Globalization and its negative Consequences

Dogu Ergil

The proponents of liberal democracy have an unwavering faith in the doctrine of the free market and the emerging new order of globalization. After having observed the quality of democracy so far attained and the injustices and dislocations in the existing global economy, liberal democracy came to be perceived by many as an excuse to safeguard the interests of an emerging greedy new-day empires and insatiable multinationals. Liberal democracy also came to be associated with eradicating cultural diversity in the name of stability, homogenising cultures and societies by conditioning them to consumerism. Globalization under the cloak of liberal democracy has encroachment on privacy, sacrificed individualism to collective entities and currents and to a great extent has suppressed national interests, and various idiosyncratic sentiments that enrich human life, replacing all with material need of possession. One of the direst consequences of this process has been the destruction of natural eco-systems and global warming that may lead to the self-annihilation of human existence.

Globalization has also been related with neo-colonial exploitation, social Darwinism, materialism and the breakdown of social solidarity groups, welfare practices and protection of vulnerable groups by nation-states. It even came to be associated with and an assortment of social ills: rising crime rates, unemployment, poverty, drug addiction, prostitution, organ trafficking, monopolistic behaviour, corporate malfeasance, and other antisocial forms of conduct.

Is globalization really the mother of all of these ills? Not all and not completely. Most of these malices have existed, some of them have changed shape and some are reinvented. Must we despair? No! Let us remember what Margaret Mead has said some time ago:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful concerned individuals can precipitate change in the world ... indeed, it is the only thing that ever has". It takes leadership and a critical mass to support change (estimated to be “17% to initiate the chain reaction of change). If problems are globally affecting the human condition in a negative way, they have to be dealt globally.

Here is the situation with which we have to deal with:

The 2005 Human Development Report (HDR) that is issued annually by the United Nations and covers all 191 Member States shows the U.S. ranks 10th among the world’s nations in the category that combines health quality, education, and standard of living. In the category of life expectancy the U.S. ranks 29th. In the poverty index involving the richest 18 countries, the U.S. ranks at the bottom in 17th place. This is a disgraceful condition in the world’s richest country and a betrayal of the hard-fought struggles for democracy and equality waged in past decades by Americans.

The globalization free-market policy led by the U.S. has produced gross inequality in many parts of the world. The HDR states: “Large parts of the Developing World are being left behind.” and further, “human development gaps between rich and poor countries, already large, are widening.”

The HDR states: “For all of the highly visible achievements, the reach of globalization and scientific advance falls far short of ending the unnecessary suffering, debilitating diseases and death from preventable illness that blight the lives of the world’s poor people.”

On the global level, 20 percent of the population holds over 75 percent of the wealth. A few hundred billionaires have compiled as much wealth as half of humanity. This inequality is the source of great displeasure and unrest.

What Do we Do and What Do We Have to Do?

Yet, most of us close our eyes to the social and political ills of the international system (like oppression and dictatorship) while or as we benefit from its economic gains and the use of force to sustain this system. That is why a different war (the so called “war on terrorism”) has been declared by the benefactors of the system on the deprived and dispossessed masses that has been left out and never intended to be included. Unless they are somehow incorporated they will be coming to knock down the walls of the global system wave after wave, each time stronger and more determined. They are so desperate that suicide bombing has been adopted by them as a way of destroying a system that has never acknowledged their existence and human needs. For them The Third World War has been waged by the rich against them and all other disposessed peoples of the world.

So what is the remedy before we go singing and marching down the alley of self-destruction? Globalization must definitely be managed globally. This means working together to create a just world community for the 21st century. What we do today is to hoard the world’s wealth and resources for a minority that has no consideration for future generations of the world that is not ‘theirs’. Can we call this process ‘globalization that incorporates the inhabitants of the globe’, or rather ‘corporate globalization’ that serve the interests of a narrow rich stratum and few rich and powerful governments and the multinationals?

So far corporate globalization has proven undemocratic as the invasion of Iraq has attested and destructive as it has been evident in climate change. It is environmentally hazardous due to its dependency on mass consumption and waste. It has a tendency to turn the planet into a giant marketplace where everything is for sale to the highest bidder and a dumping ground for the plenty that is produced in excess of basic or even secondary needs.

We have to ask ourselves whether this limitless greed for consumption allows genuine democracy flourish or great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few has led to different sorts of plutocracy that is sold as ‘representative democracy’? If both globalization and genuine (participatory, equalitarian and deliberative) democracy is possible, let us admit that today we do not have both. Then we can not curb criminality, fundamentalism and fanaticism as ways of standing against an uneven, unjust and ruthless world order by the desperate and the excluded.

We must achieve globalization that is democratic and serves all the people with new economic models that offer opportunities for those who seek them. We must invest into upgrading education and professionalism with high regard to human values not just aggrandizing profits.

“Let the market rule” mentality has created wealth for the few but the benefits of market economy must be widely shared and reinvested with regard to public good and humanitarian concerns. This does not only require world-wide (civic and democratic) regulatory bodies empowered by consensual rules that do not contradict efficiency and incentives for investment, we need to, support, and commission a new kind of political leadership with idealism and a democratic vision of the future. This leadership must be aware of the human condition as a whole and committed to improve it. It mush have conscience (sense of justice), judgment (to see that the excluded can spoil the game), tolerance (for cultural and national diversity) and must be committed to human values and to world peace. It must be aware that peace at home and peace at the global system are not disassociated. Because of that they must have intellect as much as compassion and understanding for all human societies and cultures.

Only then we can have people identify with the global system that they are a part of and rectify the democratic process by which they feel to be making a contribution. This is a proposal for a non-violent revolution. If we fail, violent ones with no agenda but total destruction are in line.

Dogu Ergil