Globalization and Imperialism in the Third World Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction

Latest developments in technology have given rise to improved audio visual communication that empowers various media to influence communities across different cultures of the world. The advancements in information technology culminating into clear reception of live happenings from different parts of the world through satellite aided televisions and radio in ones immediate location, is particularly a striking measure of the level of distance time convergence dabbed globalisation in commercial terms. Contrastingly enough, even with this creation of a highly influential system of communication via mass media, theorist from different schools of thoughts express a constant worry of diminishing unique cultures as the media emerges with an almost inevitable potential to dilute unique local cultural practices, and instead create universalism or homogeneity of lifestyles.

This latter result follows laws promoting globalisation of the media which anti-globalisation phenomena attribute to cultural imperialism and impending youth identity crisis. The following essay narrates the events of globalizations and their associated influence on cultural imperialism. Based some concepts of Annabelle Sreberny’s theory of “From Globalisation to imperialism and back again”, the discussion outlines the role of the media in international arena, where liberal policies used to encourage easy flow of information results in some unexpected and undesirable qualities mushrooming in different communities separated by geographical gaps several miles apart.

Globalisation and Imperialism

Nationalized television news that marks globalization usually highlights features of different issues in almost the same patterns. Due to wide viewing and great scope of such information from journalists with common background in Reuters, Associated Press among other international agents, globalisation concepts remains arguably, an important reality for all generation in this day. Thus, assessing its elusive effects on cross-cultural values would form an ideal ground for debating cultural imperialism. Much of this narrative, however, derives from the basis of how people would handle common issues under the influence of satellite and cable aided audio-visual communication of ideas affecting their views (Paterson, 1997, p.145).

Globalisation is the concept of universal behaviour inherent in people’s lifestyles. Globalisation defines that a given practice in a particular locality occurs the same way in another part of the world, following its spread to the rest of the world by people and more so, the media. In particular, globalization encompasses all spheres of human life since it hinges on people’s consumer behaviour and their guiding policies (Nordenstreng, 2001, p. 157).

In its totality, globalization covers trends in fashions and general expressions. In the face of globalization, communication as in the use of language and style in music, speech and art form the primary material for intercultural transmission in various forms of the media. Therefore, media content enhances globalization as the international culture embraces developments in globalization significantly influence media and communication. For instance, media sources always attempt to sell to its local consumer’s information that already appeals to a wider audience in the international media sources such as BBC, CNN, Aljazeera and CCTV. Such media stations have international coverage with journalists deployed in various parts of the world to capture different interesting issues. From political, to social, to economic and religious, areas with particular strengths to dominate over other locations usually target the media as the means of spreading their ideologies, beliefs and patterns of development. For instance, in politics, a powerful nation democratic nation would send their message to a nation that they want to influence through the media (MacBride Commission, 1980, p. 36).

Similarly, in social and economic sense, globalization has affected the media and communication through similar information presented in different forms such as print, audio, audio-visual. Some may stream through cable communication or satellite connection but the influence remains the same, the same information is consumed in different parts of the world, almost at the same time. In the end, it creates the same effect only with slight variation in the degree of the influence in the entire local society. Hence, over time, people tend to develop a particular style of communication, as in rap in singing, the use of certain particular words to express emotions and a particular pattern of presenting information. In the final analysis, globalization inevitably shapes culture and forces societies to conform towards certain behaviour (Rantanen, 2005, p. 74).

In the past, many models of communication recognized national identity and sovereignty of nations-states. Even in the advent of the media in the third world, media and communication strictly adhered to traditional conservative values of local communities. For early media to thrive in area, it had to embrace and communicate local views, which represented the interest of an autonomous state. To many people who view globalization as a phenomenon that sought to interfere with long standing association between people of a certain geographical space and their cultural practices, it appeared as a notion that would create uniformity in unique cultural identity a given people. As the fabric of the society (Young, 2008, p. 35) generally noted that cultural identity distinguishes a society from the others. However, globalization has had its fare share in destroying the unique cultural identities of sovereign states. In its broad attempt to create a uniform behaviour pattern that defines behaviour of every member of the society (Held, Goldblatt, McGrew & Perraton, 1999, p. 126).

