Diffusion of Modernization and Its Impact on World Commerce

Modernization is rooted in the needs of human existence and is the embodiment of human beings' desire to pursue a high level of existence. Modernization is a tendency toward rationalization, that is, various uses of reason to control and overcome nature and the environment. The process of modernization begins in the Western world; it is a broad historical process of changes that takes the birth of industrial civilization as its origin and impetus, and contains political, economic and social contents. The needs of human life have different spheres, which are finite in quality but infinite in quantity. The realization of the needs of a lower sphere will arouse the needs of a higher one and the realization of the latter will give birth to the needs of a yet higher sphere; the process is endless. We can treat history, in this sense, as the process in which the needs of human existence unceasingly are met, and as progressing from lower to higher needs. These needs are not only the impetus, but also the goal of modernization.

Although it is apparent that development efforts following the notion of modernization contribute greatly to the country's economic growth, it is often argue that they create several negative impacts on people living in the countryside. The increasing demand of land as well as other natural resources with conflicting interests has induced the change in patterns of natural resource utilization and allocation in favor of powerful groups of the country's population. This forces rural households to live under limited natural resource conditions. Better connections to the market economy have led rural people to change their mode of production and patterns of consumption driven by the market forces. Consequently their demand for cash has increased to serve their modern mode of production that usually involves high investments and their changing styles of living. High costs of production together with high costs of living have caused many rural people to face hardship. Although many rural households own considerable amount of material resources to facilitate their changing living styles, their overall well-being seems to be uncertain. This is mainly due to their declining access to lands and other natural resources that support their production and other aspects of livelihoods.

Another impact of diffusion of modernization is in political upheavals and war. Like in the World War II of allied nations they were able to win the final victory not only because their goal was just, but also because by modernizing they had greatly developed their power to exist. The great strength provided by the modernization of most of the allied nations played a very important role in the war.