Identify and discuss some of the challenges a “poor country” faces with respect to supranational entities and globalization.
The struggles a “poor country” would face when partaking in supranational entities and globalization would boil down to the very definition of politics; the struggle would be a struggle for power. Politics can be described as obtaining and maintaining the power to make decisions and enforce them. Poor countries lack power. They lack power over their own citizens because they cannot properly provide for them. They lack power over other nations because other countries see their inability to generate internal or foreign revenue as a failure. “Poor countries” cannot enact their will over other countries or even be seen as an equal among other countries when they cannot enact their will to stay fiscally afloat. Should a “poor country” become a member of a supranational entity, it will struggle to gain a foothold when attempting to reach a solution to multinational conflicts. The potential struggle might be that the “poor country” and its needs are not viewed as a top priority. As an assemblage of nations, issues may be handled in an order that will benefit the most members of the supranational entity. This means that should a “poor country” have an issue that needs to be resolved but requires the collaboration of the supranational entity, the issue may not be of the utmost importance to the group as a whole, and the issue could fail to see resolution until months or years down the road. At that point in time, the issue has the potential to worsen- possibly even irrevocably worsen. For example, a supranational entity such as the European Union may find allocating relatively small amounts of monies to multiple member countries, not in dire need, to be a more responsible choice in terms of providing for more member countries than sending a large sum of money to a “poor country”, such as Bulgaria or Romania with the two lowest GDPs per capita, for its needs. This allocation of funds is a reflection of the cooperative nature of the supranational entity. Its decision making must yield a solution that is both financially responsible and beneficial for the most member nations possible.
A “poor country” also faces many challenges when adjusting to globalization. In the political cartoon below,
the illustrator, Jurgen Tomlicek, shows how globalization is restricting third world countries. I interpret this political cartoon as Tomlicek attempting to demonstrate that globalization is hindering the progress of “poor countries” because those countries are catering to the need of many developed nations. These developing countries are essentially trapped within this globalization market. They are trapped because they are struggling to meet the demands of globalization while essentially digging their own grave because they cannot keep up. It is a cyclic paradox. The “poor countries” need to participate and try to meet the demands of globalization with whatever assets these countries have to offer, but in doing so, the countries may not enough money to break even. In these instances, these “poor countries” are not given adequate compensation for their products. They are stuck in a vicious cycle of providing these goods or services to gain enough money to offset the costs that it took them to refine or specialize their goods or services. The fact that the illustrator made the cage look like a sphere or globe was not a random choice; it was a deliberate attempt to show the viewer that “poor countries” are trapped within this cycle of meeting global demands just to break even in an attempt to provide for their citizens.
Citation
Tomlicek, Juergen. Globalization. Karikaturenwettbewerb cartoon competition. Online. Available: http://cartoon-competition.org/fileadmin/images/ccc/1232_GLOBALIZATION.jpg (July 08 2007).
