The Impact of Globalization on Somali Culture

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Abstract
Somalia, considered to be one of the world’s most homogenous nations, has not been exempt from the rapid wind of change currently engulfing the globe in the name of globalization. Since its inception in 1960 when it gained independence from Britain and Italy respectively after the merger of former British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland into what came to be known as the republic of Somalia, the impact of globalization on Somali culture has evidently been beneficial and detrimental in many aspects. The idea that a nation cannot progress economically without a strong central government does not coincide with the current upsurge in globalization where its impact is being felt in every corner of the world including the “stateless” nation of Somalia whose economy spiraled even with the absence of an effective central government.The immediate objective of this research is to uncover the negative and positive trends globalization has had on the Somali culture.

A Brief introduction of Somalia
Situated in the Horn of Africa, the Republic of Somalia has a land area of 637,540 square kilometers which makes it slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Texas. On a physical map Somalia resembles the figure seven or a rhino horn. Its terrain mostly consists of plateaus, plains, and highlands. Measuring 3,025km, Somalia has the longest coastline in the African continent followed by South Africa (2,798km). It is bordered by the tiny nation of Djibouti (inhabited by Somali-speaking people) to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden and Yemen to the north, Kenya to the southwest, the Indian Ocean to the East, and Ethiopia to the West. The population of Somalia was estimated by the United Nations in 2003 at 9,890,000 and is placed at number 80 in population terms among the 193 nations of the world.[1]

Somalia is endowed with unexploited mineral resources and vast maritime resources that have been a been source of contention since the collapse of the central government in 1991. The absence of a strong and effective government has left Somalia’s coastline prone to illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste by foreign trawlers and the dreaded Mafia-an issue even voiced with deep concern by Mauritanian-born Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy for Somalia.[2] Somalia’s eastern coastline overlooking the Gulf of Aden has become a hotbed for piracy that brings in millions of dollars consequently rejuvenating the economy.[3] Even though Somalia is not in the list of oil producing countries, oil explorations carried out by Conoco, Amoco, Chevron, and Philips before the military junta fell strongly indicate it could possess significant exploitable reserves.[4] In modern times Somalia remains a strategically, economically, politically, culturally and religiously sensitive region.

Defining Globalization
The term globalization resonates with a novel and emerging global topic whose definition in the myriads of available international relations textbooks and dictionaries conjure up varieties of rudimentary connotations. Charles W. Kegley, Jr. and Shannon N. Blanton, in their book, World Politics: Trend and Transformation, describe globalization as the integration of states, through increasing contact, communication, and trade, to create a common global culture for all humanity.[5] The creation of a common global culture could sound a worrisome anecdote for those whose strength of character rest on the preservation of local heritage and dynamic cultures.

Globalization and Somalia
Globalization has been around the world for a long time beginning with the interaction and integration of different societies through international trade and investment. Somalia’s proximity to the Middle East and North Africa made it a center for commerce in historical antiquity with Somali sailors and merchants trading in myrrh, frankincense, ivory, and spices with ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Mycenaean, and Babylonians. Even though there could be similarities between Somalia’s previous era of globalization and the current one, today’s experience with globalization is to some degree more intense for Somalia and her trading partners.

Somalia’s trial with capitalism got off the ground immediately it gained independence when the nation’s leaders adopted democracy as the preferred form of governance for the country. That dream was shuttered by the arrival of a military government that changed the nation’s governing style to Leninist-Marxist ideology.

Somalia’s current political instability excludes it from exporting finished and unfinished products and goods to many countries because of trade barriers. However, Somalia is currently the United State’s 172nd trading partner with $65 million in total (two way) goods trade during 2008. It is also ineligible for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). However, U.S. exports to Somali totaled $64 million in 2008 with exports mainly consisting of resins, nuts, and fruits.[6]

The excesses committed against Somalia’s educated elite who would have been the torchbearers of globalization by the military government that ruled Somalia between the years 1969 and 1991 imperiled the political, social, and economic welfare of the entire nation.

Crafted by an African economist, the phrase “African Disease” implies what is known in the west as “brain-drain” where multitudes of educated professionals migrate to the Americas and Europe in search of greener pastures. Somalia has never been an exception as it suffered the same fate as other African nations when the most educated and experienced left the country enmasse.

