ADE 8240 (THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT)

A RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT ON: IN WHAT WAYS

DO YOU THINK GLOBALISATION CAN AFFECT
COMMUNITY CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT AT
THE GRASSROOT LEVEL IN AFRICA

BY

NURA IBRAHIM MUKHTAR

REG. NO. SPS/08/EDU/00008

PROGRAMME: M.ED (COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT)

DEPARTMENT: ADULT EDUCTION AND COMMUNITY

SERVICES

BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

 INTRODUCTION
Globalization has become a buzzword and a key idea for business theory and
Practice and entered academic debates. It has also become a phenomenon
that its foot and finger prints are boldly seen in the whole of the so-called
modern life, be it political, economic social, e.t.c.Therefore,globalization is
an important and sensitive issue worthy of being studied and discussed as it
affects community change and development at the grass root level in Africa.
For a clear understanding of the issue at hand on discussion, definitions of
globalization, community change and development has to be mentioned,
thus:

WHAT IS GLOBALISATION
Globalization has been defined in several ways by different scholars but here
definitions provided by Scholte(2000:15-17) and El-baz (2001) will be used.
According to Scholte (2000:15-17) cited in Shaw (2001) at least five
broad definitions of globalization can be found in the literature as follows:
(A)Globalization as internationalization: Here globalization is viewed
simply as another adjective to describe cross-border relations between
countries. It describes the growth in international exchange and inter-
dependence.
(B)Globalization as liberalization: In this broad set of definitions,
globalization refers to a process of removing government-imposed
restrictions on movements between countries in order to create an “open”,
“borderless” world economy.
(C)Globalization as universalisation:In this use, ‘global’ is used in the
sense of being “worldwide” and “globalization” is the process of spreading
various objects and experiences to people at all corners of the earth .A
classic example of this would be the spread of computing, television e,t.c.
(D)Globalization as westernization or modernization:(especially in an
“Americanized” form).Here globalization is understood as a dynamic,
whereby the social structure of modernity
(capitalism,rationalism,industrialism,bereaucratism, e.t.c.) are spread the
world over, normally destroying pre-existent cultures and local self-
determination in the process.
(E)Globalizations as deterritorialisation:(or as the spread of
supraterritoriality): Here “globalization” entails a “reconfiguration of
geography, so that social space is no longer wholly mapped in terms of
territorial places, territorial distances and territorial borders.
 On the other hand, ion El-Baz (2001) gives globalization some
definitions base on some two approaches viz functional and structural
approaches. Base on functional approach globalization is defined by El-Baz
(2001) as achievements and manifestations such as great technological and
scientific achievements, information and communication advancement, the
power dynamism of the transnational corporations (TNCs), and global
market that guarantee the free movement of capital, products and services,
and labor.
Taking the structural approach into consideration El-Baz (2001)
defines globalization as a dialectical historical process, and an advance
phase of an ever-changing human history, in terms of cumulative scientific
knowledge and technology.
Therefore, going with these definitions of globalization by Scholte
(2000) and El-Baz (2001) I can say globalization is concept that involves
integration of the parts of the world into a one economic system, one
intellectual and cultural system and a common political mode and dimension
with the domination of western world through the use of some vehicles like
information-communication technology, United Nations, USAID, DFID,
IMF, World Bank and so on.

WHAT IS COMMUNITY CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

To explain what is community change and development is, it is

imperative to know the meanings of the three key words in the phrase i.e.
“community”, “change” and “development”.
Therefore, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
(1995:271,213,374) defines these key words as follows:
(a)Community is a group of people who share the same nationality or
religion or who are similar in another way.
(b)Change is to stop having or doing one thing and start having or doing
something else instead.
(c)Development is the gradual growth of something so that it becomes
bigger or more advanced.
Hence, I can say community change and development can be a
transformation or re-formation that occurs among a group of people who
share the the same nationality or religion or who are similar in another way,
that results into a better living condition for the members of the group.
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GLOBALISATION AND
COMMUNITY CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT
In addition, to think clearly on what ways globalization can affect
community change and development at the grass root level in Africa, it
seems a must to look at the relationship between the two concepts.
Therefore, the relationship between globalization and community
change and development, with the view of the meanings of the two concepts
I provided above, is that of the effect and the affected i.e. globalization
influences community change and development in form of tilting the latter
towards integration the world into a single community base on the
domination of western cultural, political, social, economic and intellectual
norms and values.
Going with this, globalization can affect community change and
development in so many ways at the grass root level in Africa. This is as
Follows:
SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF
GLOBALIZATION AT THE GRASSROOT LEVEL IN AFICA

