RE-EXAMINIG THE ETHICAL CHALLENGES OF GLOBALIZATION
ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the Challenges posed by Globalization. It pays keen attention to its ethical Challenges since according to some scholars, while other problems of globalization are been confronted, the ethical challenges have been left unattended to. This has continued to pose a great Challenge to the World community. Given that the world has become increasingly interconnected, with great strides in the mode of living and doing things the questions of what are the obligations of nation-states to people? How can the trend of globalization provide the common man with happiness? Can the International World and individual nation-States know peace in the face of terrorism and mass death? However, in the face of these and many more questions, there is the common consensus that; dangers and inequalities generated by globalization demand that we rethink the privileged rights of state sovereignty and devise new ethical principles of international conduct. Nevertheless, the search for widely acceptable principles of global fairness is not simply an intellectual exercise but an imperative that even rich and powerful countries ignore at their peril; we cannot address the vulnerabilities that globalization creates without a shared belief around the world that the system is legitimate and just. The world therefore needs Practical ethical principles in the thorny areas of global warming, trade, humanitarian intervention, and foreign aid rather than theorization of Values and unimplemented global policy. However, this article does not neglect the importance of globalization. While pointing out the ethical implications, it also makes allusions to those trends in globalization that have fostered means of livelihood and kept man at zenith of the affairs of a given Society.
Keywords; Globalization, ethics, Challenges,
Introduction
In identifying the basic problems in Globalization and the possible solutions to them Scholars and academics have basically occupied themselves with inherent issues; amongst them is the contention in whether globalization itself is a positive or negative trend. This controversial issue has divided scholars into two basic parts- the right wing and the Left wing. The right wing sets of scholars believe that globalization is itself positive. They are of the view that globalization has brought a lot of good to common man by enhancing means of livelihood of the people. For example, the spread of technology has made ideas, attitudes and information more available to people throughout the world. Americans in Columbus, Ohio, had the ability to log onto the internet and speak with their counterparts in Kosovo to discover when NATO bombing had begun and to gauge the accuracy of later news reports on the bombing. Nigerian Students can share values and customs directly with their counterparts all over the world via media. Goods and services can be produced and disseminated within a short period of time. Hence, globalization is a process that is diminishing many of the factors that divide the world. Advances in travel and communication have made geographical distances less important, people around the world increasingly resemble one another culturally and the United Nations and other international organizations have increased the level of global governance. Another aspect, economic integration, is the most advanced of any of the strands of globalization. Tariffs and other barriers to trade have decreased significantly since the end of World War II. As a result, all aspects of international economic exchange have grown rapidly. For example, global trade measured in the value of exported goods and services, has grown much since the mid-twentieth century. These and many more are reasons behind the belief that globalization is itself a positive trend.
Globalization for many had done more good than harm to the global community. The new millennium was greeted by one of the disastrous event of man’s history seen in the tragedy of the 9/11, ushering in a new era of terrorism. Till date there has been threats on Human life, properties and environment with the seemingly goodies of globalization. Both government and citizens continue to address the consequences of the first intrusion of the new millennium on a world now far different in many ways since the September 11 bombing of the world trade centre. This event has begot series of such and more disastrous ones. The Syrian Government led by Bashar Assad in 2012 was accused of using Chemical weapon on Civilians and neighboring countries of Israel and Damascus, raising eyebrows on whether there should be war since the event affected ally countries of U.S.A. The Boko Haram of Nigeria has continued to pose a threat to citizens and the government causing innocent citizens to go to their early graves, destroying properties and homes while posing a great security threat not only in Nigeria but to the international community, thereby dwindling the tempo of development. The effects of the significant population growth in the developing world called for the multilateral action by leaders in developed and developing nations alike. Acid rain, created by emissions from smokestacks, was precursor to a host of environmental crises that appeared to the background with increasing tempo and frequency, challenging the world political order and those that commanded it. However, these global concerns still remain in a vast array today. Some are being addressed with little or no success while others are not addressed at all, hence the ethical problems of globalization.
Ethical Problems in Globalization
In examining the ethical problems in globalization and ways to put an end to them, one’s mind will immediately cling to the ought of globalism, striking a difference between the good, the bad and the ugly sides of globalization. However when we talk about ethical problems of globalization we are not solely dependent on the questions posed by the discipline of ethics, about the wrongness and rightness of human actions in globalism, we go a long way to argue on those actions that may seem good in another setting and wrong in the other setting. For instance marriage with ones blood relative in past of Asia is not an offence, but doing so in places like West Africa, is a Capital offense both in the religious setting and Civil Society. Hence we speak of ethics in globalization not in cases of universalism, but in ways issues, policies and ideas affect individual countries or states or affects particular cultures. Thus, Gergen 2015 posits that the analysis of ethical challenge of globalism will “act as a prophylaxis against any self satisfying simplification of good and evil’. Given that problems exist in globalism, ranging from social, economic, religious and health, it is good to note that the ethical challenges have been given little or no attention over the years. Janson [2015] is of the view that these problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish.