Various cases cited to show incidences of misuse of sovereign powers by nations to harm its citizens. In the face of international community, such occurrences indicated ineffective policies that left many people suffering while others enjoyed vast wealth within the same territory. Therefore,( Nordenstreng, Vincent & Trabert, 1999, p. 81) as notes, a globalised cultural perspective of addressing the grievances such as disparities between the rich and the poor saw the formation of New International Economic Order to champion the information presentation to correct the situation. Most of the cases reviewed in globalization caused by application of international laws and policies in local nations sought to address the plight of people who lacked the primary media to communicate their observations. As such, New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) came at such time to serve as the means of presenting communication rights of different people across the world. At its inception, developed nations of the would leant that citizens in other nations in which they sought to influence with their activities, underwent difficult constraints as they lacked principles in their policy structures allowing them to express themselves freely and communicate their opinions without undue criticism (Gerbner & Mowlana, 1993, p. 79).

Just as international law would protect the life of a person in another country, so does the supreme laws sought to restore the dignity of individuals in these nations. Since the preservative culture of the traditional society had little impact of globalization and assumed as laggards, imperialism provided the most suitable means of addressing those needs. Developed nations formulated polices with this intentions in mind thus using the media to express their will through major social awakening that spanned all the places they wanted to transform. The concept of NWICO asserted for more free flow information than that present in the media previously. As foreign powerful nations continued to own more media spaces and resources in the developing world, it remained evident that international media had the interest of presenting the stories of the oppressed citizens in the develop in nations(Shreberny-Mohammadi , 1996, p. 66).

In as much as globalisation had the effect of reforming national and cultural identity of people in different nations, NWICO under the auspices of National Aligned Movement in UN could best deal with a variety of issues in the media and communication. At conventions spearheaded by UNESCO, NAM and the left wing spent a lot of time to understand the position of countries where many individual suffer denial of the rights to freedom of expression and communication (United Nations, 2003, p. 68).

At this point, globalization and imperialism acted in concert to promote NWICO as the major symbol of globalisation at the time. Since freedom of expression through communication runs deep into the rights and dignity of every person, globalization occurred in the agreement to have a universal code that would guide media in international realm. Hence, democratization of the media took place to overshadow the creation of a media industry with national interest at a time when individuals within a nation have grown to the point of owning private media houses and wish to convey messages appealing to a given people who feel oppressed (Carlsson, 2003, p. 37).

Today the models used in NWICO provides critical guidelines and benchmark for working out frameworks that would peaceful ensure justice to the disadvantaged people in the society and maintain national cultures in various parts of the world. The discrepancies arising from flow of information that would otherwise make a person informed to make choices that are more suitable in their environments, decline as NWIFCO principles play the fundamental role of protecting communication rights of individuals and groups. In addition, the universality of NWIFCO makes it as useful today as it proved to serve in the past after its formation (Sreberny & Sreberny- Mohammed, 1994, p. 73).

The extreme views of Non Aligned Movements and the left wing maintains the spirit of democratic globalisation and imperialism in check. Again, as the NWIFCO draws more debate, as in MacBride Commission that led to the report of “Many voices, one world” constitute an archive of information that make it more powerful policy in handling information from various sources. In particular, when the information concerns sensitive issues such as sexual abuse, torture, child labor, corruption and worship, NWIFCO provides the appropriate framework in dealing with the media issues that may stem from communicating these issues (UNESCO, 1978, p. 28).

Addressing stigma in the society may also remain a reserve of the guidelines of NWIFCO as long as national and cultural identities remain conservative and stereotyping in their approach to gender issues. Development of Technology infrastructure has meant that most of the issues in media and communication relate to digital divide and cultural ideals rather than national views in certain cases. For example, the case of China and Google over internet protocols (IP) and product patents including media content require the attention of technocrats and scholars to address conclusively. In such a case, NWICO that has seen the birth of the UN- World Summit on Information System provide the necessary forum for professional information personalities to address the problems surmounting to the conflict in this circumstance (Padovani, 2004, p. 4.)

