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The Relationship Between Globalization and Militarism
STEVEN STAPLES is the Chair of the International Network on Disarmament and Globalization (405 - 825 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1K9 Canada; e-mail: [email protected]), a network of activists and researchers in over 30 countries who are concerned about the new global economy and the need for peace, disarmament, and the funding of human needs. The network was established at the Hague Appeal for Peace in 1999. He is also the Issue Campaigns Coordinator for the Council of Canadians, the largest citizens' organization in Canada, dedicated to opposing corporate rule and promoting social justice and democracy. He appears regularly on Canada's national news and speaks to audiences about the links between globalization and militarism. He lives with his family in Ottawa.
GLOBALIZATION AND MILITARISM SHOULD BE SEEN AS TWO SIDES OF THE SAME coin. On one side, globalization promotes the conditions that lead to unrest, inequality, conflict, and, ultimately, war. On the other side, globalization fuels the means to wage war by protecting and promoting the military industries needed to produce sophisticated weaponry. This weaponry, in turn, is used -- or its use is threatened -- to protect the investments of transnational corporations and their shareholders.
1. Globalization Promotes Inequality, Unrest, and Conflict
Economic inequality is growing; more conflict and civil wars are emerging. It is important to see a connection between these two situations.
Proponents of global economic integration argue that globalization promotes peace and economic development of the Third World. They assert that "all boats rise with the tide" when investors and corporations make higher profits. However, there is precious little evidence that this is true and substantial evidence of the opposite.
The United Nation's Human Development Report (U.N. Development Programme, 1999: 3) noted that globalization is creating new threats to human security. Economic inequality between Northern and Southern nations has worsened, not improved. There are more wars being fought today -- mostly in the Third World -- than there were during the Cold War. Most are not wars between countries, but are civil wars where the majority of deaths are civilians, not soldiers.
The mainstream media frequently oversimplify the causes of these wars, with claims they are rooted in religious or ethnic differences. A closer inspection...