Colonial environment and Somali culture: Despite centuries of warfare with colonial encroachment, the Somali culture remained relatively free from external contamination unlike other African cultures that disappeared as a result of European colonial superiority. The Somali peripatetic way of life accelerated cultural cosmopolitanism, economic interdependence, mental modernization, and regional dominance making Somalis to inhabit the most expansive land that stretch from the Somali-inhabited region in Ethiopia to as far south as Kenya’s eastern and Northern provinces while in between traversing Djibouti and Somalia.

The division of Somalia into five regions depleted Somali cultural unanimity. The emperors who ruled the Ogaden region of Ethiopia exploited local Somali culture with the dominant Amharic national language infusing alien wordings into the Somali language. Likewise, Somalis in Kenya found their cultural and linguistic expansion interrupted by the elevation and imposition of Kiswahili as the nation’s lingua franca. In Djibouti, 114 years of French colonial rule retarded the Somali language. It was only in 1972 when the Somali language came into the glare of publicity after the official writing script developed by Shire Jama Ahmed became the unanimously accepted version in favor of the Latin and Osmaniya scripts-orthography invented in the early twentieth century by the Majeerteen poet and ruler, Osman Yusuf Kenadid.[7]

The Dynamism of Somali Culture
Somalia is a homogenous nation with a mix of rich culture. Somalis speak the same language which is Somali; they have one religion which is Islam, and they enjoy similar customs. It is the clan that determines one’s place in society. A small minority group, the Somali Bantu, considered the most vulnerable communities in Somalia, has been targeted for blanket resettlement in the US after suffering chronic discrimination and predatory attacks by ethnic Somalis.[8]

In the past two decades, Somali exposure to foreign ways of life greatly impacted previously existing inter-tribal relations among various groups. In some instances, improved intercommunication due to amalgamation of communal groups may be attributed to the alleviation of major barriers pertaining to intermarriage.

Clans that exclusively observed endogamous marriages due to customary restrictions have eased imposing constraints by allowing partners to partake in the formulation of exogamy thus leading to the creation of a wholly new concept of marital relationships never before seen in Somali culture.

Perhaps, the first European to venture into Somali territory who meticulously described the culture and language of the Somali people was Sir Richard Burton. About the people and their language, he wrote: “The country teems with “poets, poetasters, poetitos, and poetaccios:”

Every man has his recognized position in literature as accurately defined as though he had been reviewed in a century of magazines-the fine ear of this people causing them to take the greatest pleasure in harmonious sounds and poetical expressions, whereas a false quantity or a prosaic phrase excite their violent indignation.[9]

Somalia has been described as a “nation of poets”. The most famous Somali poet was Seyyid Mohamed Abdille Hassan who was dubbed “mad mullah” by the British colonial administration in the late 1900s. Poetry and prose play great roles in Somali daily life even in this era of globalization where it is used as a means of communication.

Several major universities across the globe have taken the responsibility of either teaching or collecting materials related to the advancement of the Somali language. One such example is the University of Indiana in Bloomington which boosts a large collection on Somali literature deposited by the Somali Studies International Association. These materials were acquired by the university with support from the US Department of Education Title VI grant.[10] The University of Ohio has included the teaching of Somali into its African studies program. Steve Howard, who is director of the program, was recently honored with the president’s award by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the current president of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. He was also presented with a statuette reading, "Thank you for being a friend of the Somali community."[11] Several European countries teach the Somali language to Somali children. Higher institutions of learning such as the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) which is part of the University of London, the Swedish Academy in Uppsala, and Rome University have specialized study programs preserved for the Somali language.[12]

Improved Telecommunications
Somalia has seen dramatic improvement in communications. According to a study carried out in sub-Saharan Africa by Benjamin Powell who is an Assistant Professor of economics at Suffolk University and a senior economist with the Beacon Hill Institute, Somalia moved from the 29th place to the eighth in terms of telephone landlines use per 1,000 of population since it became stateless in 1991. It ranks 16th in phone mobile use, 11th in internet users, and it ranks 27th in households with televisions.

It takes three days for a telephone line to be installed; the bill for a monthly landline costs $10 with unlimited local calls and international calls cost 50 cents a minute.

