Globalization and the Northern Territory Intervention

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Globalization, a contested concept among leading theorists in its definition, chronology, and measurement of effects, is almost certainly of a multidimensional nature if such theorists’ perspectives are all taken equally into consideration. The broad phenomenon of globalization can therefore be scrutinised more closely by separation and analysis of individual dimensions, such as its political, economic, cultural and ecological dimensions. This approach, while allowing for a more focused examination of the causes and effects of globalization within a single dimension, serves to highlight the interconnectedness of each dimension. The following essay will expose the complex interconnection between the political, economic and cultural dimensions of globalization through the analysis of a contemporary issue, the Northern Territory National Emergency Response (commonly known, and hereafter referred to, as the Northern Territory Intervention, which encompasses both the NTNER bill and subsequent legislation). An argument will be made that proponents of neoliberalism need to be held accountable to the inevitable effects of imposing policy, through political globalization, on the culture of Indigenous Australians, while paving the way for economic globalization, given the interconnectedness of the dimensions of globalization, and the virtually inseparable nature of its effects.

In June 2007, as a result of a Northern Territory Government-commissioned inquiry, a report documenting the extent of sexual abuse of minors in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory was released, entitled Ampe akelyernemane meke mekarle: Little Children are Sacred (Anderson & Wild, 2007). Following the release of the report, the Australian Governm...

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