The Politics of Globalization in Yemen

 Globalization is the increasing international association of civilization of people, trade and industry activity.   It mostly affects the economy of a certain country. Yemen is a country that is located in the Middle East. It became an independent state in 1990, through amalgamation of the Arab state in the North and the people egalitarian in the state. By the time the two formed a coalition, they both suffered from immature financially viable systems. They were having different economic systems.

This country has been having serious problems facing its economic problems. Yemen had a drastic fall after Kuwait and Saudi Arabia debarred workers from Yemen who happened to be in their country after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Yemen had lacked support of the two, and instead supported Iraq. The 1994 civil war continued, because of the same reason, it has been forced to mostly depend on financial aid from polygonal organizations.

 To have its economy stability, the country has decided to implement some reforms, like the poverty reduction and growth facility, and the extended funding facility approved by the international Monetary Fund (Gavin, 198). Globalization for this case has both positive and negative results in different sectors, which include;

Agricultural

This is the main source of employment, as well as the main economic factor for this country. At the same time it is affected by various factors, such as soil erosion and the paucity of water. In Yemen, there is low rainfall, and thus, this calls for irrigation. By doing so, people are able to grow fruits and greens which brings them a lot of profit. All the same, the main cash crop that highly boosts’ the economy of Yemen is khat (displacing land areas)

The country is also in a position to produce large tons of fish, if the short comings facing the fishing industry were resolved. The industries are not fully developed, and it mostly comprises of individuals fishing. However, there is an implementation and invention of new farming methods in this country.

Globalization has brought about some new changes in the culture of the people living in Yemen. An example of these changes is the decline of farming and growing of traditional crops by different individuals. These have ended because of lack enough rainfall, which was replaced by irrigation. Instead, crops like greens and fruits were preferred, as they were being sold for profit.

 It has also resulted into the ignorance of the culture by the people and the spread of westernization. Globalization also led to spreading of Islamic traditions, which ended up being the main religion in Yemen. In the late centuries, Hindus, who worshipped the gods of Almaqah and in Marib, occupied the country. Their religion was also polytheistic.

There is also the spread of westernization on how some women and men in Yemen dress. Commonly Muslims are expected to cover their bodies completely, as they go out in the streets or in public areas. However, this is not what is happening in most urban areas of Yemen, most women here are dressing different as per what is expected from them by their culture.

Globalization brought about a great change in the system of ruling in Yemen. The system was transformed from the traditional monarchial system to a multiparty democracy

Urbanization has also appeared due to globalization. Cities like Sana’a have appeared due to globalization. Such cities serve as educational, administrative, religious and business centers

Global Warming

Yemen is one of the sources of raw materials to many industries. Through trade, these materials are passed to the industries that manufacture them to produce other goods. The problem related to this issue is the fact that the industries that process this materials release their waste materials to open air without treating them, and as a result, global warming crops up. Environmental challenges, such as changing climate and over fishing in the sea are other main problems faced by Yemen.

In Yemen,   the rising population in rural areas is leading to people migrating to urban areas to search for employment and better living conditions. As a result, there has been an improvement in infrastructure, to fasten the movement of people and goods from the countryside areas to the town area. The movement of rural-urban areas is in a way being disadvantageous in that in the urban areas, there is congestion, thus, resulting to slums. The industries in Yemen also lack raw materials, as young people have moved from the rural areas leaving behind the old people who can do minimal work.

Economic

Globalization has caused a great change in the International trade of manufactured goods from Yemen. For example, the food industry located in 20 kilometers from the South Sana’a city developed because of new forms of farming methods introduced in Yemen. These industries have played a great role in the economy of the country by being a source of employment to the people and income to the country. Because of the poor economy and bad living conditions, the educated citizens of Yemen have run away from their country and fled to others where they can find employment. Leaving the country is being brain washed.

In Yemen, working conditions and policies provide poor working environment, due to the lack of revenue circumstances of the families in this country, child’s labor is a common issue. Children do not have an opportunity to go to school, so as to combine efforts with their parents to search for money that will meet their needs.

Drug and Illicit Goods Trade

Because of people getting to meet and interact, drugs have opened a new market, which is generating billions of money. A good example is the rapid increase use of khat. The black market follows was suit, whereby the same animals, like the sea horses, are sold for their body parts. The market of these animals is China that uses the parts to make other valuable goods (Brandon, 57). Globalizations has also affected politics of certain countries, for example national states are no longer valued, and instead sub-state organizations, such as WTO, get to resume  the national roles through the signed agreements.

Cultural

Globalization has highly affected the use of language in Yemen .English has started being used in the country, where the native language is Arabic. Globalization has also created another source of leisure activity by scattering the pop culture through internet and television.

 In Yemen, they are facing a high rate of population growth. Due to this, it is faced with foods shortages, as the country is producing less compared to the large population. The food prices are constantly rising.

Health

Globalization contributed very much to spreading contagious diseases, like small pox HIV /AIDS, tuberculosis, due to the high rate of migration of people. A disease like HIV /AIDS is highly affecting the country, as many people infected with it are weak and cannot work, this lowers the rate of production and leads to the decrease in economy of the country.

Yemen is affected in a way by the scarcity of food and water resources. Irrigation is the main source of water in Yemen’s agriculture. Due to overdependence on this water, the base tables are nearly drying up. Food production has also in a way been affected, because the population rate is higher than the production rate. This could also have been affected by the lack of enough water (Cassanelli, 24).Yemen has been trying and has managed to have some mineral mines, which in turn is sold to have its economy stable. It is not yet entered the competition field fully, because it only gets very less from its resources, and mostly depends on aid from other organizations.

The markets of this country are largely affected by the consumer choice and the cost of commodities. Those buying from Yemen are mostly those surrounding it, which are also poor. This affects its economy, as it has to lower its costs to have market, otherwise the manufactured goods will remain in the country (Roger, 228). The other commodities are sold in the country at low prices to ensure that the citizens can manage to acquire them .The patterns of globalization favor the Transformation list view. They argue that their economic changes are occurring to transform the it from a very poor  country, and it is now trying to have a positive change, rather than classifying it as a third world that is pulling other countries’ economy down.

Yemen is having a very much unstable economy, and it depends on the Aid it will get from other nations .Due to this factors, it tends to pull other nations down by always having them to be responsible of it needs. Its economy seems to be going low, while other counties are rising. The citizens of Yemen are finding it hard to be assimilated by globalization.  Inhabitants are protesting, due to their disappointment with their situation (Merrick, 34). The political rulers are said to be shady and unlawful in various ways. An example of a case related to this issue was the one of a Tunisian man who got to burn his body down after he was mistreated by some authority official. 

Politics can get to shape the rate of globalization in a country by avoiding being corrupt and ensuring that the states wealth is well managed. The diaspora groups, for example the Al-Akhdam, are seen as a great burden, due to their social class. The rest of the people see them as poor beings who are only supposed to do the minor jobs  

In conclusion, globalization seems to have played a major role in Yemen in ensuring that new methodologies are implemented to ensure that the major problems are solved. This has been enhanced by the improving health of the people, the economy, as well as the appreciation of the culture.