Dispersion of Intelligibilities
One of the basic problems in globalization is the dispersion of intelligibilities. One of the criticisms on globalization is that it creates room for a strong tendency toward specialization, as organizations expand. For instance, “in a given organization or company, there is the division into basic functional areas; with the hiring and evaluation of individuals as specialists in different domains”. Differing specialities are housed in separate apartments and often times in different geographical locations. With future expansions, the organization is reproduced in miniature in other parts of the world. Within each segment, however, shared conceptions and values develop differentially. Berker[2010] argues that the effects of this is that what is evident, rational and valuable in one part of the organization is seldom duplicated in others, causing a multiplication of realities, with tensed reduction in intelligibility and rhetorical efficacy of the singular voice from those in charge.
Reduction in Centralized Knowledge
In globalization centralized authority is progressively cut away from the context of decision making. This according to some scholars is a resultant effect of dispersion of intelligibilities. This in particular is encouraged by the same technological advances stimulating global expansion of the given organization. Subsidiary decision makers are more intimately acquainted with the contests in which they operation, however, their knowledge based is richer and more fully nuanced. Furthermore, more opportunities become possible and seizes in a while. The ethical effect is that decisions from a distance, from the spatio-temporal removal of headquarters prove relatively slow and insensitive. Increased dependency must be placed, then, on local representatives with the context of application.
Undermining of Autonomy
The media is a strong agent of globalization and the major sources of public information hence, the improvement in recent years. However the problem posed by globalization here is that the power of the media to change an organization’s future is substantially augmented. The effect is that news analysts, commentators, columnists and other media professionals operate as gate keepers of national reality. The reasons been that their views are however presumed to be unmotivated and thus objective. They often seem more authentic than those issuing from the organizations themselves. By so doing; Philip [2012] points out that organizations lose a certain capacity for autonomous, self direction. Their voice hence loses authority in the public sphere. Increasingly, the views of outside opinion leaders must be taken into account prior to decisions, in effect giving such leaders a voice within the organization.
Interruption in Chains of Authority
Another strong ethical problem of globalization is that there is the blurring of the modern organizational structure in terms of the orderly distribution of responsibilities and the subversion of clear assignment of responsibilities to individuals or distinctive functional units are existent. This is because there are few decisions within a functional domain that do not impact on others and because most major initiatives require the coordinated input from diverse functional specialties, with increased reliance placed on time-specific teams from across specialty areas.
Erosion of Rationality
With globalization, there is the availability of high speed information transmission, information can be rapidly accessed or collected from variety of sources and speedily transmitted across broad networks. Decision makers are however confronted with ever increasing amounts of information relevant to various decisions. Because the organization is increasingly segmented, this also means that there is ‘increasing in the sources of information available’. There are more kinds of information to process; this initiates new factors that are continually identified. This gives way for new development, reducing the half-life of available information. Even though statistics are yardsticks most frequently used in strategic planning, few guidelines exists for evaluating when information is useful and when it has outlived its relevance. In effect, not only is reliance on a single center of rational planning reduced, but the very concept of rationally based policy is thrown into question.
Traditional Small and Large Scale Bribery
This involves the actual payment of small amount of money to foreign official in exchange for him or her violating some official duty or responsibility or to speed routine actions [The taxi driver bribing the police men at police check points to allow him get way without driving license]. Large scale bribery on the other hand involves a relatively large payment intended to allow a violation of the law or designed to influence policy directly or indirectly. The possible example of this kind of bribery could be seen in activities of NAFDAC who may collect a certain amount of money so as to allow illegal or expired food stuffs and drugs, thereby posing a great threat to health and life. Also some security officials especially of the Custom service allow series of illegal materials to come into the country by collecting certain amount of money from their victims.
Pricing
This accounts for series of illegalities that go on in purchases and services. It includes unfair differential pricing questionable invoicing. Here the buyer requests a written invoice showing a price other than the actual price paid, pricing to force out local competition, dumping products at prices well below that in the home country. It also involves the employed seller who writes a receipt or invoice other than what he sold particular goods, this leads to alteration of receipts booklets.
