Globalization in Africa - Essay Example

?Globalization Kenya is a country found in the eastern part of Africa with an area of 224080 sq. miles. Its capital is Nairobi and other major cities are Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret. It rises from a coastal plain on the Indian Ocean in a series of mountains ridges and plateaus in the center of the country. The Great Rift Valley bisects this country into two. The country has a broad arid plain in the north and vast highlands both in the central and southern parts. It has a tropical climate in the south, west, and central region and a semi-arid climate in the northern and northeastern parts. This country has a multi-ethical population of 39 million as per 2010 of which 82.6% are Christians, 11.2% Muslims and other religions take the remaining 6%. It is currently in a transition stage trying to implement a new constitution that was adapted in 2010 a process in which it is planning to move from its current administrative subdivisions of 140 districts and 7 provinces to a form that will have 47 counties each with an elected governor. The GDP of this country as by 2010 was estimated at $ 32 billion with an annual growth rate of 5.4%. Its main parts of the economy are tourism, agriculture, and light industries. In addition, it has six full-pledged public universities and approximately thirteen private ones (Bureau of public affairs 2012). Globalization has played a great role in shaping the African economic and political landscape (Falola & House-soremekun 2011). Kenya being one of them, it has experienced drastic changes on various aspects of its economy. Agriculture is the engine of the Kenyan economy (Robbins & Ferris 2003). Although Kenya has almost all its northern and northeastern parts as semi-arid, it continues to enjoy vast agricultural productions from its southern, western, and central part that are agriculturally productive. In the recent years, we have had what we call globalization of markets, which has enabled this country to export its excess agricultural products. It has also enabled it to get more farm inputs and equipment to enhance its agricultural productivity. Globalization, through globalized market has been a very big boost to the economy of this country. Another impact of globalization on Kenya’s agricultural sector is attraction of foreign investors. These investors, who have mainly invested in horticultural products planted on large tracts of land for export, have caused an increase in Kenya’s exports to other countries resulting to Kenya being ranked among the leading exporters of vegetables and other horticultural products in the European Union market (Mithofer & Waibel 2011). Another important sector of this country economy is the tourism sector. This country has a vast range of natural resources that include landscape, people, climate, and wildlife (Bowden 2007). These natural resources act as tourists’ attraction. Globalization has enabled this country to enjoy an increasing number of tourists’ visitation. According to Jafari (2003), Kenya is the most popular tourists’ destination in Africa, receiving about 6% of the total tourists who visit the African continent. This sector has played a very vital role in this the economic development of this country. Another way that globalization has contributed in improvement of this sector is through attraction of foreign investors. These investors build resorts and other facility on tourist attraction points, which provide accommodation and other services to tourists. Actually, I think is the sector of the Kenyan economy that has experienced the impact of globalization. Globalization has also influenced greatly the Kenyans ‘lifestyle. With market diversity, which results from globalization, Kenya has been able to import some of the products that it does not produce locally. According to (USTR 2005) Kenya is currently the 80th largest export market for U.S. goods. These exports have greatly influenced the people’s lifestyle form their eating habits to the way they communicate and socialize with one another. It is also believed that it has encouraged westernization in this East African Country. Large importations resulting from globalization has also enabled this country to import building technology, which has improved the housing facilities in this country and thus resulting to a lifestyle change among the residents of this country. Another sector of the Kenyan economy that has been greatly influenced by globalization is the industrial sector. One of the ways globalization has influenced this sector is through foreign investments. Several large industrial multi-national companies are now in operating in this country. These companies come with new and advanced technology, which turns the available resources into finished and usable goods and services. Globalization also enabled the organizations to bring experts to Kenya who assist with the management of their operations. In addition, globalization has assisted in providing market for various goods and services produced by these companies. This has encouraged more production and therefore the development of these industries. Moreover, globalization has enabled this country to import raw materials, which are not produced in this country for these industries, and those raw materials whose supply does not meet the needs of the industries. This has resulted to a continuous and efficient operation of these industries. Politics is the backbone of any government. This is because the political decisions made affects one or more of the sectors of the economy and thus influences the governance of a country. Globalization has greatly influenced the politics of these country and as we are talking the country is on its way to implementing a new constitution which looks identical in terms of governance to the United States Constitution. Since Muslim is the second largest religion in Kenya, the Middle East conflict has greatly influenced the Kenyan politics (Oded 2000). In addition, various politicians consult foreign firm and experts on strategies to use in order to win elections and sometimes they event seek funds their campaigns form foreign tycoons. Globalization has also attracted foreign firms which deal with conducting opinion polls of general elections. This has greatly influenced the politics of this country for the past one decade. Although this country uses an education system which is very different from what is used in other parts of the world, globalization has had a very big impact on the system. Due to globalization, there is now a lot of collaboration between the universities of this country and those of other countries like USA and China in terms of research and curriculum sharing. In addition, there are a good number of students from this country who are studying for their degree program in foreign countries and a great number of foreign students in this country. Another impact of globalization is experienced in the field of entertainment. There is a lot of foreign entertainment material found in this country ranging from music to dramas and movies. Although some of these entertainment materials have had a very positive impact to the society like educating people on certain aspects of life, there is a lot which has led to deteriorating of moral and cultural values of the people of Kenya. Some of these are the pornographic materials that have found their way to this community through the entertainment industry. There are also many of Kenya’s entertainment materials circulating all over the world due to globalization of markets. An adverse impact of globalization is experienced on the climate and weather condition of this country. The industries resulting from globalization continues to be the major pollutants of the Kenya’s environment. The types of pollutions caused by these industries include air pollution, water pollution, and sound pollution. This has brought about very bad effect to the climate and weather conditions of this country like change in rainfall patterns and global warming. These have negatively affected various sectors of the economy like agriculture and tourism and have exposed people living in this country to health hazards. Therefore, this is the worst impact of globalization experienced by this nation. Anything that has positive impact also has negative impacts also. As clearly shown by the essay the positive impact of globalization in Kenya outweighs the negative impacts by far therefore it is upon the leadership of this country to adapt policies that encourage the positive impacts while discouraging the negative impacts. References Bowden, R 2007, Kenya, Evans Brothers Limited, London. Bureau of public affairs 2012, Background Note: Kenya, Viewed 18 April 2012, . Falola, T & House-soremekun, B 2011, Globalization And Sustainable Development In Africa, University Rochester Press, Rochester. Jafari, J 2003, Encyclopedia of Tourism, Routledge, New York. Mithofer, D & Waibel, H 2011, Vegetable Production And Marketing In Africa: Social-Economic Research, CABI, Wallingford. Oded, A 2000, Islam and Politics In Kenya, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder. Robbins, P & Ferris, RSB 2003, The Impact Of Globalization On The Agricultural Sectors Of East And Central … International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan. USTR 2005, 2005 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, DIANE Publishing Co, Washington. Read More