Globalisation: Integration and Impact on World Economies

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The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented globalisation of trade in goods and services. This process has been driven by technology, ideology, and the availability of relatively cheap energy. By extrapolating this trend, one may expect further integration of world markets and increasingly unhindered international trade. (Wakeford, 2006) Globalisation is not just a phenomena and not just a passing trend. It is the international system that replaced the Cold War System. Globalisation is the integration of capital, technology and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and to some degree, a global village, which is influencing the domestic policies and international relations of virtually every country in the world today. (Friedman, 2000)
Giddens (1990) defines globalisation as the intensification of worldwide social relations which links distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.
Sliglitz (2003) purports that globalisation deprives countries of the freedom to protect their economy and citizens. He is still of the opinion that full economic integration implies we have one global economy.
Globalisation has affected Africa’s economy by countries deregulating foreign investment, liberalised their imports, removed currency controls, emasculated the direct role of the state, etc. (Muyale-Manenji, 1998). Globalisation has resulted in the emergence of world economies.Africa as part of the emerging economies is not immune to economic and political currents that are reconfiguring globalisation. (Frimpong,

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