Products/Technology
This includes products and technology that are banned for use in the home country but permitted in the host country. Such products often appear unsuitable for use by the people of the host country. The victims of such are developing countries that whose government and system are corrupt and thus have become dumping grounds for used or unsuitable assets.
Tax Evasion Practices
This is used specifically to evade tax such as transfer pricing [where prices paid between affiliates and or/ parent company adjusted to affect profit allocation] including the use of tax havens, where any profit made is in low tax jurisdiction, adjusted interest payment on intra-firm loans, questionable management and service fees charged between affiliates and /or the parent company.
Illegal Activities in the Host Country
Polluting the environment, maintaining unsafe working conditions; product/technology copying where protection of patents, trademark or copyrights has been enforced and short weighting overseas shipments so as to charge a country a phantom weight.
Cultural Differences
Cultural differences between cultures involving potential misunderstanding related to the traditional requirements of the exchange process may be regarded by one culture as bribes but be acceptable business practices in another culture. These practices include; gifts, monetary payments, favours, entertainment and political contributions.
Decline in the Quality of Human Life; Abortion
One of the most remarkable characteristics of life is its additive quality. Life propagates itself by ceaselessly adding to itself what it successively acquires. Every living being thus, passes on to his successor the being he himself inherited, not merely diversified but accentuated by a given direction, according to the line to which he belongs. And all the lines, whatever their nature, seem in varying degrees and each after its own formula to move a greater or lesser distance in the general direction of greater spontaneity and consciousness. Something passes; something grows, through the long chain of living creatures. Today globalization ‘seems to pose a great danger to this great fact, or great law, whose discovery has transformed our vision of the Universe during nearly two centuries. There has been a great question posed on the Continuity of life. Human life has been in great danger in the face of globalization. Hitler’s concentration Camp launched a ferocious attack on Human life and his environment, a threat that has not left the memories of headlines since 1945, yet each day attacks on human life become more tensed. Hence, posing a danger to man’s future and his place in the Universe.
At a time, the population control movement remained ambivalent over t he question of abortion. Hugh Moore had long wanted it to as a population control measure, but Frank Notestein was still arguing in the early 1970s that the population council should ‘consistently and firmly take anti-abortion stance and use every occasion to point out that the need for abortions is the proof of program failure in the field of family planning and public health eduaction’ [Frank Notestein 1970]. But the women’s movement would not be put off with the promise of a perfect contraceptive. They knew, better than anyone and often from a personal experience that contraceptive, because of the inevitable failures, always led to abortion. As Sharon Camp of the Population Crisis Committee wrote, ‘both abortion and contraception are presently on the rise in most developing countries’’ [Mazur 1993].
Abortion was, in the end accepted by most controllers because it came to be seen as a necessary part of the anti-natal arsenal. The Rockefeller commission, established by President Nixon, wrote that ‘we are impressed that induced abortion has a demographic effect wherever legalized’’ and on this ground went on to call for ‘abortion on demand’ [Crichlow 1997]. The population Council followed the commission in endorsing abortion as a means of population control by 1975.
It is good to note that “this in particular is an aggressive ethical problem of globalization” [Benson 2011]. The resultant effects are quite visible in the number of death rolls among women and the lasting guilt felt by victims of abortion, emphasis may not be placed on the amount spent annually in such activities and the health dangers involved in abortion. However, it is good to note that reducing the numbers of unborn babies born has not and will not solve political, societal and economic problems [Borgia, 2008]. According to [Samanta, 2009], “…it is like trying to kill a gnat with sledgehammer, missing the gnat entirely and running your furniture beyond repair”. Again it is like trying to protect oneself from hurricane with a bus ticket. Such programmes come with massive costs, largely hidden from the view of well-meaning Westerners who have been propagandized into supporting them, and their benefits have proven ephemeral or worse. These programmes as in China have done actual harm to real people in the areas of human rights, health care, democracy and so forth. With the falling birth rates everywhere, they are demographic nonsense. Where population control programmes are concerned, these costs have been largely ignored while the benefits to people, the environment and the economy have e been greatly exaggerated. Unfortunately, Women in the developing countries are principal victims.