Due to the explosion of internet cafes, web access costs 50 cents per minute. According to the economist, using a mobile phone in Somalia is “generally cheaper and clearer than a call from anywhere else in Africa”.[13] The nation’s three biggest mobile phone companies, Hormuud Telecom, Nationlink, and Telecom Somalia enjoy 1.8 million customers who enjoy some of the cheapest rates in the world.[14]

Positive Implications of Globalization on Somali Diaspora Culture
The thousands of Somalis who settled outside of Somalia’s borders tremendously altered the political, social, and economic landscape of the Somali nation by injecting millions of dollars in the form of remittances into a beleaguered, impoverished, and war-ravaged nation ultimately resulting in the opening of the gates of globalization. In its March 2009 report, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) office for Somalia, estimated that Somali Diaspora remittances to the Horn of Africa nation amounted to over $2 billion in remittance flows.[15] According to the authors of the UNDP report, Somali Diaspora organizations may be credited for supporting or establishing service delivery facilities by providing regular funding flows meant for the payment of salaries in schools or hospitals. The significance of globalization and international political economy necessitate the transfer of goods and services. Thus, improved social interaction, enhanced communication, abundance and accessibility of maritime routes within Somalia’s coastline allows Somali businessmen to balance supply and demand in almost every region of the country regardless of daily hostilities.

Depending on the size or intricacy of developmental assistance, various Diaspora groups fund multifarious schemes not only in the health and education sectors but in construction, feeding centers, orphanage homes, digging of water wells, farming, banking, manufacturing, fishing, and the transportation sector.

When the military junta was in power, Somalia had only one national university. Thanks to the generous contributions of the Somali Diaspora and international organizations currently Somalia has over a dozen universities with Mogadishu University ranked 40 among 100 African universities, according to an international evaluation of world universities.
Professions that were once frowned upon by Somalia’s previously closed society have now turned out to be popular especially among aspiring youth residing in North America, Europe, and Eurasia. Massive resettlement initiated by Western nations and other self-propelled emigrational movements or undertakings enabled the heralding of a plethora of talented writers, internationally-acclaimed supermodels, and reputable artists. Modest education, easy contact with agents and publishing houses, access to computers, the internet, and general media have elevated the bulk of books, documentaries, and films consequently broadening the number of fans and readers. In the unrecognized breakaway republic of Somaliland and in the eastern autonomous region of Puntland, the semblance of peace has triggered a progression of various competing air travel companies, foreign-funded educational institutions, maritime trade and investment.

Negative Effects of Globalization on Somali Culture
General anarchy in southern Somalia and the rise of religious militancy coupled with foreign interference in Somali sovereignty have set bad precedents and adversely impacted the lives of ordinary Somalis. The proliferation of small arms and unsecured borders has forced many young Somalis to take sides in every major or minor conflict. Children as young as ten years make the bulk of child soldiers. Islamists who have laid claim to a bigger part of southern and central Somalia have imposed stringent measures on schools funded by the Diaspora by placing a ban on the teaching of English and the Sciences. They have also slapped a ban on western-style haircuts, western fashion, and western manners; in their efforts to fight vice, all cinema halls and video dens remain closed indefinitely; all men are required to have their trousers above the ankle otherwise they risk flogging or imprisonment or both; owners of television and radio stations have been told to refrain from playing music or else risk arrest and to make matters worse, the local VOA and BBC transmissions have been taken off the air and their equipments transferred to other radio stations owned by the Islamists.

The rise of Islamic militancy has not only affected Somalia but has also become a major political force in the Arab-Muslim world thus fostering chaos in “failed” states such as Sudan, Afghanistan, and now Iraq.[16] The globalization of al-Qaida and the drastic rise of radicalism after September 11, 2001 inspired the spread of proxy wars in the Horn of Africa with Somalia becoming the major breeding ground for extremists from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, US, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere.

