Ghana: Gold Mining Resurgence: Difference between revisions

This is a complex phenomenon and can be viewed from different (disciplinary) perspectives. Our viewpoint: direct impact at the local level – on the quality of life in diverse parts of the world.

The economy is the driving force of globalisation processes. However, the economy looks different from both a global and local perspective as a result of: on-going trade liberalisation and increasing opportunities for investment across national borders, the global production and distribution network that have become even more interconnected, their increased efficiency, and the lesser importance of boundaries and borders; the globalised economic driver to maximize profit but also deliver cheap goods to underdeveloped regions. However, from a local perspective, globalisation of economic processes might block local initiatives as it neglects local specifics – social, cultural and political conditions, and of course the traditional economy based on those same conditions. In the past, tariffs would have been imposed on imports in developing countries in order to nurture and incubate local industry and hence protect it from foreign competition, just as new industries had once been protected in developed societies, but the demands of the global economy and the World Trade Organization require opening up markets in developing nations to the full force of global competition. Globalisation in a certain sense means universalisation, and its economic imperatives destroy local diversity, which often means neglecting local consumption needs or patterns. Local people are perceived as part of the global “labour force” often working primarily toward the benefit of the wealthy “north” and absorbing their externalities – economic characteristics are important but traditional skills are no longer valued.