Introduction
Different nations had varying reactions to the concept of cultural exception during the GATT Uruguay Round in 1993, an aspect that created a lot of pressure in various international communities. France supported the policy, but the U.S was against it. Contrary to expectations, the economic rationale was not the primary reason that made France support the cultural exception, but the fear that globalization would eradicate the French culture. Globalization has brought controversies in France, and the citizens have more than once protested against globalization.
Different anti-globalization movements have been held in the past with concern that globalization has a lot of adverse effects on traditional communities. Homogenization is one of the primary effects, and this effect is influenced by several factors like politics, cultural and sociological behaviors, and the economic status.
The paper seeks to understand how culture influences different trade restrictions and the various benefits and disadvantages associated with the same. Apparently, some of the strategies employed in the paper include the use of trade restrictions and other protective restrictions to curb globalization.
Globalization and Culture
International trade was one of the primary causes of globalization, allowing different countries to operate with one another without any restriction. With the introduction of cultural exception, nations were forced to conform to similar market structures, social policies and political systems, an aspect that makes states not to be independent. The rationale for the cultural exception was to amplify the need to protect the French culture from the adverse effects of globalization. The concept has a significant impact on trade operations, as it seeks to exclude particular cultural goods from being subjected to free trade. Once a commodity is restricted from the free trade, it is often subjected to some form of tariffs, quotas and taxes to control its spread in the international market. The origin of this significant aspect can be traced back to 1993 during the GATT negotiations and later on in the French government
A country seeking to protect itself from globalization resists cultural influences that might impair its norms and drive away its identity as far as culture is concerned. The French government is a good example of the governments that have sought to implement measures to protect themselves from negative externality of globalization that might destroy their culture. One of the cultural protections experienced by the French people is trade restrictions in the flow of the audiovisual products. The French people are also restricted from learning a foreign language, and also, the government has also banned quite a significant number of foodstuffs that might dilute the French culture.
Concern on Cultural Exception
Different societies define the word culture differently, bur based on the French interpretation, culture means traditions that the citizens have to adhere to. However, one thing drawn from the discussion is that the cultural policies directed to control globalization have more harm to the international community than benefits. The concept of cultural exemption promotes aspects of inefficiency, as influential political groups often abuse the policies to work to their advantage. An example to illustrate the above claim is the French film industry, which capitalizes on its powerful strength to control the international market at the expense of the smaller firms from other states.
Moreover, the concept of cultural exception is costly for no reason as some of the vices promoted by the concept include room for possible abuse of power and protecting different commodities from entering the free trade. I can, therefore, assert that cultural exception is not a good aspect to be used for trade restrictions or in the development of different protection measures.
Conclusion
The concept of cultural exception has heated the heads of many for decades since 1993 to date. As discussed in this paper, globalization contributes to homogenization and standardization, leading to the use of common global policies that make nations dependent on one another. However, although the French government has tried to indicate the rationale for cultural protection, it is evident from the study that the policies are biased and tend to conserve interest of some few influential individuals while causing harm to the rest. Therefore, it is important to conclude that trade policies should not support the policy of cultural exception in controlling international trade, as only a few individuals benefit from the concept.
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