What does it mean for one country to have interdependence with other countries?

The current global political economy presents the world where no country can live in isolation. Thus this paper sort to highlight some thematic areas where global interdependence is perceived to have vibrantly engaged within the international system. These thematic areas include Economic interdependence; Environmental interdependence, Political interdependence, and Socio-Cultural interdependence. The paper saw that, inasmuch as there are some benefits associated with the robust global interdependence in the world, the platform is uneven and this allows some countries (the rich and strong countries) to benefit greatly at the expense of others (poor and weak countries).  

Introduction

Globalization is inextricably linked with interdependence since the available resources are unequally distributed across the world and for that matter, no country can claim to be fully served with regard to all the resources it needs to be totally self-sufficient. The need for countries to rely on each other for these resources creates a global interdependence. In fact, the drive of globalization creates a robust interconnection of the world network through borderless operations of countries, making it easier to interact, trade and build a co-operative world. Unarguably, the current global economy which commenced after World War II through the Instrumentality of the United Nations and the Bretton wood institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-GATT) cannot be ignored in the analysis of global interdependence.

The central focus of this paper, however, is to discuss “how is globalization increasing interdependence in the international community”.

To do this, it is prudent to adopt an operational definition of globalization to lay a solid ground for the discussion on how globalization is increasing global interdependence.

The term globalization in this paper, denotes to the “gradual but fierce” process of increasing social and cultural interconnections, political interdependence, and economic, financial and market integrations that are driven by advances in communication and transportation technologies, and trade liberalization where virtually, everyone is affected by this process in a way that leads to a borderless world (Eden & Lenway, 2001; Ohmae, 1989a).

It must be noted that interdependence among nations is one of the major cardinal effects of globalization, ever to have hit the shores of world politics. Curry (2000) & Peter and Pierre (2006) have observed that technological, economic, political, and cultural exchanges between and among countries of the world have increased tremendously over time. Clearly, almost all countries, firms, and private individuals are undoubtedly affected by powers of globalization, where trade liberalization is the necessary condition for the recognition of the full bearings of globalization (Human Development Report, 2004).

Economic interdependence; Environmental interdependence; Political interdependence; and Socio-Cultural interdependence

The first point to be discussed pertains to “Economic Interdependence”. Free market economy or trade liberalization is a common feature in the world today. Current happenings in international trade and finance have been conveyed by the internationalization of production of goods and services (the fragmentation of production and/or intra-product specialization). Hence in most developing countries where technology is low, they tend to rely on developed countries for durable and sophisticated goods such as cars, cell phones, refrigerators, computers and other important gadgets (Asare, 2011: 185).

In a like manner, activities of multinational corporations (MNCs) provide revenues to the government through their investment in the economy. By doing so, MNCs promote free trade by lobbying intergovernmental organizations like IMF, World Bank and WTO to require countries to adopt policies that promote free movement of goods (Asare, 2011: 166-167). Greider cited in Paehlke (2009: 4) observed that “sales of the 500 largest multinational firms grew more than seven folds between 1971 and 1991, from $721 billion to $5.2 trillion”. This was made possible by higher levels of interdependence in the international political economy since these firms are increasingly global in origin and in structure.

Secondly, Environmental concerns in the current international system have led to an increase in world interdependence to address such problems. Environmental problems such as climate change, global warming, and the spread communicable disease (Ebola, Bird flu, HIV/AIDS, Black dead, Smallpox, Tuberculosis etc.) brings the world together to address such concerns irrespective of the origin of the disease or problem.

For instance, the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 was instituted to address the problem of carbon monoxide emission into the atmosphere by highly industrialized countries with the sole aim of reducing global warming. Also, it is estimated that as of Dec. 01, 2015, the World Bank Group has mobilized US$1.62 billion in financing for Ebola response and recovery efforts to support the countries hardest hit by Ebola. This includes US$260 million for Guinea; US$385 million for Liberia and US$318 million for Sierra Leone[1].

Thirdly, “Political Interdependence” in the international community is created through political change, redistribution of power from states to interstate bodies and the growth of global civil society. In fact, the coming together of countries under the umbrella of intergovernmental organizations makes it possible for countries to seek help from others. For instance, the World Bank, the United Nations, ECOWAS, the African Union and the European Union, plays critical role in assisting member countries in profound ways, being it domestic or international issues such as “…democratic governance, freedom of the media, independent judiciary, conflict resolution and peacekeeping and ‘peace building’.” (Asare, 2011: 178). The AU and UN mission to Somalia and other states through the contribution of troupe by various countries in the world depict how globalization has increased interdependence on the political front.

Fourthly, globalization has also increased “Socio-cultural interdependence”. Spatial and temporal components, such as international trade, global levels of political representation, global communication, the increased speed of transactions, travel, political change, resource depletion, social mobilization and impacts of increased cultural exchange has undoubtedly increased the level of global interdependence. As noted by Paehlke (2009), “global cultural integration is associated with American television, Hollywood, world music and commercial advertising”. For example, most of the Ghanaian and Nigerian films are carved around American movies. This is no different from south Africa where seven out of ten popular television programs have U.S origin (Paehlke, 2009: 5 ). Barber (1996: 62) in support of this argues that films now accrue greater export revenue for the US economy far more than automobiles companies.

Against this background of creating world interdependence, globalization has rendered most of the developing countries stagnant in terms of development and the sovereignty of the state. Wolf (2001), has argued that globalization “is merely the extension of markets across frontiers and as it is true of any market process, what one obtains from the international market depends on the value of what one can offer. It is not a question of a desert or intrinsic worth. It is a question, rather, of opportunities and incentives. If a country is unsuccessful in obtaining as much as it desires from its integration with the world economy, it is because its people are either unable to offer what those elsewhere desire or are prevented from doing so by barriers, at home or abroad”.

This presupposes that the wealthy countries within the international political arena tend to benefit more at the expense of the poor countries that operate within the same international system. Globalization, therefore, becomes a tool that is used to somehow exploit the weaker countries in the struggle for resources and influential recognition in world politics.

Conclusion

The paper has demonstrated clearly that globalization has made the world an integrated network of countries. It is often said that no country in this era can live in isolation because countries need each other to survive (quid pro quo manner). This interdependence is obvious in the following dimensions: political interdependence, environmental interdependence, socio-cultural interdependence and economic interdependence. This notwithstanding, the impact of globalization still remains a “double-edged sword” in this over-speeding drive to world integration.

Reference

Asare, B. E. (2011). International Politics: The Beginner’s Guide. Accra: YAMENS Press Ltd.

Barber B. R., (1996) Jihad vs McWorld, pp.389 New York: Ballantine. [A highly readable dimension of the relationship between global and economic integration and ethnic fragmentation]

Curry, J. E. (2000). Internationales Marketing: Neue Märkte erschließen.Deutscher Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH, Köln.

Eden, L., & Lenway, S., (2001) Introduction to the Symposium Multinational: The Janus Face of Globalization‘, Journal of International Business Studies.

Greider, W., (1997) One world, ready or not. New York: Simon and Schuster. [A global tour of the evolution of global economic integration]

Human Development Report (2004) Chapter 5 Globalization and cultural choice. P. 85. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/265/hdr_2004_complete.pdf

Ohmae, K., (1989a) Managing in a Borderless World, Harvard Business Review

Paehlke, R. (2009). Globalization, Interdependence, and Sustainability. Introduction to Sustainable Development, 1, 187-208.

Peters, B.G. & Pierre, J., (2006), Handbook of Public Policy, Sage, London

Wolf, M. (2001). Will the nation-state survive globalization? Foreign Affairs-New York, 80(1), 178-190.

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