Globalization in Bangladesh - a brief overview

Topic Overview:

Bangladesh, officially titled The People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country located in South Asia, surrounded by India and Burma. In the current world economy, the country of Bangladesh faces many challenges including over population, contaminated water supplies, political and bureaucratic corruption, poverty, and economic competition with the rest of the world. With no industrial base and a nearly non-existent labor force, the economy of Bangladesh is dependent on apparel manufacturing and exporting. Apparel exporting, introduced to Bangladesh through globalization, has brought much prosperity to Bangladesh, but it has also brought with it many consequences. Workers in apparel factories face extremely hazardous working conditions with minimal pay, no benefits, few worker rights, and inadequate facilities; increasing individual poverty among Bengali citizens. Below is a link that discusses, in detail, the current economic conflicts that Bangladesh faces in relation to its apparel manufacturing factories.

Severities of working in apparel:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-trade_economy_justice/article_1851.jsp


Why write about Bangladesh?

Bangladesh is a developing nation that is currently facing numerous stuggles due to the rise of globalization, a recurring theme of CES 301. Bangladesh is seeing a dramatic increase in foreign investments and is achieving an average annual growth rate of 5% since 1990, according to the World Bank. Yet, the question is whether or not globalization is helping or hindering Bangladesh. To answer this question, one must first take into account the economic implications of globalization, the social implications of globalization, cultural implications of globalization, etc... In CES 301, we are discussing the effects of globalization and the implications that result from globalization mentioned above. Bangladesh is currently struggling with many of these implications resulting from globalization and I have chosen to research this topic in order to analyze these effects; also allowing me to further understand whether globalization is helping or hindering Bangladesh. Along with analyzing the effects of globalization on a smaller scale (a single country), I would also like to get out of this research an increased understanding of how globalization impacts developing nations as a whole and in what aspects.