CHAPTER ONE

1.1    Introduction 

“Globalization represents the reality that we live in a time when the walls of sovereignty are no protection against the movements of capital, labour, information and ideas nor can they provide effective protection against harm and damage” (Higgins, 1999).

This declaration by judge Rosalyn Higgins, the former president of the International Court of justice, presents the contraventional wisdom about the future of global governance. Many view globalization as a reality that will erode or even eliminate the sovereignty of nation-states.

The typical account points to at least three ways that globalization has affected sovereignty. First, the rise of international trade and capital markets has interfaced with the ability of nation-states to control their domestic economies.

Second, nation-states have responded by delegating authority to international organizations. Thirdly, a “new” international law, generated in part by these organizations, has placed limitations on the independent conduct of domestic policies. 

This development has placed Nigerian sovereignty under serious pressure. But the decline of national sovereignty is neither inevitable nor obviously desirable, Nation-states (Nigeria) maintain the current world order.

Sovereignty allows nation-state to protect democratic decision-making and individual liberties or international cooperation.

The new international law, the rise of international trade & capital market, the power of international organizations forced Nigerian sovereignty to cooperate and obey the principles of globalization.

In fact, over the past decades, globalization has become an ubiquitous term in as wide-range of academic and popular discourses.

It is a concept that ha snow been used to describe almost every aspect of contemporary life, from the complicated machinations of contemporary capitalist, to the erosion of the nation-state system and the rise of international organizations and cooperation, to the threat posed by global culture to the local culture and tradition to the communications revolutions introduced by the new technologies such as the internet, the terms seems to capture a genuine sense of the changes that have transformed the world.

It is important to emphasize that globalization though refers to the present but it is imperative to highlight that the phenomena it describes are hardly new. For instance, there has been discussion about the possibility of a global economic order or system, a world culture or a world literature.

In the wealth of nations, Smith (1976) identifies the global character of western capitalism form as the “mutual communication of knowledge” and “an extensive commerce form all countries to all countries that would be of benefit to all parts of the world”.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its own line of thinking sees the concept globalization as the rapid integration of economies world-wide through trade, financial flows technology-spillover, information networks and cross cultural currents.

The world bank o its own side contends that it is about the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, it is about the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, it is about international trade investment and finance that has been growing far faster than national income.

It is all about technologies that as already transformed out abilities to communicate in ways that would have unimaginable in far years ago. It is all about our global environment, communicable diseases, crime, violence and terrorism. It is all about workers of all countries to develop their potentials and to support their families and job created by the greater economic integration.

However, it is crucial to ides behind his concept are very dangerous for the Nigeria as third world country, this is as a result of the fact that participation in any international affair in this new world order is justice, like a wrestling competition where the stronger would always show the weaker one way out of the ring either in life or death.

1.2    Statement of the research problem 

Politically, economically, socially and culturally globalization plays an influential role in Nigeria. Its activities has resulted in the crippling of the economy, because globalization to some extent determine the price of the Nigerian commodities in the international market. Nigeria needs to develop but due to extensive dominance by the foreign powers through the activities of globalization in territorial boundaries of Nigeria (Giddens, 1999).

Nigeria as a state lacks the sovereign power to control its economy due to the lack of good governance of the Nigerian leaders, lack of control over MNCs, dependency over technological aspect, dependency over foreign powers economies, political aspect, foreign aid which resulted to

indebtedness of the country. Therefore, it must be controlled by the capitalist economy through the term globalization (miller, 2003).

Similarly, with the aid of globalization capitalist economy throw Nigeria in a state of confusion on how to administer the political affairs of our country by bringing the political disruption to make Nigeria’s political and economic system ineffective and inefficient. 

The primary role of globalization is to create for capitalist accumulation and ensure steady and cheap sources of raw materials and expanding markets for finished goods from the capitalist economies. Therefore, this research examines how globalization erodes the sovereignty of Nigeria.

1.3    Aim and Objectives of the Study 

i.                   To examine the nature of globalization in Nigeria.

ii.                 To examine how globalization erodes the sovereignty of Nigeria.

iii.              To provide the possible way through which Nigeria may benefit from globalization. 

1.4    Significance of the Study 

This research work is significant for the fact that it is directed towards examining the activities of globalization and how the activities influencing

Nigeria over its political and economic sovereignty.

The study is also significant or important as it bring an observation for

Nigeria’s economy to ripe maximum benefits out of globalization. 

1.5    Methodology 

In this research, documentary research methods are utilized. Data are sources from the books, journals, internet, research reports, newspapers, magazines, dissertations etc. the methodology of data analysis is

quantitative. 

1.6    Theoretical framework 

The theoretical framework that informs this thesis is the dependency theory. This is because most if not all the third world countries including Nigeria are been dependent through globalization to the world political and economic powers. The political economy of the dependency theory sees development and underdevelopment in relations to production, distribution, consumption and exchange of material benefits (Kano, 2013).

