The Challenges Faced by Local Governments in the Age of Globalization

"Globalization Has Changed The Functioning Of Local Governments."
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Introduction
The world has progressively advanced its technology, improving international cooperation through connectivity. The globalization concept can explain the connectivity of the world. Globalization describes interdependence growth in the global economy, population, and culture, contributed by cross-border trade. Cross-border trade entails the exchange of goods, services, information, people, investment, and technology beyond the constraints of a country's borders. Countries worldwide have built economic partnerships that enable the movement of the listed elements above. Therefore, globalization entails people's and countries' interdependence and interconnectedness, including two or more inter-related elements. The flow of the elements within borders is facilitated by national and international policies ad institutions (YouMatter, 2020). Globalization continually evolves, influencing inter-border functions across various countries. Several local governments debate the benefits of globalization to their nations (Bakhtiari & Shajar, 2006).
Globalization Challenges to Local Governments
Local governments are faced with several challenges of globalization. There is exploitation from developed nations. The United States is known to utilize cheap labor to produce its goods. Also, developed and wealthy countries have been in the limelight about shipping trash from their countries to Malaysia and China (O'Rourke, 2019). Neglecting regulations and exploiting the markets have caused suffering and pollution in underdeveloped countries, while profits soar in developed countries. Looking at the case of Congo, the richness of metals for electronics such as tungsten, gold, tantalum, and tin has caused the emergence of armed militia groups who use children as soldiers to trade the metals in exchange for guns. Despite the global price for gold rising over time and demand for electronics rising, the country is still stuck in violence and poverty.
The United States passed the Dodd-Frank legislation that intended to examine the legitimacy and transparency of companies regarding their source of materials. However, the efforts have had only ten percent of Congo declared conflict-free (O'Rourke, 2019). Labor outsourcing also increases the rates of joblessness in industrialized countries that have expensive labor. For instance, when the U.S. outsources cheap labor from the foreign market, domestic employees lose their jobs, raising the number of unemployed (Moulton & van de Ven, 2018). When local people lose their job to foreigners, they develop discontent, social safety net strain, and reduced tax revenue. Laborers with lesser relevance in the global market face challenges adjusting to the globalization-dominated world.
Globalization triggers high leadership and investment costs for multinational corporations. Business setups in new countries, mostly in developing countries, will require relatively high capital investment because there might be no needed infrastructure in those countries (Moulton & van de Ven, 2018). Electricity, roads, internet, water, and sanitation may require a development from scratch and upgrading the existing ones to fit the demands for new business setups in the globalization era (O'Rourke, 2019). Managers' acquisition of relevant skills pertinent to the company's needs and objectives may be challenging for the new setups, making it hard for the companies to add value and operate within the provisions of the local culture.
Globalization is also spreading confusion in the local system. multinational corporations are obliged to contend with various laws in different nations. The corporations may also have to contend with differing baking and legal systems. Navigating these systems might be challenging for the corporations, leading to impaired expansion to new countries, which may have severe consequences if the corporations make a slight mistake in their moves.
Globalization has also weakened the regulations in international business enterprises. Fewer regulatory bodies exist, making international markets navigation a challenge. If anything goes amiss, the lack of regulation may have detrimental repercussions in the interconnected markets; the consequences will be globally resounded (O'Rourke, 2019). For instance, whenever there is a global financial crisis, many nations get affected by the course (Moulton & van de Ven, 2018).
Globalization also poses an immigration challenge to local governments. Industrialized nations are faced with the challenge of managing the rising population of immigrants and refugees seeking greener pastures. Despite countries hav...