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Globalisation
EQ1: What are the causes of globalisation and why has it
accelerated in recent decades
Globalisation refers to the widening and deepening of global connections, interdependence and flows
● Economic Globalisation: Refers to increasing interdependence of national economies across the world
through the cross border movements of goods, services, technologies and capital
○ Capital refers to money flows through the world’s stock markets
○ Commodities refer to raw materials (fossil fuels, food etc) being traded between nations
● Social Globalisation: Refers to how population structures change due to migration, immigration and
emigration as well as improvements to health and education
○ The growth of budget airlines have brought distant places within easy reach of tourists from
MEDCs
○ Most governments embrace trade flows but attempt to resist migrant flows unless there is a
special need
● Cultural Globalisation: refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values
○ The internet has brought real time communication between distant places
○ Social media has ballooned in size and influence
● Political Globalisation refers to the growth of trade blocs, NGOs, and movement towards free trade
agreements between countries
● Environmental Globalisation refers to holistic approach to natural problems and issues
The widening of connections refers to connections between people and places further away (bottled water from
Fiji)
The deepening of connections refer to being more integrated and connected to other people and places in morea
areas of our lives
Developments in transport and trade in the 19th century (railways, telegraph, steamships) accelerated in the 20th
century (jet aircraft, containerisation), contributing to a ‘shrinking world’
The Shrinking World Effect
● The Time Space Compression refers to how
connectivity has changed our perception of
time,distance and barriers to migration of people,
goods, capital and information
● As travel times decrease due to inventions,
different places approach in ‘space time, beginning
to feel closer and together than in the past. This is
called the shrinking world effect
Changes in transport
● 19th century
○ Railways
■ Steam powered trains moved goods and armoires quickly along trade routes.
■ Britain become the leading supower in the 19th Century using steam technology
■ Trans-siberian Railway connects Moscow to China and Japan
○ Telegraph
■ Telephone cables in the Atlantic in the 1860s replaced a 3 week junior y with
instantaneous communication
○ Steam-ships
■
● 20th century
○ Jet aircraft
■ The arrival of intercontinental Boeing 747 in the 1960s made international travel more
common place. More people could fly for a cheaper price
■ Expansion of budget airlines (such as EasyJet) has brought it to the masses as the
reduction of prices have made cities more connected
■ Long haul flights have increases the widening of connections. The cost per item has
reduced
○ Containerisation
■ Contaisation is the system of transporting goods in containers that can carry up to
25000 kg in weight of goods
● They reduced the unit cost of international transport as well as increasing speeds
and reduce theft and losses due to breakages
■ Sea transport unit costs have fallen by 70%, boosting trade flows as transport costs
have decreases
■ 200 million individual container movements occur each year
Changes to technology (ICT and mobile communication)
The 21st century has been dominated by rapid development in ICT and mobile communication, lowering
communication costs and contributing to time-space compression
● 21st Century
○ Mobile Phones
■ 70% of Africans now own a mobile phone
■ People in towns and cities can use phones to make transactions - payments for school
fees, utility bills etc.
■
○ Internet
■ Aided social globalisation as jobs can be posted online, information about visas, flight
tickets
■ Cultural traits, ideas and meanings can be transferred through the internet, especially
Youtube
○ Social Networking
■ Connectivity between people has grown exponentially as social media has grown -
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
■ Facebook has 2 billion active users as of 2018
■ Aided social globalisation as it can maintain long distance relationships
■ Skype has provided a free way for migrants to maintain a strong link with family
■ Give voices to people to express the political freedom, raise awareness of issues and to
fight for change on a global scale
■ ISIS have used social media to spread its message of terror globally and to gain recruits
○ Electronic Banking
■ Aided economic globalisation as TNCs can sell their products
■ Sets up financial infrastructure for the global flow of goods, capital and services
○ Fibre Optics
■ The advent of broadband internet in the 1980s meant large amounts of data could be
moved quickly through the cyberspace
■ Flows of data are conveyed across the ocean floor, by fibre optic cables
Politics and economics of globalisation
International political and economic organisations such as WTO, IMF and World Bank have contributed to
globalisation through the promotion of free trade policies and foreign direct investment (FDI).
● Neoliberalism (also known as free market liberalization) refers to a political philosophy of free markets,
free trade, privatisation. The role of business is increased (whilst decreasing the influence of
government). By making trade easier, there will more of it, meaning more wealth and reduction of poverty
as it becomes reinvested into society
○ It is thought that this would improve the efficiency of the business and lead to innovation
○ Thatcher oversaw a programme of deregulation and privatisation, including BT, British Gas, British
Rail etc.