Socially, at the grass root level in Africa globalization has affected

many Africans, that as a result of western media they started to view their
indigenous social norms and values as primitive, including the useful viable
ones. Take for example the issue of our local languages that have been made
imperior to foreign languages like French, English, and Spanish and so on.
African languages seldom find any legally meaningful protection under
national laws (Kamanga, 2001)
Politically, globalization has introduced Democracy where political
right(s) of all the citizens is promoted, to the detriment of our African
indigenous monarchial political system and military dictatorship. This
resulted in sensitizing African masses to cater for their rights. An example of
this is Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Economically, globalization has introduced capitalism, an economic
system that promotes the concentration of resources in the hands of the
bourgeoisies and making the poor ones poorer. This Capitalism is now
making the Africans at the grass root level more manipulatable, dominable
and oppress able. A typical example of this is what happens here in Nigeria
during elections. As a result of the poor economic status the masses sell their
votes for a meager amount of money that results in the installation of wrong
individuals into public offices in Nigeria.
Furthermore, globalization promotes free market economy where
African markets are flooded with foreign goods that de-market African made
products, which result in closure of local industries, as a result of which
many people at the grass root level lose their jobs and become miserable
unemployed. In some cases, some of those foreign goods are sub-standard.
Take for example the case of Chinese products that occupied our markets
and eroded our economy in Nigeria.
To crown it all, globalization is more of evil than good to the world in
general and Africa in particular.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF GLOBALIZATION

(i)THE ADVANTAGES:
1. Promotion of political awareness and enlightenment.
2. Scientific and technological discoveries and inventions that make life
easier and efficient
3. Information-communication is made easy and efficient e.g. the use of
internet e.t.c.
4. Globalization promotes free movement between the borders of countries
that brings the people in the countries close to one another.
5. Globalization facilitates intellectual activities and extension of intellectual
views and products that help in making life better and promoting
intellectualism.
(ii)THE DISADVANTAGES:
1. Globalization promotes racism and ethno-centrism by making western
culture superior to others
2. Globalisation undermines African economy by promoting economic inter-
dependence e.g. African countries produce the raw materials at cheaper rates
and western countries produce industrial goods and sell it to Africans at
higher rates
3. Globalization is more of westernization than modernization
4. Globalization promotes the feeling of imperiority-complex among
Africans
5. Globlization emphasizes the use of machines than manpower, which
brings about unemployment, which results into so many menaces
6. Globalization creates an enabling environment for moral decadence to
prosper. A typical example of this is the availability of pornographic
websites on the internet and prevalence of pornographic videos among our
African youth.
7. Globalisation promotes the prevalence of interest or usury based economy
that results in financial and economic slavery of the masses to the capitalists
8. Globalization destroys pre-existent culture instead of improving it
 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, going with the details provided above, globalization can
affect community change and development at the grass root level in Africa
in the following ways:
(i) People will be exposed to western culture and cultural domination
(ii) Local industries will shut-down and unemployment would be created
(iii) People will be politically enlightened to know their rights politically
(iv) People can benefit from some community development programme
ideas borrowed form other parts of the world e.g. micro-finance banks
(v) People may be more western than African out of the effects of
globalization
(vi) People will leave their indigenous lifestyle that is based in their
environmental, belief, values and natural condition for western that is
opposite to theirs
(vii) People will benefit from the products of scientific and technological
achievements of globalization like the use of GSM and CDMA handsets e.t.c
(viii) People will be exposed to other cultures and civilizations other than
theirs
(ix)As a result of globalization people may be compelled to acquire literacy
skills by circumstance
(x)Health care skills and knowledge will be conveyed to people through the
enlightenment campaigns by different global agencies through different
media
 REFERENCES
1. Shaw, M. (2001) ‘Review-Jan Aart Scholte: Globalization.Acritical
introduction.Millenium. A journal of international studies
Htt//www.sussex.ac.uk/users/hafaz/scholte.htm
2. El-Baz, Shahida (2002) “Globalization and the Challenge of Democracy
in Arab/North Africa Region. “A paper prepared for 10th
CODESRIA’sGeneral Assembly on “Africa in the New Millenium”,
Kampala, Uganda 8-12 December, 2002
3. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995, 3rd Ed,) London:
Longman Publishers
4, Kamanga.2001 “Globalization and Its Legal Implications on Higher
Education in Africa”. Paper presented on November 12 at the African
University Day at the University of Dar es Salam