Occasional Paper Series #5. Global Hegemony and the South: Experiences of Bangladesh, a Peripheral Economy

Global hegemony is about a one-way relationship, an unequal exercise of power by one or a few persons over many others, a concentration of wealth and power in some parts of the world at the expense of many. This scenario of global hegemony goes against the real spirit of the globalization process. Because of the hegemonic relationship, globalization becomes monopolization, a system of unequal opportunities, wastage, plunder and coercion. There are two major interpretations of the term Globalization. The two appear to conflict with, and even oppose, each other. The first one -the mainstream view- considers globalization as the rational outcome of global economic progress. This view describes it as a process of (i) expansion of free trade; (ii) further integration of world economies; (iii) increased communication amongst different regions; (iv) faster diffusion of knowledge; (v) increasing mobility of capital and labor; (vi) increasing competition; and (vii) emergence of a global economy/global market. Supporters of this view believe that there is no alternative (TINA) to this. (...)