Globalization and self

Just recently, I read a book entitled 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey. There's a portion of that book that talks about self-determination where Covey says that in order for a person to gain the benefits of interdependence, he/she must first become independent. Self-mastery is the first step towards effective relationships with other people. Putting it in a global scale, in order for a country to reap the rewards of globalization, that country must first focus towards their progress and self-sustainability. The saying “you cannot give what you don't have” is very much true in a global sense. A country can only give or share something that it possesses to other countries, whether that's monetary, natural, cognitive or human resources. It can only compete with other countries' economies to the degree that it has become self-sufficient. That's the reason why we see a lot of developing countries being ran down and eaten up by developed countries in trade and other economic activities. The developing countries simply aren't prepared in engaging these developed countries especially in economic matters. When these developing countries let down their “artificial barriers to the flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge and people” (as economist Joseph Stiglitz puts it) of developed countries, they are just overwhelmed of it all. So for the developing countries (like the Philippines), the solution would be to strive for economic independence. If we focus first on the internal (local), the external (participating in globalization) will just follow.