Globalisation

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The agricultural sector is the major production

sector in the less developed world containing the

vast majority of humanity globally. Global inequalities

in work therefore impact very

substantially, directly or indirectly, on this sector.

The literature on globalisation including its

principal drivers is reviewed, examining positive

and negative effects. This provides a backdrop to

understanding the impact of globalisation on

occupational health in the agricultural sector in

less developed countries.

A review of the scientific literature in Medline

produced a small yield of articles principally in the

area of studies of specific risk factors within agriculture

and their impacts on the health of workers.

There is, however, a substantial body of literature

produced by international agencies such as the

United Nations Development Program, the International

Labour Organization and the World Health

Organization. To date, aspects of globalisation,

occupational health and the agricultural sector have

not been systematically drawn together in one text,

and this review aims to build on the existing literature

to contribute to this goal. This article which

focuses on understanding the process of

globalisation is the first in a series of three articles.

The second1 deals with the impact of globalisation

on occupational health in the agricultural sector,

while the third2 examines the impact for southern

Africa.




 




There are many components to the definition of

globalisation. According to the International Labour

Organization3, the 1999 Human Development Report4

of the United Nations Development

Programme, and the World Health Organization

Occupational Health Programme (Communication

with Dr G. Goldstein, Occupational and Environmental

Health, World Health Organization, Geneva,

2001), globalisation refers to the process of increasing

economic, political and cultural interdependence

of countries over the past two to three decades.

The Human Development Report4 identified the

main elements of the definition of globalisation.

National economies are increasingly integrated into

a world market with increasing trade, international

capital flows (foreign exchange, bonds and equities),

foreign direct investment (especially in emerging

markets) and movement of people across national

borders. Globally integrated production systems are

characterised by increasing intra-firm trade in intermediate

products and new forms of outsourcing

of work across national borders. The private sector

has assumed increased importance in the regulation

of the global economy. There has been increasing

removal of tariffs and subsidies, which previously

protected and developed agricultural economies in

developing countries. New technology, especially

information and communication technology (computers

and the Internet), mobile telephony and the

media, are diffusing increasingly rapidly across the

globe allowing action at a distance in realtime. New

international organisations such as the World Trade

Organization have arisen which are able to generate

new rules and systems for regulating trade and

intellectual property, and which are backed by global

enforcement mechanisms binding on national governments.

An important political consequence of world production

being increasingly transnational or

borderless and subject to international market forces,

is a decrease in the capacity of national states to

control their economies and regulate, while

transnational, corporation-driven governance increases.

Globalisation has an important cultural

dimension as developed country entertainment and

media products and services dominate developing

countries.

There are also very important cultural