Where are we situated in this order?
“…Of the world’s 100 largest economies, 51 are now corporations while only 49 are countries…” [source]
We talked about the condition of the ‘nation-state’ and the challenges to its existence in the new global order in Sociology 10 this morning.
Our globalised economy has made national governments like ours in the Philippines often powerless when it comes to demands by multinational corporations and international financial institutions like the WTO. We’re at an age when multinational corporations have become more powerful and much richer than governments. Our lecturer even suggested the idea that, a multinational corporation like Nestle, can just buy the entire Philippines, if it was only a matter of financial power.
Do sovereign, self-sufficient nation-states still exist? The Philippines imports almost all of our oil, we import our rice, we import almost everything we need. Our lecturer said we don’t even make our own needles. We import them. Even the garments to make our clothes. Should we come into turbulent waters with our trading partners, will we survive? What does this mean? Other countries have leverage against us. We are at the mercy of multinational corporations and powerful trading ‘partners’. Which makes us not as sovereign as we think.
How can we increase our leverage against other countries so we don’t feel too powerless in this new global order? Arm ourselves with nuclear weapons. Haha. I was kidding. But of course that’s a path other countries have already taken. Or we could do a Cuba, or somehing like that.
Just thinking out loud for once in my blog. Hehe. It’s been a while.
your country is the same as mine: still a victim of colonizations. This time the corporations colonize us..
I remember Monsod saying that the Philippines should not focus on self-sufficiency but rather on self-reliance. I agree with her point.
just a simple thought…
if we do a cuba, i think it won’t change our country one bit. we would still become poor.
Your blog is a refreshing take on the Pinoy perspective on anything and everything under the sun. I must say I take my hat off to you not just because you write coherently but because you also show that there’s a thinker in there. I have been bloghopping and trying to find a young Pinoy writer’s blog to read, but have been very disappointed and frustrated with much of what I have seen. Hey, we try.. but you, Bikoy, are doing something you should keep at until there is nothing more to write about. Digicam or no digicam, just keep blabbing. You will find in time that all these things you write about and the fact that you bothered to write about them will help shape who you will become after you leave the shelter of school and make your mark in the world out there. Keep writing!
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ultram http://ultram-moza.blogspot.com/
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