustrated the strategies of the developing countries to globalize. the fiscal policies weakened the currency in third world countries and killed the banking industry. These monetary policies were oppressive since majority of the developing countries were in the state of recovering from the blow of colonialism. The implication of this is that the stronger nations were able to access development loans while the weaker nations were frustrated and their efforts to rise against this form of dominance were suppressed. Another perspective of imperialism in the era of globalization can be seen on the way global strategies impacted on the political structures in the developing countries. The period after colonisation was a period of political reform in many countries. The developed countries contributed a lot in the development of the political structures in the countries where they had colonised (Veneziani, 2009). A critical analysis of the political structures in the colonised countries shows that the colonisers elected autocratic leadership in these countries in the name of independence and supported the development of these structures. For instance, countries such as Kenya have been ruled for over 20 years with the same constitution that the British had provided. These constitutions provided the government leaders with autocratic power over the people and hence the government did not serve the needs of the people but its own. This political dependence of developing countries on developed countries is a manifestation of neo-colonialism and imperialistic structure. By setting up such leadership, the western countries ensured that these countries had the least potential of developing. Autocratic political structures have contributed a lot to the cultural and economic backwardness of the countries of the South. The struggle of these countries to develop new political structures and constitution is an expression of their urge to phase out the imperialistic structures elected by the western countries. Imperialism has been defined as the assertion of dominance by super power nations through a series of efforts to hoard economic power at the expense of weaker nations. there is a strong relationship between neo-imperialism and the global strategies that evolved during the colonial period. This marked a period when the strong nations exploited the weak nations, depriving them the opportunity to grow (Aslund, 2008). The neo-colonialism is an implication of the expansionism strategies of the Europe nations during the colonial period. The European nations excelled economically from their colonisation strategies. They managed to acquire free raw materials for their industries hence generating super normal profits from this sector. They acquired free labour from their subjects through slave trade, which punctuated the colonial period. The US states developed imminently during this period globalization to become an unchallengeable super power nation. The international monetary policies developed the IMF and WB gave these countries the propensity to invest and exploit potential markets in under-developed countries. The rift between developing and developed countries became wider and any chances of closing this gap were diminished completely. On this note, the era of globalized marked an era of the highest level imperialism that created the widest rift between developing nation and the developed nations. Although there have evolved a counterargument that the era of globalizations open the opportunity for all countries to grow, there is practical evidence that this was a period of economic suppression for the weak countries. While developed nations marked an exponential growth in economy, continents such as Africa and Asia marked a period of economic stagnancy (Kwame, 2014). Stiglitz (n.d.) points out that the fact that countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi are extremely poor indicates that the economic conditions in these countries are stagnated. The developing countries have low life expectancy, low level of education and many are still suffering from starvation. In countries such as India, over 50% of the children are malnourished, indicating the height of poverty level in these countries. Today, most of the colonised nations are the majority debtors of the world bank and other international monetary bodies since they cannot fund their own budgets. Notably, neo-imperialism still penetrates in the contemporary global society as some countries still suffer exploitation from their colonisers for the reason that they are incapable of exploiting their own resources. The neo-imperialism that resulted from globalization can be seen through the way that the developing countries have become dependent on the super power nations. This shows that globalization is the result of the economic difference that exists between developed and developing nations. In conclusion, a critical evaluation of globalization since the post-World War II period is a disguised form of imperialism. Globalized allowed some nations to assert their superiority against weak nations. The post war period was followed by a period of colonialism when powerful nations such America and Europe exerted their dominance on weaker continents such as Asia and Africa. In this scramble, the powerful nations exploited their subjects and developed their industrial and economic sector. The period after colonization was the period when many nations expected to benefit from globalization. However, the super power nations formulated international monetary policies that inhibited the potential of developing nations to grow economically. The interest loan rates suffocated the developing nations and suppressed their chances to develop. The high poverty level and economic dependence in these nations depict the height of imperialism in the contemporary world. It is a clear indication that globalization did not deliver the expected benefits to these nations underpinning the controversy of neo-imperialism that exists today in the economic realms. As economies in developing nation remain stagnated despite the rapid of globalization, it is clear that the dream of closing the gap created by globalization is far from realization. Unless there timely intervention, imperialism will remain a persistent problem in far into future of the world economy. Bibliography Aslund, A 2008, Putins Lurch toward tsarism and neoimperialism: Why the United States should care, Demokratizatsiya, 1, p. 17, Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2014. Inglis, D 2011, Mapping Global Consciousness: Portuguese Imperialism and the Forging of Modern Global Sensibilities, Globalizations, 8, 5, pp. 687-702, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2014. Kwame Sundaram, J 2014, Globalization, imperialism and its discontents, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 15, 1, pp. 17-24, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2014. Perraton, J 2004, Joseph Stiglitzs, Globalization and its Discontents, Journal Of International Development, 16, 6, pp. 897-905, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2014. Stiglitz, J., n.d, Globalization and its Discontents. London: Norton & Company. Veneziani, R 2009, Global Capitalism and Imperialism Theory: Methodological and Substantive Insights from Rosa Luxemburg, Review Of Political Economy, 21, 2, pp. 195-211, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 March 2014. Read More