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GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD
Journal of Third World Studies, Spring 2005 by Irogbe, Kema
* The phase-out of the multi-fiber arrangement (which has allowed northern developed countries to place quotas on imports of textiles, clothing, and footwear) was supposed to be the aspect of the Uruguay Round to most immediately benefit the [underdeveloped] countries, or at least the countries that export these products. So far, however, these underdeveloped countries have not seen tangible benefits. This is because developed countries 'end-loaded' their implementation schedules so that most of the products they buy from the [underdeveloped] countries will only be liberalized at the end of the ten-year phase-out period. There is also a fear that non-tariff barriers will be used to continue to block the underdeveloped countries' products when the phase-out of tariffs is completed.
* The Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) was supposed to result in the reduction of agricultural subsidies in the North, and this was expected to improve the market access of those underdeveloped countries that export agricultural products. As it turned out, however, the agreement allowed the developed countries to maintain most of the high subsidies that existed prior to the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. For example, they are obliged to reduce domestic subsidies by only 20 percent. In contrast, most [underdeveloped] countries had no or little domestic or export subsidies. They are now barred by the AOA from having them or raising them in the future."
It is clearly obvious that the underdeveloped countries are barred from raising subsidies to support their farmers because the multinational corporations, using the WTO as its tool, want the peripheral countries to depend on export of food from the developed countries, primarily from the United States. Without government subsidies, small farmers cannot compete with the transnational corporations. And eventually, agricultural liberalization will contribute to world food prices being skyrocketed and the beneficiaries would be multinational corporations.
THE LONE SUPERPOWER
A great many people had hoped that the post-Cold War era would offer us new opportunities for peace and security in the world. Unfortunately, the end of the Cold War (around 1989) marked the beginning of an unprecedented and intense series of international conflicts. Some people thought that the competition during the bipolar era (the period of high tensions between the former USSR and the USA) that had a profound, and often violent, impact on many other societies was the root cause of the violence. Others believed that the balance of power had been replaced by collective security. In actuality, the collective security that was exercised by the United Nations against Iraq has vanished. Its replacement is a lone superpower - the United States of America! In building an empire around the world, the MNCs need the protection of their parent countries in order to control the host nations (mostly the underdeveloped countries) because without such protection their investments would be in peril. There are some apologists who have failed to understand the dynamic of global capitalism. As a consequence of the Untied States' claim of having conquered the fascists and communists of the world, the U.S. government now believes that it must create a favorable political climate in the international arena so that its MNCs as well as the MNCs of its European junior partners can penetrate to every comer of the globe, even the most remote territory. In doing so, the government is readily willing to repress any resistance or challenge to its lone superpower status. In the study of American foreign policy, Gabriel Kolko has concluded that:
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