● Free trade is a policy where there are limited tariffs (a tax imposed on imports) and quotas (a limit on the
quantity of a good a country allows into a country) and the government does not interfere with imports or
exports.
● Privatization refers to the transferring of ownership of a public service into private ownership run for
profit
● Protectionism refers to the policies to protect business by restricting regulating trade with foreign
nations
The IMF and World Bank was set up to prevent the protectionist conditions that led to two world wars.
IMF World Bank WTO
● Channels loans from rich ● The World Bank lend money ● Replaced the GATT
countries to help poor on a global scale (General Agreement on
countries headquartered in Trade and Tariffs in 1995
● Loans are given under Washington ● Advocates trade
conditions, in promise of ● Provide money for debt liberalisation especially for
the running of free market relief (especially after manufactured goods
economies that are open to natural disasters) ● Asks countries to abandon
outside investment (FDI), ● Aims to reduce the number protectionist principles as
allowing TNCs to enter of people living in abject adopt free market policies -
these countries more poverty in favor of untaxed goods
easily ● Gives direct grants to ● Didn’t stop developed
● The US exerts developing countries to countries from subsidizing
disproportionate influence fund projects their own farmers which
as its it the biggest source ● The funds have was harmful to farmers of
of aid to the organisation concessions - through their developing countries
● Countries may be forced to structural management
cut public spending on programmes
● A trade block is an intergovernmental agreement, where barriers to trade are reduced or removed among
the participant states
Benefits of Trade Blocs Costs of trade blocs
● Access to a bigger market - the EU has a ● Loss of sovereignty - The EU controls rules
market of 500 million, which is a bigger market and regulations as well as allowing for the free
for TNCs to sell to and reduce prices. They can movement of people, goods and ideas. This
source their goods at the best price within the can lead to loss of “tradition”
28 countries ● Foreign firms may gain domestic market share
● TNCs can compete with each other resulting in at the expense of local companies.
lower priced goods for customers through ● Interdependence does not always have to be
economies of scale good as seen with the Euro when Greece’s
● Can protect against foreign competition and economy suffered after over spending. A
leads to political stability - the EU blocked crisis in one country will affect another
£50 million of Chinese made clothes from ● The neoliberal nature of trade blocs means
entering the UK as the annual quota had that it is private corporations that benefit
already been filled rather than the population, which in some
● Shared currency (e.g. the Euro) makes cases such as ASEAN can increase relative
business, travelling or moving easier poverty, inequality etc.
● Free movement of labour can fill in labour
shortages - e..g in the service sector, where
Eastern Europeans filled low paying but much
needed service jobs
EU
● Trade bloc which has become a multi governmental organisation with its own currency and some shared
political legislation
● 28 members
● EU structural Funds can help develop their economies, whilst agriculture producers in the region benefit
from the farm subsidies provided through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
● Setup to increase political unity and economic interdependence to decrease the chance of another world
war
● National borders were mostly removed with the Schengen AGreement
ASEAN
● Stands of Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Indonesia, Laos, PHilippines, Singapore
● Aims to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development
● Benefits includes the free flow goods, investment and capital
● It also supports and promotes peace and stability - as its members have pledged to not have nuclear
weapons
Countries can undergo liberalisation of their economies - such as China in 1970s and India in the 1990s where
financial deregulation occurs. Special economic zones and government subsidies were set up
China’s open door policy
● Until 1978, China was poor and politically isolated from the global economy
● Deng Xiaoping brought radical change to the Chinese economy in 1978 called the Open Door Policy
● It allows China to embrace globalisation whilst still being under one party authoritarian rule
● 300 million people left rural areas in search of better conditions in the cities.
