Growth, Decline, and Globalization: Is the World Growing Together or Apart? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Nation-building has resulted in growth in some countries while others have fallen apart. Contact, commerce, and colonialization have brought about globalization, which in return has caused both positive and negative effects in different countries. Therefore, answering the question if the world has grown together or apart is easy as there are several facts to prove that it has not grown together. When two countries decide to do business together, it means that they would like to grow together. Still, judging from the economy of the two countries, it is easy to notice that one may be struggling to maintain its economy while the other one is stable. Nation-building has succeeded in some countries while it has failed terribly in others. For example is Syria that can be used to illustrate how nation buildings have failed in this country, together with South Sudan and the Central African Republic. However, in developed countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom, the succession movements have won the momentum. Therefore it's clear that the world has not grown together since only a few have developed jointly while others have fallen.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Colonization has had a massive impact on all the nations that were colonialized. A good example is European colonization. The Europeans colonized the countries in the global south. Despite the many years that passed after the countries gained their freedom, they still had to endure both domestic and international challenges to overcome their colonizers. Europeans aimed to get the resources from these countries and develop their economies (Dai,1-11). The colonialists were harsh to their indigenous people as they brought about slavery, brutality, and at times death. All these occurred as the indigenous people tried to get their freedom back. The Europeans came up with a new route that they used to get the east of Asia and immediately began to explore the Atlantic. While studying Portuguese and the Spanish started to heathen the people and forcing them to convert to Christianity. At this point, the countries being colonized had begun to give up and allow themselves to be colonialized as they felt that the Europeans were very powerful, and they could not outdo them.

On the other hand, the Europeans took this to their advantage and used the resources available to grow their economy. Therefore by the time the nations in the south globe gained their freedom, the Europeans economy was far much ahead of them. As much as the countries in the south would have wanted to grow together and boost their economy, the Europeans were ahead of them, and it proved difficult to copy the ways of the Europeans; it proved to be complicated.

Another proof that can be used to prove that the world has grown apart is comparing two countries that are similar in size. In this case, the nations at stake are Switzerland and Belgium (Laird,1-3). The two countries have a similar population and the same levels of economic development. In Switzerland, there are shooting clubs and reading circles that developed between the 18th and 19th centuries. They proliferated throughout the country since there were modern industries that emerged. However, in Belgium, their king discovered the voluntary associations and confined them in the educated regions that contained a substantial French-speaking population. In was after some years that French was made the national language in Belgium. Those who were not able to speak in French were not included in the central government. Up to today, French has stood to be the national language in Belgium, while in Switzerland, they are still embracing language diversity (Williams). The comparison of these two countries shows that different nations in the world have chosen different paths for their lands, hence why the world has not grown together.

During the 18th century, the Portuguese discovered that in Africa, they could get sugar as well as slaves. They, therefore, exploited the Africans and made them work in sugar plantations, but at the end of it, the Portuguese used the sugar to develop their economies. They went to the extent of exploiting the Africans and taking them to their countries as slaves and forcing them to plant sugar cane on their farms. With that, they learned how to produce and process sugar, which played a massive role in growing their economy, and in return, their countries continued to grow. For the Africans, they only knew about planting the sugarcane but did not have the slightest idea of how it would be converted to sugar.

On the other hand, the Portuguese were ahead in terms of technology, and they knew the processing method. Since they had learned how to plant the sugarcane, they continued with the production even after the colonialization period came to an end. In such a situation, the Africans were still lagging trying to adjust to the new environment but took long before they learned the latest technology of processing the sugar. Also, they were still recovering from the slavery they underwent in Portuguese countries (Rutar, 197-209). All this shows that in as much we would argue that the Africans learned from the Portuguese countries where they worked as slaves, the Portuguese economy was far much better to an extent the Africans could not catch up. Also, through colonization, the Portuguese showed some greediness thus could not help the Africans develop. The countries that were colonized are still in pain of being denied their freedom, and some of these nations do not wish to do business with their colonizers, hence the reason why they cannot grow together.

From the given situations, it's clear that the world has grown apart. The fights between different nations also show that it is difficult for the world to grow together. Also, when the world war broke, a lot of things had to stop, and after it came to an end, each country that was affected had to come up with ways to stand and rise on its own. The relationship between nations matters a lot. Just like the healthy friendship, when two people argue, it is likely even if they sought out their differences, it would be challenging to have a bond or any form of relationship. The same case occurs to nations that were colonialized; at some point, they will blame their colonizers for their misfortunes. In this case, nation-building is very important for countries to grow together. However, if the nation has not grown locally, then it will be impossible for it to use other nations to improve. For the nations to grow together, they must be on the same level. Otherwise, lower medium class countries can't grow along with a country that is not in that class. Therefore it is impossible for the world ever to grow together.

Work Cited

Dai, Tinglan. The Great Han: The Development, Evolution, and Influence of Chinese Ethnic Nationalism on Modern Chinese Society and Government. Diss. Brandeis University, 2016.:1-11

Laird, Heather. "Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich." The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies (2016): 1-3.

Rutar, Tibor. "The Transition Debate Today: A Review of The Origin of Capitalism in England, 1400-1600 by Spencer Dimmock." Historical Materialism 26.3 (2018): 197-209.

Williams, Jillian. Food and Religious Identities in Spain, 1400-1600. Taylor & Francis, 2017.