Marginalization in an Era of Globalization

The central argument of the paper is that economic globalization in the 19 th century created the present-day third world, and contemporary globalization perpetuates this marginalization of the developing world. The difference lies in the fact that global disparities and inequities are far more transparent in our virtually uncensored information age. Throughout the paper, I mainly refer to the trade aspect of globalization, particularly the policy imperative to engineer increased trade, which is so keenly advocated by economic development specialists from both the North and the South. I also stress the hegemonistic and coercive aspect of globalization, which governs the asymmetric and unequal economic interaction between the North and the South. I describe the nature of international inequality in our age of globalization. Global inequality can be shown to have risen in the present era of globalization, if we treat individual human beings as the unit of analysis, and not population weighted national per-capita incomes. Finally, the paper concludes by reviewing the backlash to globalization and the manner in which civil society is responding to the problems created by globalization.