● Initially low wages factories which gave China the nickname workshop of the world drove economic
growth
● TNCS wer able to establish branch plants or trade relationships with Chinese owned factories such as
Foxconn
● Coastal special economic zones were set up - such as Shenzhen
○ By 2015, many workers were making $40 a day or more making quality goods such as iPhones
○ TAx incentives were used to attract more business
○ The corporations got access to cheap labour
○ Investment poured in - $30 billion was pouring in to build roads, factories and container ports
● 400 million people have managed to escape poverty
However it is not truly or fully globalised
● Google or Facebook have little to no access in China’s market
● China’s government has strict quotas on only 34 foreign films being screened in cinemas each year
Measuring Globalisation
AT Kearney Index KOF Index
● Uses business acitcity, human capital, cultural ● Measures the extent to which countries are
experience and political engagement to rank politically, socially and economically linked to
cities for commerce each other
● Data includes TNC headquarters, museums ● It includes measures of political globalisation
and foreign embassies eetc ○ E.g. involvement in UN peacekeeping
● Covers 84% of the world population missions
● Allows for reliable comparison over time ● Merit to using multiple (24) factors to
● No objective way to measure cultural trends measure a concept (e.g. TV ownership)
● Places importance to FDI and internet users ● Does not have data for some countries as its
(value doubled) which may result in unavailable
overrepresentation of some countries ● Small countries are overrepresented -
distance to neighbours make foreign travel
easier e.g. Belgium; there are few places to
visit - e.g. Luxemburg)
● Newspaper industry is declining yet the index
does not reflect this
● Does not include income for the informal
economy
● Provide jobs and income raising living ● Tax Avoidance - Not all TNCs pay tax and so
standards. revenue can be kept within a TNC (through
● Technology transfer allows new practises and transfer pricing) rather than be reinvested into
technology to be transferred to the host a country
nation, helping to accelerate economic ● Growing inequality. TNCs have clustered
development in emerging economies around eastern rather than western China,
leaving rural china behind.
○ A Haitian worker receives only 7 cents
for producing a tshirt which is later
sold at $12
○ Some employees as on food stamps
and make $8/hr whilst the CEO makes
$248 per minute
● Environmental Degradation - TNCS can exploit
the more lenient laws in developing countries.
○ Many labours work as much as 70
hours per week in Haiti in awful
conditions
○ The average factory is hot, crowded
and poorly ventilated
● Unemployment in TNC’s original location
through outsourcing and offshoring
● Disney has a great influence over the media as its TV channels broadcast 24 hours a day in Africa, Middle
East, Europe
● The US government enforced copyright protection for disney. The French government had to pay $2
billion towards EuroDisney
● Company’s revenue stood at $52.4 billion making it the 80th largest economy by GDP, drawfing LEDCs
such as Zimbabwe (14 billion) and even MEDCs such as Iceland ($19 billion)
Switched off places refer to o=places that lack strong flows of trade and investment
● Physical/Environmental
○ Accessibility may be poor (mountainous region) or wilderness (desert/tundra environment)
○ Lack of raw materials to export - ie lack of energy or mineral deposits
○ Lack of coastline to export goods
● Political
○ Corruption and organised crime/terrorist groups
■ Resources may controlled by a small elite
○ Civil or tribal conflict and weak commitment of the government to development
■ E.g. tax incentives
○ Exclusion from trade blocs
● Economic
○ High level of government debt
○ Weak market
■ Wages are not high enough and so TNCS cannot sell their goods
○ Weak education levels and poor workforce skills
○ Poor infrastructure and telecommunications
The Sahel Region
● Poverty affect an overwhelming majority
● Mismanagement of natural resources
● Countries may lack a coastline, such as Chad
● Arid conditions give rise to further development challenges
● Conflict ridden due to terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda
● Somalia has a literacy rate of 37%
be home to 3 billion middle class Room is being created for palm oil
people plantations and mining operations.
○ In 1990, South Korea per capita ● Unplanned settlements
income was $6000, by 2015, it rose to ○ Rapid urbanisation often leads to poor
$29,000 people swatting in poor quality homes
○ India’s call centre workers earn good ○ The proportion of people living in slums
middle class wages for Indian has risen to 60% in Mumbai
standards ○ Mumbai’s Dharavi is cramped and
● Poverty reduction chaotic with families living off less
○ 1 billion people have been lifted from than £200 a month
abject poverty (less than $1.25 a day) ● Environmental and resource pressure
since 1990 ○ Air pollution has worsened reducing
● Education life expectancy in China by 5 years.
○ As revenues soaked in South Korea Beijing’s pollution levels regularly
after foreign investment, it started to exceed WHO limits
increase spending on education and ○ Poverty and unemployment, poor
health and is now an OECD member public health and poor educational
with the world’s 11th largest economy standards have also arose.