In its original form, they evolved from attempt by Latin American intellectuals to offer an alternative interpretive perspective of development partners in different countries. Dependency theory or development of underdevelopment represents a more radical approach to the nature of social development and is also associated with the name Andre Guner Frank, who was the first scholar to formulate it.

Frank’s argument is that underdevelopment is the part of the process of development. Therefore, far from today’s underdeveloped countries being in some kind of original or traditional stage of history, through which developed countries passed long ago, underdevelopment is naturally a product of the structure of the metropolitan capitalist development itself.  Historical evidence that exists demonstrate two facts, first is that the nature and character of the international division of labour and trade were designed first and foremost to facilitate the process of western accumulation aimed at the speedy transformation of western economies. 

Secondly, history demonstrates that development and underdevelopment are not only comparative terms but that they also have a dialectical relationship to one another (Rodney, 1984:84).

This is to say that the two help to produce each other through interaction.

Thus, the development of the industrialized capitalist countries of Western

Europe and America was made possible only because of the

underdevelopment of the developed countries including Nigeria. 

Likewise, the root of underdevelopment and its reproduction in Nigeria is traceable directly to the development of western capitalist countries, which are proponent of globalization.

Samir Amin has argued that third world countries are all characterized by extreme forms of underdevelopment. This situation according to him, is produced by the dependency of third world countries on more developed countries which is a consequence f their common historical experience of economic exploitation by European organized mercantilism, the slave trade, imperialism and colonialism. Moreover, via the mechanism of neocolonialism perhaps even increased during the achievement of political independence over the past three decades.

Amin maintain that the development of capitalism in western Europe led to the creation of an international political economy characterized by a worldwide division of labour in which metropolitan capitalist countries achieved dominance over underdeveloped areas. This Amin calls dependent – satellite type or center-periphery type relationship because the underdeveloped nations lack sufficient resources to act independently in their international political and economic relations.

Dependent countries, (Nigeria) because of its subordinate role in the world capitalism system, is unable to make autonomous policy or decision concerning the pace and directions of growth of its national economy. Rather the issues of what to produce, how to produce, for whom to produce are decided by the international structure and processes outside the control of Nigeria as a sovereign entity.

Dependency ideally is a situation in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected (Frank, 1986).

The relation of interdependence between two or more countries and between these and world trade, assumes the forms of dependence when some countries (the dominant ones) can expand and can be self-sustaining, while other countries (the dependent ones) can do this only as a reflection of that expansion which can take either a positive effect on their immediate development. 

Simply put, an economy is dependent to the extent that its position and relations to other economies in the international system and the articulation of its internal structure make it incapable of auto centric development.  The general argument of dependency theory is that underdevelopment is a product of unequal exchange which exists in the present global system (globalization) which enables European countries to develop at the expense of so called developing countries. 

1.7    Hypothesis  

i) Nigeria’s participation in the system of globalization forced it to surrender its sovereignty to world developed economies. ii) Globalization is an instrument of capitalist by implication, it serve as an instrument of exploiting underdeveloped economies. 

1.8    Scope and Delimitations of the Study 

The resear4ch work will be restricted to cover the role or activities of globalization in Nigeria’s economic and political aspect only.

This study will also concentrate on power of globalization as an instrument of exploitation by the world capitalist states. Giving the nature of the study, a general assessment on many countries is not possible. Therefore, the study has to be restricted to Nigeria only.

1.9    Definition of Key Concepts 

i.                   Globalization: Globalization is a concept used to inform the unification, incorporation and to large extent marginalization of the entire world into a particular way or system (Ldama, 2006). 

Globalization consists of the process that leads towards global interdependence and increasing rapidity of exchange across vast distance (Mazral, 1998:21). 

It is also defined as a process by which event, decisions and activities in one part of the world come to have significant consequences on economic activities on wealth and other range of options upon the government, firms and individual employees and consumers in quit distance part of the globe (Susan, 1995:5).

Globalization as the name implies refers to the liberation and intensification of international linkages in trade, finance markets, production, research, transportation, energy, medicine, education, politics, culture that is accelerated by discoveries in macroelectronics, information, processing, communication and biotechnology (Beck, 2000).

ii.                 Sovereignty: This may be defined as the power of state to make law and enforce the law with all the coercive power it cares to employ. It is that characteristic of state in virtue of which it cannot be legally bound except by its won will or limited by any other power than itself.

In other words, it is the power of the state to decide on its own activities without any external or internal influence. The modern state claims to be sovereign, to be subject to no higher human authority.

1.10 Outline of Chapters 

This research work contains five chapters:

–         Chapter one introduces the study, in this case statement of the research problem, objectives, significance and scope of the study will be highlighted. Also research hypothesis, methodology of data collection, definition of the key concepts regard the topic and outline of chapters will be given.

–         In chapter two, literature on the subject of the study is reviewed, or will be reviewed.

–         The chapter three examines the emergence and development of

globalization.

–         Chapter four analyses the globalization and Nigeria’s sovereignty.

–         The    chapter       five    deals with   summary    of      the     findings,

recommendations and conclusions.