The Impact of Economic, Political and Cultural Globalization on the Island State of Mauritius’

‘With reference to the theories we have studied, critically analyse the impact of economic, political and cultural globalization on the island State of Mauritius’

1.1 Introduction

Globalization refers to the process whereby the world is becoming more and more interconnected as a result of particularly increased trade and cultural exchange. There have been changes in communication where the internet and the media have created a sort of global village and also transport facilities to travel abroad. Globalization has also resulted in the buying of operations in different countries and the setting up of businesses such as companies that operate in several countries known as Multinational Corporations (MNCs) or Transnational Corporations (TNCs). Indeed, globalization have had positive impacts on people’s life for examples MNCs have contributed to the provision of new jobs and created opportunities for local people, cultural exchange have enable people all over the globe to share their culture-way of living and their lifestyles and people are aware of the latest news through the use of media.

Globalization have touched and transformed three arenas of our life:

• The Economy
• The Polity
• The Culture

It affects these spheres which at the same time affects our life. However, the negative impact of globalization can be seen and theorists have elaborated much on it for example on the fact that the gap between the rich and the poor is not disappearing despite globalization is increasing wealth for the development of countries. The three arenas are being stretched to its full capacity for the benefit of one group one: Capitalism. Marx argued that we are living in a world of capitalist. Even in Mauritius we have a capitalist class system.

Globalization is affecting the world economy but the amount of its impact varies from country to country and in Mauritius the impacts are greatly visible be it in the economy, politics and culture there have been a transformation in Mauritians’ life.

1.2 Mauritius- A brief overview

Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometers (1,200mi) off the southeast coast of the African continent and its capital is Port Louis. The area of the country is 2040km². The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural; most Mauritians are multilingual, and English, French, Creole and Asian languages are used. The country stayed under British rule until it became an independent island on 12 March 1968 and a republic in the Commonwealth on 12 March 1992 (Wikipedia, 2013). The population of Mauritius is estimated to be above one million.

From the time Mauritius obtained its independence, it has made important progress for example it has espoused an open economy policy. Our island has been able to have room for the process of globalization in a stable way by taking out the most from different areas such as its socio-economic, political, financial and cultural spheres (Rajen Suntoo, 2012)

Alternatively, the participation of both the public sector and private sector is indicating that the globalization has taken place in Mauritius whereby investment has been made, for instance, for the construction of new infrastructures, roads such as the Ring Road, shopping malls like Bagatelle, and important improvements in the tourism industry (Rajen Suntoo, 2012)

There have been political changes which have directly influence the process of decision making with the implementation of the welfare state with the NGOs promoting social development. Consequently, changes have occurred in the rules, regulations and laws and also in the function of important organizations.

With globalization, Mauritius had to adjust to the new world situation and new institutions have been established together with regulations.

1.3 Theories of Globalization

• Neo liberalism It is a revival of liberalism (Thorsen and Lie, 2009). David Harley in his book A brief history of Neoliberalism provided a clear definition of this theory:

“Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets and free trade. The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices. The state has to guarantee, for example, the quality and integrity of money. It must also set up those military, defence, police and legal structures and functions required to secure private property rights and to guarantee, by force if need be, the proper functioning of markets.”(Harvey 2005:2)

Neo liberals argue that individual needs freedoms (for examples freedom of the market and of trade). Thus it requires the removal of various controls which hinder the path to free trade such as tariffs, laws, restriction on capital flows etc. With the advent of neo liberalism, three important institutions were established: IMF (International Monetary Fund), WB (World bank) and WTO (World Trade Organization) representing a joint agreement among countries for proper disciplines on matters related to import and export of goods. There should be minimal state intervention and government should keep taxes low and motivate people not only to depend on the welfare state.

Neo liberalism wants to achieve economic globalization by removing all barriers and aims at improving the following:

• Economic growth
• Free trade- greater access to new markets for exchange of goods and resources.
• Liberalization-provides firms with new resources to maximize profits and new markets to make use of.
• Deregulation-by removing regulations corporations have greater access to resources and labour (people can migrate) without border restrictions.
• Privatization-neo liberalism claim that privatized services are more efficient than run by the state. This can drive prices low with high level of competition.

• Rationalization

The concept of rationalization was developed by Max Weber and it refers to the application of logic, observation, and science to attain most wanted ends. The example of bureaucracy has been used as the first example of rationalization and George Ritzer has viewed bureaucracy as long-term method in the world nowadays and he believes that McDonaldization is a more effective model of the rationalization process applied to human organization. Our culture also is being ‘Mcdonalized’ that is it is being blended with elements of different cultures due to the effect of globalization and technology.

