Globalization and Labour in Africa: Ethnic Identity in Nigeria and Cross Border Migration in the Republic of South Africa1

This study pursues the relationship between globalization and the mobility of labour in Africa. It argues that globalization has been limiting the mobility, and by implication, the development of labour in Africa. The forces of globalization in this study have been historically defined. First is mercantilist capital, which began compradorial development in Africa. The second is European national capital of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which through multinational corporations and nation-states in Europe advanced compradorialism with the assistance of colonial domination. The third and final globalization force here has been transnationalism and multilateralism whose operations have been largely through foreign direct investment and management of global finances respectively. This study notes that these roles of globalization forces are observable at two fronts in the African society. The first was the engendering of ethnic identity, which has been undermining labour mobility within national boundaries in Africa. The other has been the pressures of cross border migration in Africa, underscoring the persisting disparity in global wealth distribution. In this manner, the study further notes that Africa has highlighted a contradiction in the globalization logic especially on labour mobility. This is strictly speaking in the sense that homogenization, which has been clearly suggestive of the globalization logic, has been hampered in Africa. This study has purposely selected Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa for empirical proofs.