Press Freedom and Globalisation - International Press Institute

Press Freedom and Globalisation
took the opportunity to dictate the objectives of the war according to suit American
interests. Global cooperation and free trade should be the order, under the United States’
hegemony and institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), the World Bank, and the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were
designed as agents for this new world order. 8
Global trade in this period meant increase in trade between developed countries, but
trade barriers towards developing countries. Most of the developing countries did not
participate in the growth of global manufacturing and trade during this period. 9 Some
statistics may prove this unfair in global trade. From 1948 to 1988 British export per capita
increased 305%, compared to the figure for Sub-Saharan countries which was 11%.
Concerning import, corresponding figures are similar. In 1948, the British exported 12
times more per capita than the Sub-Saharan countries, a proportion that grew to 44:1 in
1988. For import, corresponding figures are 15:1 in 1948 and 56:1 in 1988. 10 Yet, Japan is
considered to be the winner of this period of globalisation. Japan rose from war ruins to be
an economic superpower. 11
Fourth is the period after the 1980s that changed the globalisation process. 12 Firstly,
a group of developing countries broke into the global markets. Among them are China,
India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand as well as Argentina, Mexico and Turkey.
Altogether, the population of these countries is more than three billion. Secondly, other
developing countries became increasingly marginalised, especially in Africa. Thirdly, the
Cold War ended. Russia and her former allies were absorbed into a United States
8
Williams, Failed imagination?, pp. 79-141; and Woods, Ngaire, “International political economy in an age
of globalization” in Baylis and Smith (eds.), The Globalization of World Politics, pp. 278-282.
9
World Bank, Globalization, Growth, and Poverty, pp. 28-31.
10
Rothgeb, John M. Jr., “The Changing International Context for Foreign Policy” in Neack, Laura, Hey,
Jeanne A. K. and Haney, Patrick J. (eds.), Foreign Policy Analysis : Continuity and Change in its Second
Generation (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1995), pp. 39-46.
11
Porter, Michael E., “Competition in Global Industries”, p. 44.
12
The era after 1980s is based on: World Bank, Globalization, Growth, and Poverty, pp. 31-51; and
Williams, Failed imagination?, pp. 236-239.
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