Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
INTRODUCTION
We are currently living in an era of accelerated globalization that is
having unprecedented impacts upon the economic, social and political
landscape of the global South. Given the increasing vulnerability of the
world's 184 million unemployed and 550 million 'working poor', interest
in the provision of 'decent work' in the global South is a priority for
multilateral agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs),
but the extent to which globalization has enhanced employment oppor-
tunities for local workers is still widely contested. This section of the
topic provides a focused series of discussions that examine the impact
of economic globalization on the employment, livelihoods and well-being
of individuals and communities in the global South over time and
space. Through a focus on the ways in which global processes are
embedded in different livelihood trajectories, it explores how neoliberal
transformations have shaped changes in agriculture, industry, serv-
ices, technology, trade and aid over the last forty years. While there is
much evidence to suggest that globalization is exacerbating inequali-
ties and fragmenting societies through complex networks of inclusion
and exclusion, it has also become increasingly clear that it also enables
the development of new social spaces and modes of resistance that cut
across traditional North-South divides.
Despite the diverse range of issues discussed in the forthcoming
chapters, three interconnecting themes provide a framework for linking
the concepts introduced in each chapter. First, in relation to the inter-
dependence of poverty and global economic forces, neoliberal trade
reforms have been closely associated with the extensive liberalization
of the agricultural, industrial and service economies of the global
South, a process that has widespread impacts on the livelihoods and
everyday trajectories of local workers and communities. However, the
outcomes of corporate dominance and the New International Division
of Labour (NIDL) are contradictory and far from uniform. Against the
tide of global capitalism, advances in information and communication
technologies (ICTs) have increased the capacity for local social move-
ments and civil society organizations to empower local communities
through grassroots mobilization.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search