Cowboy globalisation
By THE MARQUIS
We in Malaysia have always marvelled at developed countries. They are so advanced and educated, their streets so clean. Some might be tempted to complain about why Malaysia is not following these countries in terms of development. But do we know the problems that developed nations face? How can we choose what is relevant for our country?
In the light of the recent political mood throughout the world, one can observe that the word “globalisation� is gaining currency everywhere. From Japan to the United Kingdom to the Indian sub-continent, it is the current obsession among political elites in these countries. However, what does “globalisation� actually mean to these men and women standing on their national pedestals?
Being a resident in Japan, I observed that for the political elite here, “globalisationâ€? does not merely mean an exchange of cultures in its original etymological meaning. Sinisterly, “globalisation,” which the elite had committed to in the spirit of “kaikakuâ€? or reform, means these things - privatisation of government bodies including hospitals and universities, encouragement of cutthroat corporate competition and hostile takeovers.
Now, do these things ring a bell?
Indeed, if you are vaguely familiar with the vocabulary of political science, they mean one thing - neo-liberalism.
What is neo-liberalism? It is the abandonment of state controlled economy, in favour of the free market. It does not only mean market control of the economy, but other sectors as well. It is the state passing control of national life to the free market, which is comprised of capitalists, businessmen and economic marauders.
And where do you think this ideology is most prevalent in?
The United States of America. She is the beacon of freedom in the world. She is the land of the brave. She is where the poor and the destitute are welcomed with wide open arms.
She is also the world’s largest possessor of nuclear weapons. She has the largest disparity between the rich and poor, among developed countries. With no national insurance policy and other social safety nets, she is a country where the poor and needy have nothing to fall upon when the going gets tough. In America, being poor means being lazy.
In Japan, the privatisation of hospitals and universities, and the introduction of American-style corporate culture, with its various lawyers, hostile takeovers and vultures, is happening at lightning speed. Even the political sphere is rapidly moving toward the right - increasing emphasis on a strong and formal military, nationalism and unilateral foreign policy.
Globalisation is a new form of imperialism. It is Americanisation.
Gone are the bad old days of seniority-based and lifetime employment, close relationships between companies and their distributors, economic development policies for rural areas, a social net for the poor and an a strong middle class.
Welcome to the real world, a new age of cowboy global capitalism. Even in egalitarian Japan, reform means globalisation which means Americanisation of the economy and society.
If you think that merely following the capitalistic ways of the United States is a sure way to success, think again.
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times.
—
THE MARQUIS is a contributing writer for theCICAK. View his site.
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well said
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Cruel as it may be, but it is totally necessary. It is the way forward. Only the paranoid survive.
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The real question is, “Would we be better off without capitalism/imperialism?”
I can’t imagine living without cable TV, indoor plumbing, 24/7 fastfood joints and Starbucks.
Do you really think lifetime employment is a good thing? You may have the safety of never having to worry about losing your job, but economic-darwinism is a neccessary evil.
Why do you think America has the most patents on all inventions globally? because competition here is encouraged not discouraged.
(I agree with you senbai, paranoia keeps you alive!)
good article.. cheers!
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I very much disagree with the article. Looks like another US bashing and along the way, somehow globalization is tagged up with Americanization.
In Japan, globalization has helped many of its firms, most prominently Toyota, to outdo many US firms. For example, take GM. Toyota is set to become the world largest car manufacturer in 2006. GM however is scaling back. Meanwhile, US car market is being Japanized. Wouldn’t that make globalization is in fact Japanization instead, at least in the car market?
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Hello __earth,
When I wrote that globalisation is viewed as merely a form a Americanisation in Japan, I meant the basic economic theories, not whether American or Japanese companies are controlling the market or not. To put it simply, privatisation of public services, lowering expenditure for welfare etc is seen as archtypically American. Opening up domestic markets is merely one part of globalisation, not all of it, so just saying that by having Toyota defeat GM in its own turf doesn’t make globalisation better as a whole. Besides, Toyota beat them because of their superior technology and skills. It’s just fair competition. If GM can convince the Japanese market that their cars are superior, I’m sure they will do well even in the Japanese market.
