Opportunities and challenges of internationalisation of social work

The current processes of globalisation and internationalisation have nowadays reached virtually every corner of the world. There are numerous critics of current economic and political system that are opposed by as numerous apologists. Although both sides present diametrally contrary standpoints, one has to agree that both of them have valid and reasonable arguments. Without engaging in endless discussion whether the ongoing globalisation process is right or wrong, it is necessary to state that it is inevitable and affecting lives of people all around the world.
In such situation, socio-economic problems are no longer constrained within borders of single country or region, but affect social/economical system of virtually every other country in the world. The contemporary economics and politics in individual countries are so densely interconnected that it is impossible to deal with local problems without taking "all the variables" into account. This is the reason why practice of social work has to be adapted to cope with new and complex social problems that are emerging as a side-effect of worldwide globalisation.
There are numerous examples of global political or economic changes causing social problems that require international solutions. Probably one of the most noted is widespread exploitation of cheap workforce in developing countries by large multinational companies. Such practice causes great social injustices and is often infringing basic human rights. Also, current economic model stimulates flow of wealth from poor towards the rich and generates constantly increasing differences between the poorest and the richest. It is important to note that terms "poor" and "rich" are no longer referring to individuals, but rather to whole countries or economical systems. Great social injustices are caused by accumulation of wealth in the hands of rich minority and require well-planned interventions of social workers.
Establishment and widening of political and economic associations such as European Union also brought numerous challenges for internationalisation of social work. Union’s policies facilitate mobility and migrations of people in pursuit for higher socio-economic standard. Massive migrations from developing countries towards those more developed are to be expected, as well as immigration from neighbouring non-member countries. Also, emigration of highly-educated experts from developing countries slows down their development possibly rendering them the source of cheap workforce or market for lower quality products. Economies of member countries are strongly and inseparably connected, so failure of one economy may destabilize economic well-being of whole Union and cause social consequences. We are currently witnessing social problems such as high unemployment rate and increasing poverty in Greece and Spain, as a result of recent economic disturbances. The causes of these disturbances neither originated solely from these countries, nor are the consequences limited exclusively to inside of their borderlines.
World’s economic and social circumstances are nowadays strongly interdependent and therefore must be observed and dealt with at the international level. Internationalization of social work is the only possible solution for efficient maintenance of social welfare and minimisation of new social problems that are constantly emerging as a by-product of unpredictable events in the modern world.