Globalization has brought about the interdependence and exchange of ideas, culture, technology, raw materials, services and ideology across the globe. As such, this helps countries grappling with deficiency of certain items or services to access these essentials commodities from another country. On the other hand, the enhancement of technology has brought about digital media which has revolutionized the communication network and bring about integration across the world. Thus, digital media has made communication across the world cost effective, efficient, and reliable. Hence, the general public, governments and nongovernmental organizations have embraced digital communications to enhance their communication. For instance, the transparency international uses the digital media to pass important messages and research findings across the globe. Therefore, digital media is an essential tool to disseminate vital information in the world. One area where digital media is useful is reporting corruption and bringing to light any misappropriation of funds from different countries.
According to transparency international, Cuba has corruption index of 47 and rank 56 out of 168 globally (Transparency International). Thus, the percentage of corruption in this country is 72%, which is relatively high given that Cuba is a developing economy which requires large foreign investments. The life expectancy is 78.77 years and literacy rate is 99.8%, in addition, it has a population of 11.3 million and as of 2008 the GDP was US $62.7 billion (Transparency International). From the data given by the transparency international, it shows that Cuba has potential of advancing its economy further since it has high literacy level hence heavy industries and services companies will not lack proficient labor force. Additionally, the high life expectancy shows that workers have the potential to work up to their retirement age. Thus, international companies which desire to invest in this country are encouraged due to efficient labor force. However, the corruption index may force some international countries shy away from Cuba because corruption will make investing in this country expensive since it will cost more to invest in Cuba since these international companies may have to pay extra money to access vital services or documents which are necessary to start a business (Shah). Thus, corruption is a barrier to the growth of globalization. Furthermore, digital communication companies from United State, China, Japan or England may opt not to invest in Cuba, as such, the country in the long run will lag behind in realizing the benefits of digital media (Shah). This will make communication in this nation expensive and inefficient.
Conclusively, globalization and digital media are crucial in the current world where a nation cannot entirely depends on its own based on the resources it has. Thus, corruption is a major barrier to globalization and digital media since it disrupts the growth of these two elements which are critical to human development. Thus, a country which needs to advance its GDP has to fight and eliminate prevalence of corruption to zero.
Works Cited
Shah, Anup. "Corruption." N.p., 2011. Web. <www.globalissues.org/article/590/corruption>.
Transparency International. "Transparency International - Country Profiles." Transparency International - The Global Anti-Corruption Coalition. N.p., 2015. Web. 26 Feb. 2016. <http://www.transparency.org/country/#CUB>.