As a result of acculturation, many Somali children born overseas have lost in touch with reality. Many of these kids have lost their parents’ cultural heritage and no wonder prison houses in Minneapolis, Ohio, California, Quebec, and Ontario hold sizable population of Somali convicts-mainly among the youth who could not find role models to emulate since majority of parents remain illiterate. Majority of offenders who are high school dropouts eventually resort to drug abuse and addiction, rape, murder, violence, and other horrendous criminal acts. The rate of unwanted pregnancies continues to skyrocket among girls; the numbers of dysfunctional homes raise alarming figures; the break-up of families and the percentile of ‘single mothers’ remains disturbing. Sizable figures of Somali Diaspora kids have become victims of stress, depression, panic, mental disorders, and anxiety.[17]
Somalis have settled in many parts of the world including Europe, North America, the Middle East, East Africa, South Africa, and North Africa. Approximately 2.5 million immigrants have secured resettlement in these regions.

Despite the hardships the dysfunctional country has been through for almost two decades, one thing is for certain: globalization is taking root at a greater pace almost everywher in in lawless Somalia. Since Somalis are naturally business-driven people, one would be out of touch to associate Somalia's economical boom with the monies generated from illegal pirating activities. Past economic strangulation, sweeping monopolization, and austerity measures imposed by the fallen regime had been the major causes of Somalia's underdevelopment witnessed from 1969 to 1991. The exit of the military regime ushered in the much-needed freedom from government involvement.


References

[1]Encyclopedia of the Nations: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Somalia-POPULATION.html
[2]‘Toxic Waste’ Behind Somali Piracy by Najad Abdullahi, Aljazeera (October 11, 2008). http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html
[3]Helen Kennedy, Piracy big boon to Somalia economy; hotels, restaurants sprout in port of Eyl in pirates' presence, nydailynews, (April 9, 2009). http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/04/10/2009-04-10_piracy_boon_to_somalia_economy.html
[4]Natural Resources (Somalia), Natural Resources: http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-Sentinel-Security-Assessment-North-Africa/Natural-resources-Somalia.html
[5]Charles W. Kegley, Jr. and Shannon L. Blanton, World Politics: Trend and Transformation (12ed), Wadsworth, 20 Channel Center Street, Boston, MA 02210
[6]Office of the United States Trade Representative: Executive Office of the President: U.S-Somalia Trade Facts. (May 26, 2010): http://www.ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/east-africa/somalia.
[7]Shire Jama Ahmed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shire_Jama_Ahmed
[8]Rachel Swarns, “Africa’s Lost Tribe Discovers American Way,” New York Times (10 march, 2003).
[9]Sir Richard Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa, Tylston and Edwards, The Meccan Press, 3 Soho Square, London, WMDCCCXC1V.
[10]History of Indiana University’s Somali Collection: http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/african/Digital_Somali_Library/history.html
[11]Youtube.com, www.ohio.edu/outlook/09-10/October/79a.cfm
[12]The Institute of Practical Research and Training: The Role of Somali language in Education by Mohamed H. Rabi. http://www.iprt.org/role_of_somali_language_in_educa.htm
[13]Benjamin Powell, Somalia: Failed State, Economic Success?, Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, (April 2009) • Volume: 59 • Issue: 3 http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/somalia-failed-state-economic-success/
[14]Somali mobile phone firms thrive despite chaos by Abdi Sheikh and Ibrahim Mohamed, Reuters (Nov 3, 2009) http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE5A20DB20091103
[15]The Missing Million: The Role of the Diaspora in Somali Development, a report for the UNDP by Hassan Sheikh and Sally Healy, (March 2009). http://www.so.undp.org/index.php/Somalia-Stories/Forging-Partnerships-with-the-Somali-Diaspora.html
[16]Laurent Cohen-Tanugi. The Shape of the World to Come: Charting the Geopolitics of a New Century. Trans. George Holoch, Columbia University Press (2008): pp.9
[17]The Inglorious Absentee Father in Contemporary Somali Politics by A. Duale Sii'arag. (Feb. 27, 2010). http://wardheernews.com/Articles_2010/February/Sii%27arag/27_The_inglorious_absentee_father.html

EID MUBARAK, EID MUBARAK

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Eid Mubarak to all Muslims worldwide.

Modernization and Dependency

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Much of Third World countries-also known as Global South or Least Developed Countries (LDC)-tremendously suffered at the hands of their former masters. Colonialism in Africa was plotted in a European conference in Berlin in 1884 leading to what became known as the "Scramble for Africa". Under the auspices of King Leopeld II of Belgium, conference attendees who were mainly Europeans jossled for domination of the "Dark Continent". Africa became property owned by imperial powers of Western Europe. They included the British, French, Belgium, Germany, and Spain.