By the way, Toyota is still very much a Japanese-style company, and life-time employment, close solidarity of its workers etc are still a reality.
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Dear Deviant,
Instead of thinking whether American-style capitalism is good or not, why not think of learning from different systems and adapting to the unique characteristics of a society? Japan succeeded in adapting Western modernity to its local culture, but some politicians think that it’s still not efficient enough. No doubt economic darwinism is the most efficient form, but there are many disadvantages too.
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senbai:
Cruel as it may be, as long as is it not cruel towards you, right?(I’m being a little sarcastic)
Are you trying to say that for the development of humanity, we should sacrifice our humanity?
Deviant:
It’s not just about lifetime employment. With hostile takeovers and mergers, you are always at risk of being retrenched.
Are you sure you want to live a life of constant paranoia? I want to be excited about life, not paranoid about life.
__earth:
It’s not American bashing. It’s just taking a step back and examine the situation in America.
When the disparity between the rich and poor is large, it’s never a good thing.
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“Globalisation is a new form of imperliasism. It is Americanisation.”
Globalisation may be coined as Americanisation in the past decade, however, I believe it is not all about Americanisation anymore in near future.
In my opinion, globalisation is mergence of global economy, mainly, and others like social, cultures… It is an inevitable global trend that countries are getting into it, to adapt, to learn, and to develope themselves to accomodate globalisation. No doubt, America is the pioneer in this trend. Yet, adapting to globalisation and follow the path after the pinoeer does not mean we are copying american style blindly.
Immerging China economy is a good example. China, with great difference in cultures and politics from america, has managed to embrace and adapt globalisation, until its economy leaps at a pace that it never happens. Globalisation is providing a fair competition to the world(not to america alone), to an optimum extent. An example will be the flushing of China textile into US and Europe.
I afraid, when china economy matures, globalisation may just become “chinatization”. So, I think globalisation is a force - a force that constantly changes the world. It is not about americanization or chinatization or may be indianization.
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“Gone are the bad old days of seniority-based and lifetime employment”
With all due respect to the Marquis, seniority breeds cronyism. Malaysia is a shining example. While it is good to debate about globalisation, i find it ignorant that you romanticize malaysia’s incompetence to compete globally.
It’s like promoting a 45y.o. lecturer with no outstanding credentials to professorship because it’s his time than promoting a younger lecturer with more intellectual clout!
I hate mediocres (they are the reason why reforms are stalled, cause they’re scared and clueless!)and i certainly pity those who favour mediocrity.
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Dear nikolai,
Please do read the context of the story before commenting. The article was about the economic situation in Japan, not Malaysia, and the cronyism that is found in both countries are startlingly different, and I`m not saying that they are good either. In Japan, cronyism is not as politically linked as in Malaysia, and no matter what there still exists a basic meritocracy. As I`ve already mentioned that I NEVER said that seniority-based employment is good, just that I was being cynical. Not because of the demise of such practices, but because Japan is slowly abandoning a whole set of good and bad values for another whole set of good and bad values, without first analysing it.
Do try to catch the context and the spirit of the words.
Thank you.
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In my opinion, although free market will allow lower price structures among competing companies, utility and public services such Hospital, Water & Electricity (utility), telephone etc should not be privatised.
While privatisation may allow lower price structures, in some cases it will also bring forth higher price structure in return of so-called higher efficiency. On the hand, there are also partially privatised companies that are charging their customers exceedingly without giving satisfactory services. Telekom is one of the best examples for this.
Privatisation doesnt always benefit the people, the states are just being too lazy to control things by themselves, instead leaving the so-called free market to tend to the people’s needs.
