Guest post by Chaya, age 17, Sri Lanka
Globalization is opening economies and leading to integration of countries by means of foreign investments, technology and access to markets. The simple relaxation of regulations is leading to a single world market. Globalization has opened doors to various economic benefits.
Creating a more open society means new opportunities for exchanging products, knowledge and ideas. Globalization also purports to reduce poverty and enhance the living standards of people by increasing production and opening new markets.
But millions of parents around the world believe that globalization means they can’t realize their humble expectation of getting a reasonable job or ensuring a good future for their children. Although the number of poor in China and India has decreased over the last decade, poverty has increased in other parts of the world. World leaders must get together and come up with a new framework for international trade, monetary policies and migration of workers that will ensure fairness.
Priority should be given internationally to generate employment, which is of high importance to society. Yet, due consideration has not been given to livelihoods because of a lack of coordination at the international level. Empowering women and giving them equal rights, education, health care and food security should be a top priority. To eliminate disparity, world bodies such as World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should come up with and implement reasonable policies. Also these bodies should have a clear policy that is sensible to development priorities when granting loans.
Even though globalization has been a topic of discussion during the last decade, few have properly looked into its effects. I believe the world economy should be restructured. Investments and goods and services are moving from one place to another more rapidly than one could have imagined happening a few years back. Also, competition in the world market is very high. It is this competition that has been the biggest challenge to equitable globalization.
Only by developing its economy is a country able to participate in globalization. Yet, the world economy has been undergoing changes in recent years. Globalization has been extensively practiced in Europe, America and Japan. Most developing countries are only now beginning to understand the challenges of globalization.
I believe that globalization has failed to enhance living conditions for the majority of people in the world. Although Sri Lankans have to be part of the global economy, we should be careful not to sell valuable things in our country but instead protect them for the future generation.
Globalization is not something completely negative. It has helped to create good things, too. The time has come for a developing country like Sri Lanka to understand globalization and to face it as a challenge but not a danger.