ABSTRACT
Globalization, both as a concept and process, is central to the development strategies of nation-states within the contemporary international system because the process has promoted massive movement of fund, goods and services across the globe, from where the states get benefits. However, globalization process has different effects on the participating states by giving economic security and financial prosperity to those who are able to compete favorably in the process while impoverishing other countries that are less competitive. This chapter appraises the impact of globalization on the socioeconomic condition of African countries in relation to the extent to which the process has enhanced their economic security. The chapter relies on secondary data, finding that although globalization has lifted many Africans from the shackle of poverty, and relatively secured their economies from stunted growth, the process has also impoverished greater majority of Africans due to many factors that included unjust global trade rules, corruption and weak social infrastructure within many African countries. In spite of the fact that globalization has greatly marginalized Africa, it is not advisable for the continent to delink from the process because no nation can escape from it, especially within the contemporary Unipolar world order that has inescapably coerced developing countries into the neoliberal and Western development orientations. The chapter finally submits that Africa should fix her dilapidated infrastructure and seek mutually rewarding trade relations with her developed partners to guarantee her economic security within the globalization process.
