Globalization has come to Africa with varying trends and developments. It is at this time when the African states are in the process of democratization. A majority of these countries have had to adapt to the new world with skeptic views.
Globalization is the process that allows the intensification of political, economic, cultural, and social relations across the globe. With globalization, there is a continuous evolution of systems and structures. It allows the world to become a global village because of the sharing experience (Asmussen 236).
Africa partly welcomed internationalization with a view that it would help to rid it of its misfortunes. However, the proponents of globalization had their demands from Africa. The cold war, for instance, put Africa at crossroads (Asmussen 236). It aligned the African countries along with the warring blocks both from internal states and external neighbors. With this in mind, there arose the authoritarian leaders who ran down their nation’s bargaining power to the world’s demands.
Africa lost its sovereignty to the economic giants and financial power brokers (Heine and Thakur 168). The World Bank, World Trade Organizations, and the international community imposed models, strategies, and policies of development. The African states had to domesticate these policies without questioning and or discussing their impacts on the poor citizens.
Globalization has marginalized African economies. Their dependence on a few critical products that they do not determine their demand and prices has caused them to lose on international trade (Carmin and Agyeman 331). Poverty and economic inequality have only benefited the big global economies of which Africa is not part of as individual states.
African countries are slowly losing their cultural identity. Therefore, it cannot compete on an equal basis culturally as it has to adapt to the cultures of the dominating countries (Dawson 79). African states do this because their colleagues have a superior advantage over them.
The global economies insist on globalization that forces African countries to open their markets for foreign goods (Dawson 79). As a result, African leaders do not encourage homegrown entrepreneurial spirit. Their countries soon end up depending on all products from big international economies. It causes stagnation in the nations (Heine and Thakur 168).
However, globalization does not just have negative impacts on African states. It has, in fact, made the international trade easy for Africa (Roth and Briar-Lawson 215). The states have been able to utilize some of the foreign investments for the betterment of their citizens.
African countries have been able to learn good and transparent governance from the rest of the world. As a result, they have used those lessons to transform their politics and governance structures. It has allowed them to build their economies and change leadership roles to match those of other developed nations (Roth and Briar-Lawson 215).
The information has been open to the entire world. Africa has learned about better human rights procedures and governance styles. The leaders have adopted these mechanisms in their respective countries.
The new cultures from the West have been the main reason that has helped to bring independent thinking to African nations (Gilman 401). Interaction through information technology has created enough room for the exchange of information. African countries are now underworld scrutiny. As a result, there is transparency, openness, and accountability in African states.
Democracy in Africa depends on world progress. The opening up of the social, political, and economic systems has enabled the sharing of information. Critics have also consistently made Africa rethink its strategies in the contemporary world. The leaders in Africa have started embracing the modern development strategy while caring for the less fortunate in the community.
Works Cited
Asmussen, Christian Geisler. Dynamics of Globalization. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group, 2011. Print.
Carmin, JoAnn and Julian Agyeman. Environmental Inequalities beyond Borders. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011. Print.
Dawson, Carl. EU Integration with North Africa. London, UK: Tauris Academic Studies, 2009. Print.
Gilman, Lisa. The Dance of Politics. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2009. Print.
Heine, Jorge and Ramesh Chandra Thakur. The Dark Side of Globalization. New York, NY: United Nations University Press, 2011. Print.
Roth, William and Katharine Briar-Lawson. Globalization, Social Justice, and the Helping Professions. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2011. Print.