Politics of Corporate Capitalism: Impact on Third World Countries

The World is experiencing the phenomena of globalisation, which is considered beneficial, it promotes free movement of people, goods, culture, and food and so on. From an economical prospective it is all about free market, outsourcing and bringing down national borders, making the world seem smaller.

Therefore in Western developed countries this is fully accepted as it is considered being market capitalism and a final stage to open economy, which started with privatization and economic liberalization. Globalisation has brought up people and countries together, but, on the other hand, it is a bit more controversial for the Third World countries, however as such progress and enlarged opportunities has been quite unbalanced, unequal and unmanaged because of lack of common values, mutual benefits and shared concerns towards those who are marginalized or left behind.

In Arundhati Roy’s Capitalism: A Ghost Story book, she points through each essay as a denouncement of the ravenous capitalism consumes modern India. For Roy, everyone and everything is a target, from mining corporations to the legacy of Gandhi and Mandela. Here she gives a picture perfect view of Politics of corporate capitalism and its impact on Third world countries.

Her thoughts are laced through with compelling emotional appeals, rhetorical questions, and other flourishes that bring a startling force to the violence, corruption, and dispossession. According to Roy, “the more you have, the more you can have.” Massive corporations, both multinational and domestic, are the principal agents of the concentration of wealth, and use their influence over India’s political system to ensure illegal corporate access to precious land and resources, resulting in the dispossession of millions. Wholesale “privatization,” has spurred massive corruption.

Corporate funding and control of NGO’s and foundations allows plutocrats to paint themselves as liberal activists by engaging in projects that skirt the edges of the issues. Shut out of public debate India’s nexus of wealthy plutocrats, corporations, and criminal politicians, enables a tiny minority to control the Indian economy. Stating that “corporate-endowed foundations, are the biggest funders of the social sciences and the arts, “today in countries like India and Pakistan there is scarcely a family among the upper middle classes that does not have a child who has studied in the United States.”

Therefore an offshoot of their influence on the government, the MNCs also have a huge advertising budget, which enables them to portray a much better image in the eyes of the local populace. With budgets that run in the millions, MNCs almost always succeed in gaining mass market shares of their products since the local companies cannot produce/hire production companies (Suzuki, Lakme, and Coca-Cola) to do the same. This again alienates the local entrepreneurs and makes it harder for the majority of the population.

To the third world, globalization has been seen as a replacement of imperialism or modernity. It displaces a focus on domination of third world countries by the so-called developed world, or of local and national economies by transnational corporations. It is a method to preserve the continuing exploitation of much of the world by few ‘super powers’. It is important in the light of the above to clearly state that there is increasing fear of marginalization of the third world with reference to global relations. This is accentuated by the fact that almost all the structures, upon which the foundation of the global village is to be built, are controlled by the so-called developed countries.

Furthermore, globalization of trade and liberalization of economies have been described as inequitable and inimical to the third world in general. Economic structure is yet another important structure which is wholly controlled by the developed world. Besides, the fact that most, if not all the third world countries are largely indebted to the developed nations, leaves them with very little or no control over their national economies how much more that of the global economy. It is glaring that relations between the debt ridden third world nations and the other part of the world is that of a slave-master or master-slave relations.

Politically speaking, globalization is changing the context in which governments operate. The challenge to policy makers is made more acute by a lot of other ‘internationalization of corporations’ under way. Third world countries are undermined as a result of the world begin seen and referred to as a ‘global village’. No matter where we go, what we do, the impact of globalization will chase third world countries especially targeting the labor force and the government sovereignty as well. Because it is the process of inter dependently inter connected.