globalisation and colonialism

We live in a global world where globalisation occurs. However, the penetration of the global views (mostly western) has infiltrated into many cultures. Globalisation breaks down many barriers of nationalism. This is contrasted to colonialism which is defined as "the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. " I'd like to discuss how globalisation and colonialism come together.

Colonialism is uncompromising and is forceful. According to Gilbert, "it involves the penetration and restructuring of the cultural as well as physical spaces inhabited by re-conquest populations." Globalisation is no different. Like colonialism, it permeates into a society and changes their cultural values and westernises them. It can therefore be argued that cultures are becoming less and less authentic due to globalisation.

We cannot say that globalisation has only started occurring recently because it has been present ever since the beginning of time. People have interacted with other cultures through travel and intermarriages. However it has not been recognised for what it really is which I consider a form of neo-colonialism.

Economically, globalisation has the same effects as colonialism. State capacity has deteriorated due to globalisation just as colonialism has the same effect. Nations have to adhere to global market forces or else they get marginalised. The loss of hegemony and soverignty is compensated by higher levels of growth. An example of this is the World Bank and the International Money Fund. Both the IMF and the World Bank are owned by white, upper class people who think that they can do a better job of governing the world politically and economically. All of this implying westernisation. There are cracks in the legitimate foundations in the forcing of these organisations. They exploit poor countries because they have no voice. A small group of powerful countries do have a voice and they gain enormously from this through globalisation. For example, the transmigration case that happened in the 1950s in Indonesia; funded by the world Bank. The aim was to move people from Java out into the outer line islands of Indonesia so political pressure would be released. Around 7 million people were moved from the crowded parts of Indonesia. An underlying art of transmigration allows Indonesia authorities to settle in areas that were particularly problematic politically. Part of the goal was to move numbers into these areas in order that they can overcome ethnic resistance to be included in the nation state. One of these nations were East Timor which became known as one of the bloodiest struggles for independence in the latter parts of the last century. This is because the Portuguese abandoned their colonies and allowed them to descend into chaos. The people in East Timor voted for independence which resulted in a blood bath.

This is just one example of structural adjustment of the World Bank gone wrong. Statistically speaking, their figures are very low in terms of success rate. The World Bank is an organisation that aims to globalise developing countries so they can increase their standards of living. However, they don't account for the different standards of living on a cultural level. This is similar to colonialism where westerners come in with a western view point and try to take over the space for their own purposes. Generally, in the process, cultures are lost or diluted.

Globalisation is a western concept. Just as colonialism was.