Mondialisation: juste un moyen d'acheter des produits bon marché dans les MEDC? (document en anglais)

First and foremost we should define the key words in the question which are “globalization” and ‘’MEDC”. Globalization is a process by which unequal parts and players of the world interact economically, politically and culturally. It is the growing interdependence among countries as reflected in the increasing cross-border flows of goods, services and knowledge. MEDC’s are more economically developed country, such as the United States, France or Japan who take part in this globalization. By defining these key words will help us answer and understand the question “globalization: just a way to buy cheap goods in MEDC’s?”

We understand that globalization can have positive and negative aspects. The document 1 from RTE (Irish Television) of may 2013 talks about a recent accident in Bangladesh the worlds second-largest apparel exporter after China. Because of this accident concerning an illegally built garment factory run by western retailers causing the death of nearly 1000 people last month. The European Union plans on taking measures against the textile industry in Bangladesh. By doing this it could put the country’s economy in danger since it has over 4 million workers in the textile industry that could lose their jobs.

The second document is a cartoon from a Swiss cartoonist Chappatte in “ Le temps de Genève “, may 2013 right after the accident in Bangladesh. The cartoon depicts a woman shopping for clothes, and upon looking at the price tag she is in shock by seeing that the piece of clothing is made of cotton sweat and blood. The cartoonist takes reference to the accident that happened on April the same year where cheap labor which refers to the 20% sweat and the 20% blood refers to the poor conditions they work in which could cost them their lives.

We can conclude that globalization benefits less developed countries by giving them job opportunities and it benefits developed countries by giving them cheaper goods since labor is cheaper in countries like Bangladesh. But this cheap labor can cause accidents such as the on in April 2013. Globalization isn’t just a way to buy cheap goods but we see that it also gives opportunities of income to the country where the goods are produced even though most MEDC’s take most of the income in most industries. Although globalization has positive aspects it also leads to negative ones.

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