• Ideology of consumerism

Leslie Sklair argued that capitalism is predominant; they cut across boundaries leading to ‘borderless’ areas. The latter has focused on the transnational capitalist class and how it has made use of globalization to fulfill its personal wants. This capitalist class represents a global power elite or dominant class characterize by the dominant class structures of specific countries. The culture-ideology of consumerism refers to the change making people consume products or lifestyles of rich countries like America resulting from the process of globalization. This give rise to Americanization which can be defined as ‘propagation of American ideas, customs, social patterns, industry and capital around the world’ (Ritzer, 2003)

1.4 Economic, political and cultural impact of globalization in Mauritius

• Economic globalization

Economic globalization refers to the intensification and stretching of economic interrelations across the globe (Steger, 2009) In other words, it is the recognition that there is a worldwide common market, supported on the freedom of exchange of goods and resources. Economic changes may take different forms such as government regulations, monetary and pricing policies and they are very often the results of globalization phenomenon (Rajen Suntoo, 2012)

Taking the case of Mauritius, the most important policy changes took place in terms of abolition of exchange controls and capital account liberalization, interest rate liberalization, utilization of open market operations and diversification of the financial system among others (Rajen Suntoo, 2012)

Mauritius has consequently experience economic growth by investing in various sectors like agriculture and tourism with the aim of improving its foreign image and also attracting foreign investors. In 1984, the Government has introduced numerous actions including the liberalization of trade in, elimination of non-tariff obstacles, and the promotion of local products.

However, these economical changes do not have desirable effects in our island. There is too much emphasis laid on pursue of economic success at the expense of our environment. With globalization the use of non renewable resources has increased leading to augmented pollution and global warming (Pettinger, 2012).

Mauritius is being controlled by an elite class system deciding what policies should be accepted or not. The freedom argued by Neo liberalism is not for everyone because some rules and regulations are not applied for some individuals who have the power to defeat them. A simple example is tax avoidance where corporations pay lower tax in the countries where they operate the most. Thus, the government has no other choice than to increase taxes on VAT and income tax.

Moreover, in order to cut down costs, many firms in developed countries chose to employ people from Third-World countries like India and China because their labor is cheap. Many Mauritian firms have adopted this practice and this has caused a lot of bitterness among the local people who are reproving these companies have been of taking their jobs away.

• Political Globalization

Political globalization refers to the intensification and expansion of political interrelations across the globe (Steger, 2009). It is the creation of a world government which controls the relationships among nations and gives assurance on the rights ranging from social and economic globalization. Political globalization has an important significance for human beings. With the constant mobility of goods and money the government is less able to control the activities like in the past of mobile businesses (Leo, 2007). Under globalization, politics can take place on top of the state throughout political integration ideas through INGOs (International Non Governmental Organizations) such as the World Trade Organization which can have their say in the process of decision making. Political activity can also go beyond national limits through global movements and NGOs.

At the political level, globalisation leads to a decline in the power of the state, resulting in the lost of key aspects of self-government, to the point where its function is changed to that of acting as local manager or facilitator for global capital (Pettman,1999). On the other hand, there are many ‘welfare recipients’ in Mauritius who depend too much on the welfare state. The government provides enormous amount of money to support these people.

• Cultural globalization

Cultural globalization refers to the intensification and expansion of cultural flows interrelations across the globe (Steger, 2009). Another definition of cultural globalization stated that:

“it is growth of cross-cultural contacts; advent of new categories of consciousness and identities such as Globalism[1] - which embodies cultural diffusion, the desire to consume and enjoy foreign products and ideas, adopt new technology and practices, and participate in a "world culture" “.

The family life is no more the same even within Mauritians homes where family members mostly teenagers are more attracted to technology than passing time chatting with parents or siblings. This eventually leads to tensions and conflicts in the family (Rajen Suntoo, 2012)

There are some cultures which have become the mainstream cultures for example the American culture. Mauritius being a multi cultural island put emphasis on shared cultural values. But through the process of globalization the media advertise many cultural ideologies owned by the capitalists. They are the ones who decide what is suitable and appropriate for consumption leading to the fear of losing our own cultural lifestyle. We can observe that the global dominant culture is pushing people to purchase products out of their budget limit which are sometimes unnecessary. In terms of food consumption pattern in Mauritius, it is more appropriate to refer to ‘KFC’ than the Mcdonalization of Ritzer. Fast food is becoming more common in our plate increasing the number of obesity.

With cultural globalization, the gap between the rich and the poor keep increasing. The rich can afford what the global culture is producing comparing to the poor.

1.5 Conclusion

Mauritius is an example for a developing country’s change in the process of globalization (Julian Klewes, 2007). Globalization has not only changed the different spheres like the economic, political and cultural, it has also affected the life of each individual even without the awareness of this process. The theories around globalization provide a framework of this process. It is important to apply these theories in order to understand the position of Mauritius: Is it under the policy of neo liberalism? Are we being Americanized? Does the Government take all the decisions alone or are their influencing civil societies?

These questions will help policy makers to unmask the negative effects of globalization and create effective strategies for benefiting from this occurrence. The profits will be mainly seen in the economic sector due to global growth. But the impact is unfortunately felt in all spheres.

Reference

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[1] http://rachel.worldpossible.org/olpc/wikislice-en/files/articles/Globalization.htm