○ China alone has awarded 30,000 PhDs ● Effects to human wellbeing due to relaxed
in 2012 and Asian countries play a environmental laws
leading role in the quaternary sector ○ In china, workers were poisoned by
especially in biotechnology and chemicals used to treat the glass for
pharmaceuticals
iphones.
● Training
○ In the Ivory Coast, thousands of
○ Transfer of technology has helped
local companies adopt technologies people have suffered ill health after
bought to CHina by TNCs. toxic wastes alleged to produce
○ Chinese banks are now some of the hydrogen sulfide bumped by a ship by
world’s largest TNCs a European TNC
○ China is developing its own products -
e.g. OnePlus or Oppo Phones
Impacts of globalisation in developed countries
● Deindustrialization refers to the decline of manufacturing
industries - either in terms of production or workforce
numbers
● During the 1970s, many European and American factory
workers lost their jobs
○ In Detroit, there was a thriving car industry however
economic restructuring kick started a cycle of
deprivation
○ Declining population and production led the city to be
declare bankruptcy in 2013
● Offshoring (the spatial division of labour) occurred as Asia
became the focus of global manufacturing
● Particular challenges that arose include:
○ Dereliction
■ Baltimore has lost ⅓ of its population leaving 20,000 abandoned properties
■ Those who stay are trapped in a state of negative equity as their home is worth much less
than what they paid for
■
○ Contamination
○ Depopulation
■ Middle class citizens have migrated out of failing neighbourhoods
■ Detroit has lost 1 million residents since the 1950s
■ In the US, depopulation has become linked with race where outmigration has left districts
mainly populated by African Americans
■
○ Crime
■ Rising gun crime in US has been attributed to higher unemployment rate
■ In low income US urban districts, life expectancy is 30 years lower than in affluent areas
■ Drug related crimes have increases as illegal global flows of drugs and people trafficking
have increased
■ Detroit has the highest murder rate of any US city
○ High unemployment
■ Loss of manufacturing jobs leads to high unemployment rate
■ Detroit has yet to replace large numbers of jobs due to the disappearance of the city’s
automobile industries
Migration
Rural-Urban Migration and the growth of megacities
● Urbanisation refers to the movement and increase in portion of people living in urban areas
● 50% of people now live in urban areas globally
● By 2050, this figure will increase to 75%
● A megacity refers to a city with a population of 10 million people
Case Study: Mumbai
● Home to 22 million people
● People are moving from deprived areas such as Bihar
● Big global TNCs such as Starbucks and Hilton are present bring jobs
● Very wealthy people such as Bollywood stars and senior management are billionaires
● Their spending has driven up land prices
● Dharavi is a slum housing area where over 5000 people are employed in the recycling industries
What drives rural urban migration
● Urban Pull factors
○ Healthcare and education may be better, for themselves or for their children, making cities a good
place for young migrants
○ Employment - FDI by TNCS in urban areas provide work opportunities with the companies and
their supply chain
■ Urban areas promise promotion and advancement that are non existent in rural areas
● Rural push factors
○ Poverty, made worse by population growth as there aren't enough jobs
○ Agricultural modernisation requires fewer people to work in labour jobs
● Intervening Obstacles
○ Reduce due to shrinking world technology
■ Mobile phones means that knowledge is shared
■ Budget airlines mean that more people can fly at affordable prices
■ Transport improvements have removed the intervening obstacles
Social Challenges Environmental Challenges
Migration has economic, social, political and environmental costs and benefits for both host and source locations.