Psychobiographical observations of notable European leaders who participated in the dismemberment of the African continent identfy idiosyncratic personality traits in generally recognized neuroses and psychoses.

In explaining conflict and cooperation, admirers of international relations, take a glimpse of three levels of analysis: the individual level, the state level, and the system level. At the individual level political scientists endeavor to dissect the material and moral character of the person in charge of the state while observing the nature of state operations as well as the international structure and system. Named after the fourteenth-century philosopher William of Occam, the rule of parsimony or Occam's razor is the ability to explain a lot with a little.

In economics, monopoly implies one seller; duopoly denotes two big sellers; and oligopoly is when there are several big sellers. Thus, paradigms and theories evolve when studying power and politics. A paradigm is a toolkit or handbook for deciphering structures of knowledge. Key features of paradigms in politics include realism, liberalism, constructivism/idealism, and marxism. States, nonstate actors, and economics constitute the basic assumptions, concepts, and propositions employed by political theorists. In the study of world politics, dominant paradigms each begin with unanswered questions called axioms.

Some political theories are older than others; others trace their roots to ancient Greece. Liberalism which entails desire to live well, seeking justice and welfare in addition to security, military power, trade, investment, negotiation, and persuasion, competition and cooperation, neoliberal institutionalism and democratic peace, and non-Hobbesian anarchy has its roots in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.

Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda is a constructivist/idealist and a nonstate actor. His dominant instrument depends on historical period and social context. His interests are socially constructed through interaction. His dominant human drives include need for an orderly, meaningful social life. Constructivism/idealism is a tender, theoritical thought requiring more modest and continuous research.

The dynamics that led to the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism (or revivalism) in Afghanistan, Iran, and other parts of the Muslim world are multifaceted in outlook. Armed and unarmed radicals believed that they were duty-bound to conduct “holy war” or jihad against corrupt forces that threatened to tarnish the image of their essential religious principles. Radicals feel it is their divine duty to liberate their lands from invaders and imperialists. They tend to shield unwanted outsiders from imposing on them practices alien to their morals, religion, customs, and convictions.

Often radicals become disillusioned with so-called “imposed leaders” who fail to marshal in sweeping changes to disgruntled and afflicted societies lacking basic social services. Inequalities in education, health care, and other social aspects often led to armed insurrections, violent confrontations, and abrupt changes in government. Resentment of foreign domination and domestic enemies brought about popular uprisings in Iran and Afghanistan. The rise of the Taliban came as a result of the Mujahedeen’s dissatisfaction with the Marxist government and the Soviets who supported it. Recurring, aggravating, and unsolvable radicalization may continue for generations to come.

Since 9/11 there has been tremendous increase in the number of people admiring Osama bin Laden-the spiritual leader Al Qaeda. Supporters of bin Laden view his struggle against the mighty United States, Israel, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a moral jihad. Followers of bin Laden believe it is a moral conviction to wage holy war against the Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators-a reference to the United States’ support of Israel in its occupation of Palestine and support for corrupt Muslim regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan.

A country’s transition to democracy may increase ethnic tensions in some cases and decrease in others. As in the case of Brazil, relative ethnic harmony exists despite persistence of ethnic discrimination. The predomination of one ethnic group over another is at times recipe for uneasy balance.

Irregularities in Kenya’s presidential election in 2008 resulted in the Kikuyu and Luo tribes slaughtering each other. The Kikuyu dominated Kenya’s government bureaucracy and the private sector from the time the nation attained independence from England in 1963. Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (deceased 1978 and buried in a golden mausoleum in Nairobi), was a Kikuyu. There has been a lull in imposed hierarchy during the 24-year uninterrupted rule of Daniel Arap Moi who was from the Kalenjin tribe. Anthropologically, the Luo and Kalenjin are classified as Nilotes or Nilotic (meaning those who reside along the Nile River) while the Kikuyu are Bantus.

The beating of the drums of democracy by Smith Hempstone (deceased), the United States ambassador to Kenya at that time, Kenya’s opposition, and the efforts of the European Union (EU) and the U.S., led to the demise of singularism and the birth of multiparty democracy. Jomo Kenyatta may be remembered for his famous saying: “every dog has its day”. He meant that it was the time for his Kikuyu tribe to enjoy the fruits of independence and that other tribes had to wait their turn or time.

