Effects of Globalization on Ghana
Effects of Globalization on Ghana
Globalization is a phenomenon that has conquered much of the world we live in today. From the depths of the most rural village to the world’s biggest cities, the effects of globalization are quite apparent. However, this paper aims to address the issues that globalization presents for countries in West Africa; more specifically, Ghana. To fully understand the situation of Ghana, we must look at the meaning of globalization and what it represents to Ghana and the Ghanaian people. Afterwards, we must examine the foreign direct investment that is flowing into the country and then finally inspect the annual food production rates, exports of goods and services as well as the GDP growth rate. As globalization takes more and more seeps into the peripheral and semi-peripheral countries such as Ghana, it requires the population of the country or countries (West Africa) to be able to acquire, absorb and communicate in many different and advanced manners. (Knox et al. 314-315) The shrinkage of time, space and the disappearance of borders are connecting people in ways that are very hard to grasp without the existence of globalization. (Knox et al. 315) What does this all mean for the African nation of Ghana? As a major result of globalization, the country and its economy has gained great access to a vast amount of resources as well as other world markets to trade and interact with and therefore aided the population by creating employment opportunities, new educational services along with the improvement of their quality of living. (Aryeetey) With all of these new opportunities that are presented with the globalization of Ghana comes foreign investment. Each year, companies spend billions of dollars investing in places beyond their own shores. (Knox et al. 315) One of the biggest industries in Ghana is cocoa farming. In the past decades, the growth of the plantations has been lagging behind due to bad harvesting methods and
Globalization is a phenomenon that has conquered much of the world we live in today. From the depths of the most rural village to the world’s biggest cities, the effects of globalization are quite apparent. However, this paper aims to address the issues that globalization presents for countries in West Africa; more specifically, Ghana. To fully understand the situation of Ghana, we must look at the meaning of globalization and what it represents to Ghana and the Ghanaian people. Afterwards, we must examine the foreign direct investment that is flowing into the country and then finally inspect the annual food production rates, exports of goods and services as well as the GDP growth rate. As globalization takes more and more seeps into the peripheral and semi-peripheral countries such as Ghana, it requires the population of the country or countries (West Africa) to be able to acquire, absorb and communicate in many different and advanced manners. (Knox et al. 314-315) The shrinkage of time, space and the disappearance of borders are connecting people in ways that are very hard to grasp without the existence of globalization. (Knox et al. 315) What does this all mean for the African nation of Ghana? As a major result of globalization, the country and its economy has gained great access to a vast amount of resources as well as other world markets to trade and interact with and therefore aided the population by creating employment opportunities, new educational services along with the improvement of their quality of living. (Aryeetey) With all of these new opportunities that are presented with the globalization of Ghana comes foreign investment. Each year, companies spend billions of dollars investing in places beyond their own shores. (Knox et al. 315) One of the biggest industries in Ghana is cocoa farming. In the past decades, the growth of the plantations has been lagging behind due to bad harvesting methods and
Cited: Aryeetey, Ernest. "Globalization, Employment and Poverty in Ghana." Conference 2005. World Institute of Development Economics Research. 12 Mar. 2006 . Knox, Paul L., Sallie A. Marston, and Alan E. Nash. Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada Inc., 2004.