Critical Reflections on Globalisation and Development and Challenges Ahead

This second overall chapter presents collective critical reflections on how globalisation has affected the course of economic development over the last four decades. We argue that despite its potential in accelerating economic growth and development through the spread and transfer of technology and the transmission of knowledge and information, globalisation as proceeded to date—corporation-led and finance-centred and largely market-driven integration process—has exposed itself to the reality that the process is unsustainable socially, economically and politically as well as ecologically, with discontents growing all around. There is urgency for us all to engage with the pivotal question how to make globalisation work for inclusive and sustainable development, and to arrest the tide of the political fallouts with grave consequences for the global community. Against this background, drawing on many insightful analyses provided by the chapter contributors to the Handbook, this chapter, as our collective narratives of the effects of globalisation on development, is organised under two themes: (i) the diverse development experiences of countries in the South under globalisation; and (ii) the growing inequality and its implications. We then proceed to discuss challenges facing us for finding a way to change the course and nature of globalisation, and indicate several pathways for making globalisation work for sustainable and inclusive development.