Conference Proceeding

Power and insecurity: The politics of globalisation

Christi van der Westhuizen
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 65, No 1 | a283 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v65i1.283 | © 2009 Christi van der Westhuizen | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 12 June 2009 | Published: 06 November 2009

About the author(s)

Christi van der Westhuizen, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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Abstract

Globalisation is presented by some as an inevitable force of history. However, it is very much the result of political and policy decisions made by powerful elites to advance their interests. Globalisation is not a benign, neutral process, but ideologically driven in the service of the rich and powerful. This ideology is neo-liberalism, which, in the name of ‘competition’ and ‘effi ciency’, pursues a world in which the ‘market’ reigns over society. The impoverishment of Africa is a consequence of processes begun by political decisions in international organisations in which the odds are stacked against the South. Because of power imbalances, rules are made that disadvantage poor nations. Thus, international agreements have unequal outcomes. This article examines the effects of such decisions through the prism of the decimation of the clothing industry in South Africa. The article concludes with an exposition on insecurity as the leitmotif of the era.

Keywords

power imbalance; politics; globalisation; clothing industry; South Africa

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