companies relocate their production workshops to Southern countries where
security and economic constraints are less severe. For example, technology
companies such as Apple and Samsung have relocated their workshops to
countries in the South, which are closer to raw materials but also cheaper, while
the vast majority of their products will be marketed in the North. This relocation,
although beneficial for workers, does not allow states to be truly integrated into
the global economic scene insofar as the wealth created by this production is
often attributed to the states where the head offices of these companies are
located, i.e. the countries of the North. The globalisation presented as imminent
by the countries of the North to the countries of the South is in fact only a means
to accentuate their economic hegemony. Moreover, the countries of the South
still do not have large technological, financial or cultural hubs. These countries
are used by transnational firms to produce goods requiring little specialisation,
while they continue to produce technological goods and require a lot of research
and development in the major technological hubs such as Silicon Valley. Thus,
the countries of the South are merely relays between the major economic
capitals such as London, Tokyo or New York.
In 2019, the KOF globalisation index showed, using the economic, social
and political globalisation indices, that the countries most involved in
globalisation are the European countries, since they are in the top 15 positions.
This globalisation has come about quickly for the countries of the South and is
presented as indispensable for economic growth and development alongside
the countries of the North. However, this illusion is problematic as the countries
of the North continue to dominate the global economic scene with the tools of
globalisation that they have used for decades.
Many actors in the South are increasingly denouncing the exploitation of
their resources by standing up to transnational corporations and sometimes
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