Home » Politics & Society » Globalization » Moving On Up

Moving On Up

© Shawn Nicholls

Many practices of globalization stem from stronger nations seeking to pinpoint the policies that earned them political and economic success, and then implementing them in the weaker nations. It doesn't always work, and sometimes deters growth. For East Asia, which we will focus on this week, and South Africa, the subject next time, internal reform worked to improve conditions, while at the same time keeping each region's sense of identity.

In 1950, 17% of the world's population and 56% of the world's income arose from the Western World. Conversely, Asia housed 67% of the world's population but was only responsible for 19% of the income. Over the next 40 years, while much of the world faced periods of economic recession, East Asia preserved on its own in a period that later became known as the East Asian Miracle. In 1992, Asia had climbed to 33% of the world's income, almost entirely due to the efforts of East Asia. As analysts prepared for the turn of the century, many predicted this trend to continue, and even went as far to state that by the year 2025, Asia will produce over 50% of the world's income, stepping in as the new economic superpower.

This power can be consolidated to four major countries: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Much of the rest of Asia are battling internal and external factors, as well as struggle daily survival. Trade embargos resulting from human rights violations and communist practices, overpopulation, and inefficient domestic production are all factors that have hurt Asian countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.

However, for the prosperous four, the most recent decades have been about growth. From 1965 to 1995, average per capita GDP growth in these four countries was 6.6%. In comparison, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa both averaged below 1%. East Asia also made great strides to catch the United States in that time period in terms of per capita GDP, which is one of the most glaring differences between the developed and developing worlds.

The most important factors in the rise of East Asia dealt with individual markets gearing their practices to benefit the countries. The states of each country adopted industrialization strategies that were export oriented. Factories focused their production on the needs of their region and of the world. They often did export to the world market, but for the most part traded frequently with the East Asian region. While countries in Africa export primary goods to the First World, only to buy them back in the form of finished goods, East Asia specialized the finished goods they good produce most efficiently, kept what was necessary for growth within, and then exported the rest for the products they needed. A simple and economically smart decision that led to desperately needed development.

The copyright of the article Moving On Up in Globalization is owned by . Permission to republish Moving On Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.