Around the world, inequality is a significant determinant of human behavior, opening doors of opportunity to some and closing them to others. A very few centuries ago, such Vast divides in global wealth did not exist. Except for a very few rulers and land Owners everyone in the world was poor. In much of Europe, life was as difficult as it was in Asia or South America. This was true until the industrial revolution and rising agricultural productivity produced explosive economic growth. The resulting rise in the living standards was not evenly distributed across the world.
Using total population as a yardstick, we see that the developing countries have more than their fair share of rural population, as well as a total birth, disease, and childhood deaths. At the same time, the industrial nations of the world, with a much smaller share of total population have much more income and export than the developing nations. Industrial nations also spend more on health and military than other nations.
In 2005 the United Nations launched the millennium project whose objective is to eliminate poverty and to raise the level and standard of living of the people. Industrial nations had the role and goal to set aside a percentage of their gross national product (GNP) for aid to developing nations.
While the divide between industry and developing nations was sharp, sociologists recognize a continuum of nations, from the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor. Three forces considered responsible, particularly for the domination of the world marketplace by a few nations were the legacy of colonialism; the advent of the multinational companies and modernization.
Relations between the colonial nation and colonized people are similar to those between the dominant capitalist class and the proletariat, as described by Karl Marx.
By the 1980s, colonialism had largely disappeared. For colonies having achieved political independence and established their own governments the complete transition to genuine self-rule was essential to leave behind the established patterns of economic exploitation. Former colonies were unable to develop their own industry and technology. Their dependence on more industrialized nations, including their former colonial masters, for managerial and technical expertise, investment capital, and manufactured goods kept former colonies in a subservient position. Such continuing dependence and foreign domination are referred to as neocolonialism.
Some observers see globalization and its effects as the natural result of advances in communications technology, particularly the Internet and satellite transmission of the mass media
The economic and political consequences of colonialism and neocolonialism are readily apparent. Drawing on the conflict perspective, sociologist Immanuel Wallenstein (1974, 1979 a, 2000) views the global economic system as being divided between nations that control wealth and nations from which resources are taken. Through his world systems analysis, Wallenstein has described the unequal economic and political relationships in which certain industrialized nations (among them the United States, Japan, and Germany) and their global corporations dominate the core of this system. Ultimately it is the exploitative relationship of core nations toward non core nation. Core nations and their corporations control and exploit noncore nations’ economies.
In the view of world Systems analysis and dependency theory, a growing Share of human and natural resources of developing Countries is being redistributed to the Core industrialized nations. This redistribution happens in part because developing countries owe huge sums of money to industrialized nations as a result of foreign aid, loans, and trade deficits. The global debt crisis has intensified the Third World dependency begun under colonialism, neocolonialism and multinational investment. International financial institutions are pressuring indebted Countries to take severe measures to meet their interest payments. The result is that developing nations may be forced to devalue their currencies, freeze Workers’ wages, increase privatization of industry, and reduce government services and employment.
Closely related to these problems is globalization, the worldwide integration of government policies, cultures and social movements and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. Because World financial markets transcend Governance by conventional nation states, international organizations such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have emerged as major players in the global economy. The function of these institutions which are heavily funded and influenced by Core nations, is to encourage economic trade and development and to ensure the smooth operation of international financial markets. As such, they are seen as promoters of globalization and defenders primarily of interests of Core nations.
Critics call attention to a variety of issues, including violations of workers’ rights, the destruction of the environment, the loss of cultural identity and discrimination against minority groups in periphery nations.
Some observers see globalization and its effects as the natural result of advances in communications technology, particularly the Internet and satellite transmission of the mass media. Others view it more critically as a process that allows multinational corporations to expand unchecked.
Conflict theorists challenge the favorable evaluation of the impact of multinational corporations. They emphasize the multinationals exploit local workers to maximize profit. The pool of cheap labor in the developing world prompts multinationals to move factories out of core countries.
The writer is former Director National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) Government of Pakistan, a political analyst, a public policy expert