"Corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on."

I obtained this image from the website www.globalissues.org/article/590/corruption. There was a lot of useful information on the website about social, economic and environment issues on the world we live in today. One which caught my eye was corruption and how strongly it links to poverty in rich and poor countries.

Corruption is when votes are bought but not fairly won. When politicians make decisions that do not benefit the public but only themselves is another form of corruption as these are the people that make decisions that effect out lives. This I believe comes down to money, greed poisons peoples minds taking over their lives as more money means more power.

- Globalisation -

The image above I obtained from the BBC website which shows the globalisation and domination of rich countries across the world. The majority of Europe, Japan and the USA are high income which represent the superiority and power of world trade, these are the countries that keep the poorer countries at low income. This is because they use these countries for cheap labour and cheap raw materials which has a ripple effect on the rest of the world. As the local employers will be on a low income they will have less money to spend on sustaining and developing businesses, their local goods will be substituted by the larger companies thus driving their smaller companies out of business completely. This has a negative impact on their community as it will lose local jobs and create poverty. 

Although this also effects richer countries who also have poverty. Through importing raw commodities from the lower income countries this leaves less need for agriculture in the richer countries therefore our farms and local companies will go out of buisness too. 

- Oil - 

From my research I found many countries that are rich in oil and gas are homes to some of the poorest people. This is because the wealth stays in the hands of the politicians and industry insiders. Therefore the profits made from the oil and gas do not benefit the locals at all. As they are cheap labour their income will always be substantially low, leaving less money to help develop and sustain local buisnesses.

After visiting the BP website I was able to come across some stastistics to show the amount of oil the world has consumed in the past 20 years.

I highlighted the total consumption of oil for each continent since 1992. As a result of the growing population on earth it clearly shows the increase in oil consumption. Saudi Arabia being one of the main exports can make our world extremely fragile as if anything were to happen to its oil the effects could be catastrophic.

To support the opinion I claimed above about Saudi Arabia this is a book I read last summer which has an exhilarating plot that really hits close to home. It basically is a theoretic idea of what would happen to the world if the oil was cut off completely, the author uses his own research and facts to support his idea and how in a matter of days our civilisation would fall apart. 

The facts I found above about globalisation also relates to the book as it has a rippling effect on civilisation itself. Gone are the days where people would use their gardens to grow their own food farm their own animals. Very few people know how to purify their own water, make shelter or warmth. So as the world delves into the future of world trade of importing and exporting, the more we loose on the knowledge of basic human survival.