Globalization and the Age of Terrorism
The harms of globalization could be widely seen in the use of man’s worse to destroy man’s best, an endeavour that has plunged man into regrets and deep sorrow. Notwithstanding that globalization has brought a lot of good to humanity- with improvement in the mode of travel, simplified ways of doing things, enhanced means of communication, it in essence has brought a lot of sorrows to mankind- the building of heavy artilleries, construction of war Ships and Air-Crafts, building of weapons of Mass destruction, ballistic missiles and Chemical weapons etc. Hence, the headlines in newspapers, CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, radio stations, Magazines and other media outlets suggests a world plagued by war and terrorism. The Taliban of Afghanistan, Boko Haram of Nigeria, ISIS of Syria and other terrorist groups have continued to instill fear and terror in our world. Lots of lives are destroyed daily. Thousands of homes are displaced; properties worth huge amounts perish every day. One dares to ask, whether globalization has become a curse or is still a blessing.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, much has been written about the specter of nuclear terrorism and the releasing of dirty bomb [one loaded with radioactive] in an urban/civilian setting. The events of September 11 have all ensured the World’s preoccupation with such an event for foreseeable future. When this horror is combined with the availability of elements of nuclear-related material in places like the states of the former soviet Union, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Iraq, Iran , North Korea and many other states, one can envision a variety of sobering scenarios. The ethical implications are evident in the nature of attack and the immensity of destruction of life and properties.
Sexual Misconduct
One of the primary responsibilities of the UN in globalization process is to help maintain international peace and security especially in war prone areas. They help to maintain peace and stability enhance refugee camps and see to the sustenance of war displaced citizens in nations of the world. The importance of United Nations cannot thus be overlooked, as we have noted that war has been sustained in the mists of globalization and thus, the existence of war implies the existence of United Nations.
However UN has come under increasing criticisms around the world, for its inability to keep peace where it is asked to do so, “rather becoming victims of corruption of various degrees. In recent years” [Stehon,2013], there has been several harrowing reports of crimes committed by UN personnel, from rape to forced prostitution of women and young girls, the most notorious of which have involved the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Indeed, allegations and confirmed incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse of UN personnel have become depressingly routine in Bosnia, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Guinea, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
The alleged perpetrators of these abuses include UN military and civilian personnel from number of UN member states involved in Peace operations and from UN funds and program. The victims are refugees-many of them children-who have been terrorized by years of War and look to the UN for safety and protection. In addition to the horrible mistreatment of those who are under the protection of the UN, sexual exploitation and abuse undermine the credibility of UN peace operations. Rape and sexual harassment are grave offenses punishable by laws of every nation, for it deprives the individual the fundamental right of safety and violates the sacredness of the individuality, for these offenses are done by force and different means are adopted by the perpetrators on their victims. This is believed to be the dark side of globalization. Hence, this must be addressed through an effective plan and commitment to end abuses and ensure accountability.
Summary and Conclusion
All we have done above is to identify the ethical problems inherent in globalism. However their abounds deep feelings of optimism amidst the challenges surrounding globalism. There is hope that such problems could in nearest future meet their solution, hence in contribution this work hereby proffer possible solutions to the too many ethical problems of globalism.
The various international agreements and organizations like United Nations Code of conduct on transnational Corporations, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprise. Anti Corruption Convention etc should do well to reinforce their policies. This is because their principles act as practical means to deontologism. This in essence will set high standards for corporate conduct and expose inhuman business practices in the industry all over the world.
The adequacy of a decision or policy does not rest on the intellectual capacity of the single decision maker or particular decision making group, rather a high rate of reliance must be bestowed on the relational processes linking those responsible for the decision or policy to those who will be affected. By so doing there will be the coming together of collective efforts in decision or policy making rather than allowing the individual personal or group’s personal nuances to come in play.
The decision making should be permeable, interactively embedded within the context of consequence. In effect, relational nuclei within the organization should be multiplied and enmeshed with other nuclei, engaged in dialogues in which multiple intelligibilities are shared, interpenetrate, modify, concatenate or act with critical reflection on each other.
A shift from a conception of ethical principles from which proper practices are derived, to forms of ethically generated practice-practices that give rise to conjoint valuing and the synergistic blending of realities. By shifting the emphasis to practice, we avoid the endless contestation on the nature of the good, stripped from history and culture.
True internationalism is the only weapon we still have for tackling the global ethical and social crisis that is being caused by unbridled globalization, including the political violence of war and the personal violence of crime, racism, and xenophobia. [Bradely 2015]. We need a nearly unprecedented upsurge in international cooperation to tackle the many of the worldwide problems we now face.
What we have done in this work was to carefully examine the ethical problems of globalism and ways to put an end to them. It is good to understand that globalism is not a perfect trend or an idea, hence the existence of such problems as above. However, with the aid of policy makers, these ethical problems will be a thing of the past.
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In globalization process,the adequacy of a decision or policy does not rest on the intellectual capacity of the single decision maker or particular decision making group, rather a high rate of reliance must be bestowed on the relational processes linking those responsible for the decision or policy to those who will be affected. By so doing there will be the coming together of collective efforts in decision or policy making rather than allowing the individual personal or group’s personal nuances to come in play.
