The Bermuda Delegation of students has started to prepare and study for this year’s United Nations International School Conference which is hosted at The United Nations General Assembly in New York. One thousand children from around the world attend. The students get together on a Monday afternoon after school. Their first homework was to write their thoughts on this year’s conference theme: Globalisation. The question they were asked was: “Is globalisation a negative process for under developed countries?”

Please find below two articles which were written by Olivia Moore of Warwick Academy and William Finnerty of Saltus.

By Olivia Moore (Warwick Academy)

Globalisation by definition is “growth to a global or worldwide scale”. Unless applied directly to an industry or movement, it’s very difficult to make specific while still letting it apply to many situations. Globalisation generally results in the dissolution of the borders between countries, their cultures and their people. Naturally, this provides many opportunities to the population as well as introducing new obstacles for people to overcome.

In terms of culture, globalisation has resulted in the rapid disappearance of many native languages, though slang languages have in turn been created, and customs to create a generic version of a world. Everything becomes interchanged. More dominant cultures that are imposed on smaller, less influential countries mean that a language may start to become obsolete as well as other traditions. It is estimated that there are about 7,000 languages in existence in the world right now, and that over half will become extinct in the next century or less. Yet, as I stated before, many new hybrid languages have come into existence to bridge the gap between people. Many more people in the world are multilingual now than they ever have been. A noted success in language hybridisation is the introduction of “Hinglish” — a mix of Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English. It has become so popular that British Diplomats are being educated in it.

In the case of business, globalisation means greater opportunity for expansion. Giant companies became multinational superpowers in the market, competing with our enterprises across the world. Unfortunately, this has given these giants an increased control over the world, with an increased market size and this has had dire consequences far too many times. Exploitation is a huge problem when global giant companies can move into developing countries, and use up their resources (such as water and land) before moving on, leaving an abandoned factory and a huge number suddenly unemployed. This can result in the destruction of small businesses operating within the market, as they do not possess the power and wealth as the larger corporations, which can further jeopardise the economy and social stability of the host country. The money that the multinational earns may not go back into the economy; it may be transferred directly to the headquarters in the home country. This widens the gap between rich and poor countries considerably.

However, there are also upsides to this movement. The dissolution of borders means that people can move almost freely between countries, allowing broader horizons for those looking for education and other privileges that are so often taken for granted in Westernised civilisations. Taking with them their education, immigrants can improve their quality of life considerably and may move back to their home country, providing education themselves or much needed services to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to a doctor or teacher. This alone can improve literacy rates worldwide as well as healthy and social standing.

By William Finnerty (Saltus)

Globalisation’s effects on culture

Even though globalisation has proved effective in introducing “better” or more “westernised” ways of living through better industry, international relations, etc, it brings drawbacks that can replace decades or even millennia’s of culture in any country be it underprivileged or not.

We are all human but that does not mean that we are all the same. Culture is never stagnant. It is vibrant. Every moment we are being transformed, always growing — like the cells in our bodies. It changes exactly the same way as human beings change. We cannot glamorise our culture. Our ancestors did not walk on the same ground we do and our children won’t on ours either. Culture is a continuous process of change but in spite of the change, culture continues giving a community a sense of identity, dignity, security but mostly individualism.

And it is the loss of individualism and group identity that occurs when globalisation encourages a ‘western model of individualism’. This endorses a uniform set of values and beliefs. The adoption of Western ideologies is seen as many computer-facilitated technologies are developed, marketed and processed through these western markets. The dominant population and culture of today determine the next greatest technology along with the next commercialised gadget that will be offered up to the masses and longed for by those are at arm’s reach of financially obtaining these devices.

In addition, Western ideologies make it increasingly difficult for other countries to preserve their security, dignity and individualism that comes with having their own culture due to the pressure to keep up or even compete. When the world is changing around you, even people in your society, may want to change too, and this longing for change be addressed; extinguishing yet another culture.

All in all, the effect globalisation has had an culture and individualism is very diverse. It has affected country’s culture behaviours in different, both positive and negative, ways; so far in fact that cultures have had to adjust their lifestyle due to an external factor promoting this western view of development, living, and what they call “culture”.