Globalization and "The Little Guy"

The era of Globalization has brought about dramatic changes in the world, and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future.  Countries like China and Brazil have emerged as global powerhouses as a result of a growing interconnectedness between nations.  As Foer notes in his theory of Globalization titled How Soccer Explains the World, Globalization is perhaps being grossly overstated as a cure for global economic and societal ills.  Arguably, Globalization has not only failed to address these ills but has also added to them through the creation of large, multinational corporate oligarchs.  These oligarchs only serve to increase the gap between the "big guy" and the "little guy", further adding to economic ills such as income inequality and poverty.  

            Globalization is the growing interconnectedness of nations throughout the world economically, socially, politically, culturally, and so on.  On the surface, this seems great – as a citizen of the United States, I love being able to buy goods from places other than the United States.  However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that this trade relationship is anything but fair and just.  The US-Peru Free Trade Agreement is a prime example of this.  After its passage in 2006, indigenous groups and their rights have constantly been trampled over (literally, at times) in order to make way for multinational corporations that wish to begin extracting natural resources from Peru.  Now that barriers to trade have been all but eliminated between the US and Peru, Peruvian oil, lumber, and other natural resources are the target of US firms.  In an article for The Hill, Jose De Echave notes that after the passage of the US-Peru FTA, “the FTA’s investor privileges allowed a US firm to pressure the Peruvian government to reopen a smelter that had severely lead-poisoned several hundreds of children” (De Echave).  Free Trade Agreements cater to the outside investor by lowering barriers to trade.  However, once these barriers are lowered, it is only the corporations and outside investors who prosper.  The proverbial “little guys” are marginalized and exploited because multinational corporate oligarchs become the sole providers of employment in a given area, strangling the local economy and syphoning power, money, and energy from local communities. 

            The same thing can be seen in soccer, as Foer notes.  In his introduction, Foer argues that Globalization has lead to “rise of powerful new oligarchs like Silvio Berlusconi, the President of Italy and the AC Milan club” (Foer, 5).  These oligarchs, much like their real-world counterparts, suck valuable resources from less-powerful entities.  Foer points to examples seen in the Ukraine after the fall of communism there, when “men who had seamlessly transitioned to Capitalism from their slots in the bureaucracy turn[ed] their insider ties into new wealth” (Foer, 142).  These men could then purchase the soccer clubs that were once state-owned even though they had zero wherewithal in terms of the sport of soccer.  They then began to realize that other soccer clubs in Europe had more “black faces” than those in the Ukraine.  So, they turned to Nigeria – in terms of continuing the metaphor, Nigeria is Peru and their soccer players are Peru’s natural resources.  The Ukrainian owners purchased Nigerian soccer players in order to boost their team’s chances of winning and had done so by “following the rules of globalization to perfection...the Ukrainians had tapped the global market and come back with a bargain” (144).  They successfully exploited a less powerful entity (Nigeria) for a resource (fast soccer players), which can be seen as one of globalization's most adverse effects in situations across the world.  

Sources:

De Echave, Jose. "Peru's 'Bagua Massacre' Haunts the TPP." The Hill. Web.          <http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/208892-perus-bagua-  massacre-haunts-the-tpp>.

Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.        New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.