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Globilisation and privatisation are good for consumers only if there are genuine competition and proper rules and regulations. Most of the time especially privatisation in Malaysia is to enrich certain cronies. Take the case of water privatisation in certain states of Malaysia. Quality of water still the same as before but the rates are higher. What is the rationale of privatisation?
Gobalisation may have other hidden agenda which can be damaging to consumers if it is not controlled properly. It can lead to price fixing and dependent upon certain group of companies for supplies. Take the case of pharma companies. The years of mergers and acquisitions have created a few large size pharma companies and they collectively can determine the price and types of drug that the world needs. They will use their financial recources to stop or eliminate any form of alternative medicines from penetrating into government hospital. This is dangerous as our lives will be at their mercy.
I suspect governments of USA and other Western Countries are the intiators and strong advocate of such concept. The companies in those countries are very large and they are ready to dominate the world market and to create a monopoly situation in terms of supply and prices of consumer products. This is another form of colonisation. It can lead to a single society rather than plural society.
Think about that. The control of the world is no longer through terroritorial but through globilisation and change of one’s mindset and culture.
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Sorry, this just jumped up at me. “Egalitarian Japan”? Were you being cynical? Sure, Japan is egalitarian, but only if you’re a ‘pureblood’. I’m not specialist on the subject, but I think that Japan’s policies towards its indigenous peoples (Ainu, etc) and Korean and Chinese-background Japanese nationals aren’t exactly “egalitarian”. Also, hasn’t there been increasing concern regarding the homeless in Tokyo, especially after the recent recession? Japan might not nearly have the same inner city poverty issues that America does, but its definitely not perfect.
With regards your comments that Japan is ‘Americanising’ without ‘first analysing’ its decision to do so, how can you make a generalization like that? Obviously, Japan isn’t some homogenous entity saying “right, cowboy capitalism for us”. I’m guessing you agree on that one. But more fundamentally, just because some sections of Japan have adopted certain values that you do not accede to does not mean that Japan has not ‘nutted it out’.
At a purely economic level, you could make the argument that by following neo-liberal policies and America’s ‘cowboy capitalism’, Japan is doing what it thinks will best position it in a global economy that, for better or for worse, is largely centered around capitalism. Previous ’senpai-kohai’ (superior-subordinate, or vice versa?) relations, an emphasis on the ‘familial’ corporate culture, and other such values may have been considered to be incompatible with the 21st century.
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Great point.
Corporate Dictatorships are a scary thing.
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Is globalization bad or good? It is a hard question to answer. Globalization is good if done in a control manner. What I mean is look at China where it hammer their environment. Just look at the health care system in US, Japan.. Malaysia. There never used to be you have to buy health insurance. When you are sick you just go to the clinic and see the doctor but not now. The rich get the best doctors in the US. The rate of price increase is in the double digits while the rate of inflation rigt now is only in the single digits. Is globalization good or bad??? You tell me.
There is going to be more older people in Japan and the US in the coming decades. It is going to put heavy burden on the health care system and hospitals and so on …..
Competition is always good. Is makes people more creative and innovative. Life long employment is good if only people are held accountable that they perform and not like the union which for example takes 3 persons to replace a light bulb. That’s not productivity or competitive. On the other hand, look at what golbalization do to the IT people in US. More outsourcing to India or China. For what?? The corporate bottom line. Corporate greed! not just because of bottom line. They do not care about employees. More profit and more profit. Look at Exxon and other oil company. Record profit and squeezing the little guy what little money they had for food, house and …..
You tell me, is globalization good. Someone in China making a shirt for pennies and sold for US$12-15. How many hundreds of percent profit. Someone making a pair of Nike for a few bucks but sold for USD$80-100 of dollars in WalMart. Where is there justice?? The business people will tell you that they provide job an help those third world country progress. Yes and No. Yes, you provide job but not fair amount. You exploit them to get more and sell for hugh profit. That’s capitalist you says but what about establishin g just an office in Bahamas to escape the IRS and not pay your fair shar of the taxes.
You tell me. Is globalization and capitalism good??
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