Globalization refers to the enhanced links in cultural, social, political and economic ways all around the world. In the recent past, the world saw itself producing a number of billionaires. Some of them include Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Li- Ka-Shang. These people are among the well- known richest individuals in the world over the past thirty years. The main question one may ask is how these individuals managed to reach such great socioeconomic heights while other people remained extremely poor. At this point, the efforts of globalization in bringing global equality get depicted. These individuals managed to attain their wealth in a number of ways. In their efforts to accumulate so much wealth for themselves, they tended to personify this wealth. For instance, Bill Gates managed to attain his enormous wealth through thorough entrepreneurship in Microsoft Corporation. He is as a sole investor in this business. This made him the world’s richest individual with up to US$62 Billion. The Microsoft products cover a larger portion of the worldwide demand. Through Gates’ vast investment in Microsoft business, he stood out as the richest man in the world. Other individuals who followed Gates in the level of wealth include Richard Branson, the owner of the Virgin Group. However, none of Bill Gate’s wealthy counterparts entirely managed to outdo him.
At the start of the twentieth century, most African nations encountered immense poverty. This occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The 1990s for most African countries proved harsh since their economies were facing a severe depreciation. At the same time, the Latin America encountered economic doldrums. The American economy encountered prosperity since the early 1980s. To that effect, no damage occurred in its economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This situation brings forth another reason for the unequal global economy.
The United Nations
Over the centuries the wealthy made more wealth for themselves, the poor continued to languish in extreme poverty. However, with the recent efforts to promote global economic equality, most of the poor people are gradually becoming richer. The United Nations (the UN) set goals that would favor the economies of different nations. The organization termed these goals as the ‘Millennium Development Goals’. The UN started to achieve these goals from the onset of the new millennium that is 2000. One of the main goals and ambitions of this organization included reducing the number of poor individuals to almost or more than half. The team argued that by providing minimum resources to each individual, survival would be met. The UN, in conjunction with the National Bank joined hands to work on the problem. Statistics say that by 2004, the overall number of poor people globally had gone below 1 billion. This is a significant difference in comparison with the former 1.25 billion poverty-stricken individuals. Hence, globalization made tremendous efforts to promote global equality.
Despite the immense efforts that the UN and the World Bank made, most people in the developing world languish in extreme poverty due to several causes. A larger portion of the world population encounters social seclusion. Most poverty-stricken countries lack connections with the developed countries. Moreover, in industrialized countries, the poor majority only indulge in low-wage jobs where they work for long hours. In addition, the immense differences in the income earned create a clear boundary between the wealthy and the poor people. Furthermore, most underdeveloped countries face a major problem in creating enough job opportunities for their citizens. On the contrary, developed countries possess the ability to provide two- thirds of their population with adequate job opportunities.
The Living Standards of People
The living standards of people all around the globe largely differ. For instance, when comparing the standards of living in Malawi and America, one notices the diversity in the two countries. The global inequality becomes obvious in such a comparison. For example, as the Malawians encounter extreme poverty levels, the Americans face a remarkable growth in the general economic state. In addition, technological advancements provide better living standards for the Americans, contrary to the Malawians. Despite the fact that Malawi as a nation tried to rescue itself from economic disability, disasters like bad weather hindered these processes. This large economic gap was inevitable since these countries attained liberty at different times. Thus, this brought about power inequality around the globe. Therefore, some countries remained to be the super powers while others are still in the status of developing countries.
In order to find out the contribution of globalization in promoting global equality, it occurs fundamental to note both pros and cons of globalization. Several analysts explained that globalization provides a unique way of bring equality around the globe. Particularly, they argue that it helps in forming vast connections within the world. For instance, the transport systems as well as the communication networks grew tremendously over the past four decades. The evolution in technology largely contributed to the advancement of the communication network. This occurred since better communication devices such as the Internet were established. Although such technological advancements occurred in most developed nations, they still helped in reducing the distance between millions of miles (Giddens, 2009, p. 76).
In addition, this enhanced the correlation between different nations. Thus, businesses around the world prospered due to this. The globe has encountered what can be termed as ‘global shrinking’. Thus, it now gets referred to as the ‘global village’. The economic development led to an immense reduction in distances around the globe. In addition, the transport and communication networks have largely improved their operations. This has promoted the interconnectivity among different developing and developed countries. Hence this bettered the economies of these countries.
Since the 1990s, the improved airline networks proved fundamental in promoting the global prosperity. The predominance of three major cities, New York, Tokyo and London in the airline transport still contributed to a global economic growth. This occurred since the three mentioned countries include dominant hubs. Secondary hubs such as Miami, Singapore and Sydney also possess a remarkable concentration of the international airlines. Hence, globalization has led to a stronger local concentration within the globe.
Socioeconomic distinctions still exist between different countries of the world. The third world countries experienced many difficulties in trying to achieve full development. One of the main reasons for this included decolonization. In the post- colonial era, it took the countries like Malawi a longer time to gain both social and economic stability. Moreover, these nations portrayed less aggressiveness in attempts to achieve economic stability. To that effect, they remained underdeveloped as the developed countries increased rapidly in economic growth.
According to Chapter 4 of Globalization, Development and Underdevelopment, the use of the Internet across the globe grew largely. However, this occurred mainly in nations such as America, Venezuela and Tobago. These services are less used in developing nations. This is as one of the sources of global inequality. Most developing nations still lack sufficient provision of devices such as computers. Thus, connectivity through the Internet occurs minimally in these nations.
The Level of Economic Development
The level of economic development in any nation across the globe is largely affected by its gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national income (GNI). GDP refers to the output within a country while GNI stands for the gross national income. These two factors determine the amount of wealth a particular nation has. Moreover, the global economic inequality gets largely influenced by this.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in late twentieth century, most of the African countries encountered enormous economic loses. On the other hand, multi-power nations experience relative financial growth. This is another crucial proof of the immense differences in the economies of various nations (Potter, 2008, p. 56).
Korea provides a good example of a nation that established its financial stability inspite of a poor state. Initially, Korea was termed as one of the poorest countries in the world. This country managed to establish a perfect foundation for growth in the pre-colonial era. It encountered a rapid population growth immediately after the colonial era. In addition, it invested in its population by providing an adequate education. This provided the country with a literate population that could handle the electronic-based enterprises. Korea dealt mainly with the electronics, ships and cars. These items earned a large demand in the world market. The life expectancy in the nation also increased. These businesses succeeded since Korea used Korean expatriates in their industrial activities. Due to this, much of the revenue got ploughed back into the country. The country experienced an immense development after independence since it possessed the required expertise. Moreover, the country provided war materials during the Cold War in America. This increased the country’s popularity.
Although Korea has been known as one of the poorest countries in the world, it now stands out as one of the wealthiest nations of the world. The economic stability was further emphasized by political and social freedom that the country earned after the independence. Other underdeveloped countries lacked this opportunity since even after independence there remained the elements of colonial rule (Peck 1998).
In conclusion, the current world is more globalized than before. Most multinationals dominate the production of goods and services. However, there exist different cultural perspectives around the globe. These tend to create a global divide in certain regions of the world. For instance, when McDonald fast foods was established in Barbados, it faced massive rejection since the Bajans prefer chicken to red meat. Although McDonald is one of the prominent tourist destinations for Europe and North America, it faced closure within six months of its opening. Thus, this proves that there exist different cultures within the globe that lead to differences in infrastructure and economy. (Lechner, 2009, p. 123).
In the attempts to enhance global economic equality, organizations such as the World Bank provide loans for the developing countries. Thus, poorer nations get an opportunity to borrow financial assistance for their growth and improvement.