Essay on Capitalist Greed as the Driving Force of Africa’s Marginalization in the Global Community

In the contemporary global society, Africa turns out to be at the margin of the global development. The population of Africa suffers from the ongoing backwardness as the rest of the world community keeps progressing. In actuality, Africa is left face to face with its problems. Even though African population cannot solve existing problems, the rest of the world pays little attention to the problem of Africa. In such a situation, needs of Africa are not interesting to the world community, which is driven by the profit-pursuit, whereas the population of Africa suffers from aggravating problems. In this respect, it is obvious that the marginalization of Africa in the modern world is the result of the domination of the capitalist greed because the profit and accumulation of capital and material values are the major goals and driving forces in the development of the modern world, whereas Africa becomes a marginalized region, which cannot compete in the international economic environment and slips beyond margins becoming the region, which developed countries exploit and use its natural resources to accelerate their economic development.
On analyzing the current situation in the world, it is possible to refer to Ferguson, who studied the development of the modern economy. Ferguson argues that the modern world is characterized by the process of globalization, which implies the close integration between countries through the capitalist expansion (Ferguson, p.24). The process of globalization leads to the elimination of fiscal barriers and accumulation of capital in global terms. In such a situation, Africa turns out to be at the margin of the world economic development.

At this point, Ferguson refers to Marxist views on the economic development (Ferguson, p.31). Marxist ideas are still relevant and explain the current marginalized position of Africa. To put it more precisely, Africa is the poorest region of the world, whereas the major part of the global capital is concentrated in hands of representative of developed countries, especially Europe and the US, along with Japan and some other well-developed countries. The capital concentrated in this country and means of production are concentrated in hands of a few, who control the economic development of well-developed countries and the entire world. In such a situation, they use globalization to strengthen their position in the global market because the elimination of fiscal barriers and free trade opens larger opportunities for the expansion and entering new markets. As a result, leading companies from well-developed countries and multinational corporations easily take the leading position in new markets of developing countries and gain the larger share of the global market. In such a context, Africa and local companies cannot compete with companies from well-developed countries and African capital is too weak to resist to the expansion of western capital or, to put it more precisely, capital accumulated in hands of representatives of well-developed countries (Ferguson, 42). In such a way, African capital is unable to compete in the global market, whereas the population of Africa turns out to be into disadvantageous position because their interests are totally ignored by the international capital. What is meant here is the fact that capitalist from well-developed countries of the world exploit the population of Africa and local resources, buying them for next to nothing. As a result, African workers receive much lower wages compared to workers in well-developed countries, whereas local natural resources, such as cacao, jewels, and others at much lower price compared to the price of these products in well-developed countries. Moreover, companies using natural resources of Africa and buying them at low price, resell them to African population after manufacturing new products and exporting them from developed countries to Africa. For instance, cacao is exported from Africa to well-developed countries, where they are used for manufacturing of chocolate or medicaments, and sold to Africa at much higher price compared to the price of resources they bought from Africa. As a result, African population has to pay the high price for the cheap labor of African people and cheap natural resources supplied from Africa to well-developed countries.

At the same time, well-developed countries and companies based in these countries do not care about problems of the population of Africa. Ferguson argues that Africa is overwhelmed with a bunch of socioeconomic problems (Ferguson, p.92). For instance, the problem of shortage of food and drinking water as well as numerous diseases, including epidemics of HIV-AIDS are widely-spread in Africa. Obviously, Africa cannot cope with these social and health care problems but African people cannot count for the support of the world community because the world community is driven by the profit-pursuit. This means that the profit is the only goal for the world community because the rich control the economic and social life of the world community and define policies conducted by political leaders of the world. In such a situation, they are not willing to participate in charity. Instead, they are interested in enhancing their position in the world market, whereas Africa becomes a mere tool in their hands, because Africa provides them with cheap labor force and natural resources.

Thus, Africa is doomed to holding the marginal position in the contemporary globalized world because the process of globalization widens gaps between rich and poor countries. African capital is too weak to resist to the expansion of the capital of western countries of the world. As a result, Africa turns out to be at the margins of the global economic development.