How do contemporary processes of globalisation affect prospects for socio economic development in the south
Contemporary processes of globalisation affect prospects for socio-economic development in the south in several ways (positive and negative): the process of globalisation is playing a more and more crucial role in the determination of the effects of trade; other external economic relations; national development strategies; and human rights fulfilment. “Globalisation was a key factor in the colonial experience. In the post-colonial world of today, globalisation has become even more intense, with economic competition between companies and countries providing even more of an impulse to international relations and to domestic policies.”- Martin Khor The links between globalisation and development are complex, involving classic and contemporary issues of political economy, political science and social development. Finance is a main process of globalisation which affects the prospects for socio-economic development in the south. Globalisation is resulting in the countries of the South losing control over their power to determine and shape the economic policies that are most conducive to their development. In the present era of free trade agreements, the process of the loss of such economic sovereignty is bound to accelerate unless the peoples and countries of the South realise this danger and organise themselves to fight for a fairer international economic order. A key aspect of the globalisation and development relationship is inequity: in power, capacity and resources to begin with; in the trading and economic relationship; in the distribution of gains and losses. The way the world economic and trading system is set up is very inequitable; the terms of trade, finance, investment and technology transfer are inequitable; the distribution of benefits or losses is inequitable. In general, the more powerful parties gain from international economic relations; other countries gain as a whole but by less; still other countries actually stand to lose. ... With respect to economic growth, from 1950 to the 1980s, the economies of developing countries grew on average at 4. ... However, a striking feature of the per capita economic growth of developing countries is its marked regional diversity, with some countries (largely in Asia and the Americas) achieving substantial growth rates, and others (largely in Africa) not doing so well. ... The UNDP reports that: “no fewer than 100 countries – all developing or in transition – have experienced serious economic decline over the past 3 decades. ... The African continent looked increasingly excluded from any economic from any economic benefits of globalisation. Due to inequities in global economic structures, the South is transferring several hundreds of billions of dollars of economic resources to the North annually in terms of terms of trade losses, debt servicing, and profit outflows, etc.