Trade: Muslims For Globalization
By IOL Staff
Muslims, in their majority, have a positive view of globalization, seeing it as no threat to their society and believe that international trade is good for their countries, a new poll has found.
"These findings run counter to the widespread assumption that people in the Muslim world are anxious and hostile about the prospect of integration into the global economy," Steven Kull, director of World Public Opinion, which conducted the poll, said in a press release.
The poll of 5,216 respondents showed that most Muslims in Nigeria (79 percent) and Egypt (78 percent) believe globalization is "mostly good" for their countries.
Sixty-three percent of Azerbaijanis, 61 percent of Iranians and Indonesians and 58 percent of Palestinians shared the same conviction.
In Turkey, those in favor of globalization were not in a majority but they still outnumbered opponents of the trend by 39 percent to 28 percent.
On average, 63 percent of respondents see globalization as good for their own countries. Only 25 percent think it is mostly bad.
Globalization in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional things or phenomena into global ones.
The term is often used to refer to economic globalization, that is, integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.
Trade Advocates
The survey, which was conducted in January and February this year, also found positive attitudes among Muslims toward international trade.
The majority of Muslims in Azerbaijan (85 percent) and Turkey (72 percent) said international trade was good.
Palestinians and Indonesians were also in favor with 70 percent and 60 percent respectively.
Egyptians and Nigerians were the least positive about trade.
But overall, 59 percent of Muslims see trade as beneficial to their respective countries' companies.
Most respondents said they believe trade is good for consumers (63 percent) and for their own standard of living (56 percent).
On average, a 61-percent majority believes international trade is good for creating jobs in their own countries. Only 29 percent said it is bad.
The survey also found that a 48-percent plurality thinks international trade is good for job security.
The WPO survey also found that Muslims support the inclusion of environmental standards in trade agreements.
It showed that 93 percent of Egyptians and 91 percent of Nigerians believe trade agreements should include "minimum standards for protection of the environment".
Eighty-three percent of Azerbaijanis, 79 percent of Indonesians, and 75 percent of Turks share the same view.
The poll also showed that 8 in 10 Muslim respondents support including labor standards in trade agreements.
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