Effects of Cote d'Lvoire and Globalization
The effects of the Globalization phenomena can be felt all around the world. Globalization is interaction and subsequent integration of people, countries and organizations driven by information technology infrastructure and aimed at bolstering international trade and cooperation on common issues. Without denying the innumerable good it has done to the nations of the world, even to Cote d'Lvoire, there is no disputing that there has been allot of harm brought upon this nation. In this manuscript, it shall be revealed that globalization has not been good for the people of my country.
The History of Cote d'Lvoire
Pre-colonial History
There is little information in the oral tradition of the people of Cote d'Lvoire on the original inhabitants of the area. This has led to the development of the hypothesis that assimilation of the indigenous communities may have occurred. It is clear however that the ancestors of the present occupants migrated into the area fleeing from various problems such as war and religious subjugation (Xie, 2014).
Historical records reveal that area was built on the backbone of substantial trade in the area of the Sahara desert. As the volume of trade and the value of the same increased, more and more people migrated southwards toward s the West African coast. This led to the development of the territory of the Cote d'Lvoire.
Empires and their ruler rose up and fell fast. Examples of these empires are the 14thcentury Mali Empire that controlled the northern part of the country, the Songhai Empire of the 14th to 16th century, the Muslim Kong Empire in the 18th century and the Abron kingdom of the Jaman. These empires rose on the strength of religion and trade. The reasons they fell ranged from religious and ethnic discord, to establishment of a class of rich nobles thereby undermining central authority (Xie, 2014). The remnants of these kingdoms such as the Baoule kingdom around Sakasso, that was strong enough to attempt to retain their identities even after independence (Handloff, 1988).
Colonial Period
Globalization
In the years after WWII, the existence of two competing global powers, that is the US and USSR created an impasse to true globalization. During this period, Cote d'Lvoire grew its economy at impressive rates. With the fall of the USSR in 1989, true globalization begun. Unfortunately, this period was the boiling point at which the passing away of the charismatic president Houphouet-Boigny led to a total collapse of the Ivoirian eco-social structures. This set the stage for the domination of the economic sphere of the Ivoirian nation by foreign and individual interests. The ethnic and religious tensions that were on the rise in the 1990s degenerated into a civil war in 2002. This coupled with the dwindling resources and the increasing population was a recipe for a filing state (Our Africa b)
Population
The country consists of six major ethnic groups. These are the Akan, Gur, Krou, Southern Mande, Northern Mande and other peoples of Lebanese descent. The largest group is the Akan. French is the official language with 60 other native dialects spoken: Dioula being the most widely spoken. Islam is the most practiced religion at 40.2%, Catholics at 20%, other Christian denominations at 5%, traditionalist at 1.4%. The total population of the country as of 2015 was just above 23 million. Most of this population is between 15-54 years with a large part of it found in the urban areas. This number keeps growing at t6he rate of 3.69% between 1010 and 2015(CIA).
Globalization is a major cause of migration in the world. At the nation scale, rural urban migration the perception of more opportunity in the urban areas as compared to the rural areas has led to the shift. The opportunities range from jobs, social amenities, education among others. In Cote d'Lvoire, the use of contract employment, compulsory labor and recruitment policies was in effect. The development of urban centers around agricultural produce collection points as well as mining towns was inevitable. The increased mobility due to the development of transport infrastructure has broken the limiting barriers that were previously set on geography and the heavily forested belt has led to the dispersion of peoples around the country (Yaro, 2008).
Abidjan, the capital city of Cote d'Lvoire, grew in association with the development of a colonial administrative centre, the construction of the railway line and the deep-water port and the subsequent establishment of an industrial district. The skewed nature of the distribution of the population by race and social economic class was evident in the colonial and is still evident in the current times (Appessika, 2003).
Millions of migrants from neighboring countries have migrated to Cote d'Lvoire. After Cote d'Lvoire gained independence, the migrants came in to work in the massive cocoa plantations to fill in the gaps left by the lightly populated Cote d'Lvoire. The death of Felix Houphouet-Boigny, threatened the peaceful coexistence between the locals and the immigrant population. His successor, Henri Konan Bedie, adopted an anti -immigrant policy. This exasperated the situation in a country already split along religious lines (Migration News, 2002).
Tensions in the country have caused the locals to revert to their native tribal settlement following the perception of safety. This has intensified the tribal rivalry that was already rife given that the 2002-2007 civil war had split the country into two. A combination of political dissent, economic slump and disparities, population ballooning and religious conflict fueled the conflicts in the country leading to mass repatriation and immigration back to rural settlements (Lewis, 2011).
The global market for Ivoirian products has created an agrarian economy. Native Ivoirians and immigrants have provided the labor force. The global economy however is dependent on too many extra-territorial forces and therefore the changes in the demand index have echoing effects on the viability of migrating to the urban centers or into Cote d'Ivoire for that matter.
Poverty
In the Cote d'Lvoire, poverty stricken areas have always been concentrated in the north with the most affected being the youth and women. This is because of the fact that the cash crops: cocoa and palm oil are planted to the south in the forest. In the northern savannahs, the growth of subsistence crops is predominant. Cotton is grown in small scale in the north. By 2014, the estimated rural poor were 5.3 million people. Food insecurity has affected the south because of the uptake of land for commercial agriculture at the expense of food crops (IFAD, 2016).