Due to the broadness of NWICO scope, it can draw from both governmental and non-governmental panels to form the commission that would best deals with media content in sources that by-pass authorities check at various instances. Today, rapid changes take place in the media and communication sector in account to globalisation and at times imperial authorities. In response, NWICO still provides suitable bases for addressing both agent and rapid changes as its module accommodates the complexes in transformations occurring in the media. Similarly, the theory addresses communication and information sources concisely (Castells, 1997, p. 121).

To a great extent, globalization serves as an instrument in understanding the relationship between the first world and the third world states. For example, in accordance to the principle of sovereignty of the nations, 1^st world nation tend to show contempt by influencing the citizens of a third world nation through digital media via cable or satellite connectivity. This way, third world nations feel breached of their sovereign rights. However, this challenge is inherent in the core of globalizations since media and communication activities assume universal laws as they deal with issues of human dignity and rights that transcend beyond ordinary freedom (Giddens, 1990, p. 44). At the point when international media provides information about particular trendy products banned in a nation, the society runs into conflict with the government. Similarly, the first world suffers blame for corroding the cultural identities of people in the third world. Given the level of media influence in local community by foreign content, the local people end up losing their indigenous knowledge and natural values that form the basis of their unique existence (UNESC, 1980, p. 47).

In either case, we are imposing the identity of first world hegemony on the third world. Theorists generally believe that globalisation defies regulatory institutions that help define national identity in relation to the state. In banal nationalism, imperial globalisation meets strong oppositions through media sponsored cast that instill in the local viewers a sense of national belonging. Just as globalisation influences the national economies, so does it influence the cultural identity of nation states at varying degrees? Similarly, theorists acknowledge that imperial globalisation destabilizes economic and political organization of nation-states as multi-ethnic culture inherent in most of the developing world fails to blend in colonial and international media influence in hegemony (Tomlinson, 1991, p. 142).

However, according to Tomlinson J. (2009) chooses to disagree with most theorists to point out that globalisation causes many cultural identities, and by so doing, it intensifies various identities. Hence, both national and cultural identities form autonomous and highly dynamic phenomena that respond to globalization as it occurs, but would continue even in the absence of globalisation. Most theorists generally assume that identity formation throughout the world proceeds from the natural experiences that people encounter each day. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily follow in most cases that people who interact with different cultures of Europeans or American culture in the media would just pick it up (Werbner & Modood, 1997, p. 86)

Further problems in globalisation points to the deleterious effect it has on the socio-economic cultural identities that uniquely defines a given location. In the end, there is uniformity in terms of socio-economic features characterizing a place thus leaving no difference between the location’s inherent cultural features and the rest of the region. Globalisation claims that modern culture is a form of socialization like any other transformation that may occur in the path of a society’s development. In addition, places lose their distinctiveness to globalisation due to intensive penetration of locations by far reaching media and communication technologies such as phones, television and computers connected to internet servers (Sreberny-Mohammadi, Winseck, McKenna, & Boyd-Barrett, 1997, p. 147).

These gadgets definitely bring in new ideas, and practices into the home environment where people begin to dress in a certain way and probably find addiction into junk food. All these new behaviors in the environment where none had attempted them before borrows heavily from the media and what the people may fail to realize is that the practice is equally foreign and imitating it may mean they sacrifice their trends (Clifford, 1997, p. 163).

Conclusion

Globalisation and imperialism in the third world seems to create more good than harm. This may reflect the expectations of the enacting authorities in first world nations, who through advanced forms of audio-visual information presentation highly influence societies in the third world. Ultimately, erosion of cultural identities of the people in the third world at the cost of globalisation means that universal practices retained by the media and shown to everybody who has access to the media may eventually account for the loss of national and cultural identities. Similarly, the use of the media by the first world to drive their products through the economies of the third world nations poses disastrous effects on the livelihoods of the citizens in those nations. The first world attempts to create a heavy consumer society in the third world using their imperialisms through multinational and transnational companies in their countries. While the third world may remain oblivious about the business of globalisation, these nations create media influence only to further their commodities in third world nation by changing their lifestyles to suit those particular needs, hence the alteration in cultural identities.

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