Likewise, the slaughter of almost a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994 has its roots in the unequal distribution of power and natural resources. Systematic violence was overcome in Kenya with the involvement of the international community. But that was not the case in Rwanda. It was the current president, General Paul Kagame, who installed law and order after vanquishing Hutu rebellion and ultimately pursuing the rebels into the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The resulting violence in Kenya led to the deaths of over 2,000 and the displacement of over 300,000 persons.

Similarly, the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991 may be attributed to the consolidation of power by the former president’s clan or tribe-the Darod. Despite the Hawiye (a major Somali clan) dominating the private sector, the military government’s monopoly of the economy left the Hawiye and other major clans/tribes bitter and angry. The sudden collapse of the military junta allowed aggrieved clans/tribes to fight over power and dwindling resources.

In the case of Malaysia, ethnic Malays dominate government bureaucracy while the Chinese minority dominates the private sector. When both forms of power (political arena and the economy) fall into the hands of one ethnic group, tensions evolve leading to the breakup of democratic institutions of governance.

Enforced hierarchy (ethnic dominance) remained prevalent in South Africa in the zeniths of apartheid. During the heydays of apartheid, white South Africans dominated the government and the private sector such that uprisings became common.

It was U.S. President Woodrow Wilson who advocated the theory of African self-determination and self-government. Also known as decolonization, Wilson's thoughtful insights led to armed struggles in many parts of Africa under European imperial rule. Wilson did not realize that colonial powers would resist decolonization. The superior fire power of European powers cut short the lives of millions of Africans whose only crime was freedom from colonial rule. During Wilson's leadership an estimated thirty million souls died worldwide as a result of his blemished and foggy theoritical thoughts.

Ironically, at the time of slicing the African continent, many European leaders suffered from a variety of phsiological, neurological, and psychological afflictions most notably self-loathing, sexual frustration, lack of confidence and self-esteem, subconcious fears, gluttony, broken marriages, and a concoction of unsolvable needs and desires.

Modernization Theory
The greatest contributions of modernization theory had been the injection of contemporary political and economic institutions of governance that was alien to Third World nations. Despite the biting effects of colonialism on Third World Nations, economic growth, political democracy, the creation of trained bureaucracies, enhancement of education, proliferation of urbanization, creation of specialized institutions, and the spread of mass media introduced by developed nations opened new avenues for newly-evolved nations.

The current spate of modernization visible in Japan may be attributed to Japan’s initial encounter with Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry who fired the first shots of modernization into Japanese waters. Amazed by the devastating effects of the volleys of gunfire from Commodore Perry’s ships anchored off Japanese waters, imperial Japan thereafter embarked on inspiring modernization efforts that came to be the envoy of many western nations-including the United States. For decades, Japan has been an undisputed leader in computer technology, industries, and car manufacturing.

Likewise, the United States may be credited for marshaling novel cultural traditions that remain a force to reckon with. From Cape Town to Cairo in Africa and from Seoul in South Korea to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in the Galapagos (part of Ecuador), the scrumptious tastes of McDonald’s burgers and fries, Hollywood movies, rock music, modern military hardware, advanced educational systems and meticulous curricula, printed T-shirts, faded or stone-washed Jeans, and a plethora of innovations exported from the United States remain a hallmark in every hemispheric projection.

However, many downward trends came with Modernization theory. Many nations that had previously developed economically and industrially under the banner of modernization, experienced drastic collapse of democratic institutions and the birth of repressive military dictatorships.
Despite commendable industrial growth and greater income, the most economically developed nations like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay experienced a bitter clash of social classes resulting from unequal distribution of resources and paving way for the evolvement of a new insightful study that came to be known as conflict theory.

Dependency Theory
Some of the main contributions of dependency theory include the spread of western influence like modern values, technology, and institutions. However, dependency theory comes with many flaws that include exploitation of developing nations’ resources, military intervention in former African colonies, support of corrupt regimes as in Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Cuba (before Castro) by the United States. As a result of colonialism, Third World countries nurtured their former colonial masters by providing cheap food and raw materials.