As a low -income country, the Cote d'Lvoire has seen a marked increase in poverty levels form the 1980s.This has coincided with the economic downturn caused by the slump in global prices for cocoa, civil unrest and the death of Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Around a quarter of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. The income gap widened in the early years after independence pegged on the skewed but consistent growth in the GDP and the economic downturn meant more fell deeper in poverty. In 2010, post-election violence made it harder to sell farm produce further crippling the labor force that depended on commercial agriculture (IFAD, 2016; Pradhan 2014).
International valuation of currency has placed many Ivoirian people below the poverty line. It is evident that the shift from indigenous farming methods to answer the global demands for manufacturing in scale has created a gap between the rich and the extremely poor. The extremely poor have found themselves being workers in processes whose benefits are felt in upper percentile of the economic scale.
Peasant Protest
The anti-immigration sentiments can also be viewed as a peasant protest. The implementation of president Felix Houphouet-Boigny policy encouraging immigrants from neighboring states to take up jobs in Cote d'Lvoire never envisaged the periods of rapid economic growth that was to follow. The local; peasant population revolted against the perception that their jobs were taken up by foreigners (Lewis, 2011).
As contacted labor is used to fuel the growth of internationally traded crops, it is important to note that the volatility of the international market will affect the lively hoods of the locals. However, due to the difficulty in shifting the land use to mere profitable ventures and because of speculations of return to profitability the plantations remain. This is especially true for the palm oil plantations. This has led to the locals taking part in protests such as boycotting work, grazing cattle on contracted land and using water meant to irrigate the plantations to water sustenance crops (Little & Watts, 1994, pp. 230).
The correlation between the effects of the global market and the poverty index in the country has melted down the backbone of the peasant farmers and the workers. This has led to misguided animosity towards the immigrants. It has also lead to apathy and protest against the government and business policies that continually degrade the peasant population.
Environment
The correlation between social development, social strife and environment degradation in Cote d'Lvoire is irrefutable. In 2006, an Ivoirian company dumped toxic waste to the tune of five hundred tons causing deadly environmental poisoning in Abidjan. The ethical questions this raises are profound. Most of them touch on the legal protections that the government enforces on environmental issues. The fact that the waste originated from European nations is a pointer to the detriment caused by the profit driven globalization of commercial entities (Polgreen & Simons, 2006).
Farming activities to feed global demand have caused forest cover depletion, species relocation and habitat destruction. The export of wood both illegally and legally has depleted the forest cover. The slump in cocoa and coffee prices has raised the need for alternative income generating activities and this has compounded the deforestation crisis greatly. There is a big demand for wild animal products. Despite a ban on hunting, poachers have been depleting the country's wildlife (Countries Quest, 2003). The outbreak of civil war has weakened the government's ability to protect the country's environment (Mongabay.com, 2006).
Health and Disease
According to the WHO (2016), the life expectancy in Cote d'Lvoire was 52 years and 54 years for males and females respectively. The per capita expenditure on health was $172 with 5.7 of the GDP going to provision of health services. Diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are prevalent in Cote d'Lvoire. Violence and civil strife have contributed to injuries and death in the country on a significant scale. Malnutrition levels are still high given that the 28% of children under five are experiencing stunted growth. It is a struggle feeding the families as the economy and security issues heighten (Our Africa, b).
Malaria and tuberculosis ate diseases that can be controlled by providing a healthy environment with proper ventilation and drainage. This has been a struggle because high levels of urban growth are devoid of planning. The high rate of labor turnover also means that the spread of diseases such as Tuberculosis is much easier.
Globalization has contributed greatly to the spread of HIV/AIDS, as there is a characteristic shift in social and moral norms. The propagation of western influences on sexual habits and the influx of drugs have led to reckless behavior that increases risk of infection. Poverty leading to vices such as prostitution is also a contributing factor. Access to health services impaired by poverty and civil strife has meant that the control, prevention and treatment of these diseases have been crippled (USAID-PEPFAR, 2014: Betsi et al., 2006).
Indigenous
The link between the competition for land and power and the displacement of persons in Cote d'Lvoire is not a new thing. Conflict between the customary rules of land ownership and the constitutional law has caused displacement. The brunt of these displacements is borne greatly by the women and children who face gross human rights violations (UNDP, 2009).
The increase in gold mining activities in Cote d'Lvoire has caused the local population to be evacuated from ancestral land. The compensation received from the mining company was barely able to cover the soaring demands of a falling economy and most of the locals have resorted to garbage collection to earn a living. The traditional activities such as artisan ship, subsistence farming and cash crop agriculture have proved to be untenable due to the massive acquisition of land as well as the pollution levels experienced in Bonikro mining town. Population pressure due to the influx of labor has stretched the social amenities thin (Selay, 2016: Africa Research Online, 2016). The high levels of urbanization facilitated by construction of roads, dams and factories has led to a global problem of internal displacements and Cote d'Lvoire is no exemption (Stanley)
In conclusion, it is evident that the effects of globalization in Cote d'Lvoire have had debilitating effects across a variety of sectors. The solution to these problems may lie in adaptation of the local practices to global phenomena while keeping in mind the preexisting structures.
References
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