Benefits for source location Costs for source location
■ There are non western influence s including TV channels such as Russia Today and Qatar’s
Al Jazeera
○ Tourism
■ Introduce cultural change to distant places they visit
○ Migration
■ Bring language, food, clothing and customs with them
■ Culture does not have to be universal. Britain took language and cricket to many places
but had limited effects on religion. US values of baseball and American football have
struggled to take off in other regions
The spread of a global culture has also led to new awareness of opportunities for disadvantaged groups
● FIFA represents football federation around the world, As well as promoting the sport it promotes
anti-discrimination policies eg FIFA’s #SayNoToRacism campaign
● The global media has turned the Paralympic Games into one of the world's biggest sporting events
celebrating the physical achievements of elite athletes with disabilities
● The success of Paralympic movements show how globalisation can create new opportunities for
disinvited groups
The effects of a westernised global culture and its impacts of the environment and people
● Language
○ Some countries have a single national language, but English is becoming a common second
language
■ English has dominated internet communications
■ Become language of commerce, technology and education
● Traditional Food
○ National dishes and diets reflect the crops and herbs available locally but globalisation has meant
changing diets
■ Changing diets in Asia
● Traditional diets used to be low in meat and high in vegetable
● More meat and fast food is being consumed amongst the emerging middle classes,
especially in China
● Livestock farming has becoming the new focus of Asian acrilustre, leading to
increase in methane emissions
● Crops are imported from across the world to feed China
● Forests have been cleared to make soya cultivation to feed cattle
● Rising affluence puts pressure on particular plants and animal species - e.g. shark
fin soup is important bu expensive. As incomes have risen, the number of sharks
killed have also risen
● Clothing
○ National and local transitions may reflect adaptations of climate (fur in polar climate) or religious
teachings (conservative clothing)
● Religion
○ There are several main religions but may be highly resistant to change
● Traditions
○ Refer Manners that are transmitted from generation to generation
Case Study: Loss of tribal lifestyles in Papua New Guinea
● There are over 7000 cultural groups in Papua NEw GUinea
● People typically live in villages and rely on sustenance farming
● Under colonial rule, Papua New Guinea experienced political, social and economic integration
● Missionaries suppressed tribal warfare
○ Villages were integrated into the colonial economy as plantation worker
○ Intermarriage between cultures meant that couples failed to pass on their native language to
their children
○ Many new guineans wear modern, westernised clothing - t-shirt has become
uniquitaousInedous people are starting to hunt endangered species to sell such as the Tree
Kangaroo
Attitudes to globalisation
Pro attitudes Against attitudes
● Optimistic hyperglobalizers think globalisation ● After the US and UK invasion of IRaq, anti
can bring positive change on a worldwide scale american sentiment grow
● Local culture can still be preserved through ● Anti globalisation protests often occur at G8
World Heritage Site List - policies can be or G20 summits
established that protect these important ● Pessimistic hyperglobalists believe languages
places from too much change are disappearing as English continues to
● Some point to evidence that absolute poverty spread
has decreased - 1 billion people have escaped ● The French government is supportive french
poverty ($1.25 dollars a day) filmmakers and subsidised work filmed in
● french language
○ Under content law, 40% of TV output
must be French
● China has strict quotes against foreign films,
allowing only 34 each year
● Environmentalist believe globalisation
promotes negative externalities in the pursuit
of economic growth
○ Amnesty International have caused
Shell and Exxonmobil of destroying the
environment in Nigeria
○ Indian consumers have campaigned
against US soft drink TNCs against
drawing too much groundwater to the
point local areas suffer
● Marxists may oppose globalisation believing it
exploits the proterliart giving money to the
boirgiouse
○ Oxfam argued that the richest 1% own
99% of the global wealth
● Feminist may oppose globalisation believing it
leads to exploitation of women - e.g. in sex
trafficking, position
● Nationalist critique - globalization leads to
erosion of nation states of sovereignty.
○ Believe that migrants threaten their national culture and that minority groups pose economic and
major cultural threat to European societies
○ Staff at Charlie Hebdo were killed by gunmen illustrating the tensions that arise in multicultural
Europe
● Transboundary water conflicts
○ Nile Basin
■ Significant demand for water in the NIle Basin
■ 94% is used by Sudan and Egypt
■ Ethiopia wants to use the Nile River for HEP plants and industrial development. However
Egypt believe this will reduce the capacity of its own Lake Nasser.
■ High population growth is increasing demand but there is diminishing supply due to
desertification near the Sahel region and increased evaporation from Climate change
■ Deteriorating water quality has increased the prevalence of waterborne disease
○ Mekong Delta
■ 7th longest river, flowing through several countries
■ Growing demand from China to use the water due to population growth, industrialization,
growing household demand for water etc
■ Damming the river to generate hydroelectric power for China would restrict the water
downstream
■ Laos requires water for from the river for agriculture
■ The delta in Vietnam supports 40% of its population
■ Thailand could also use the water to generate electricity through hydroelectric power
Attempts have been made in some locations to control the spread of globalisation
● Controlling the spread of globalisation by Censorship
○ China
■ China’s rulers are intolerant against criticism from its own people
■ Hundreds of people were killed in the army crackdown of Chinese students who
demonstrated against communism
■ Google has withdrawn its services from China in 2010
■ The great firewall of China restricts usage of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube
■ Amnesty International reported that China has the largest number of imprisoned
journalists
○ Violent or sexual imagery is often censored in many countries
○ A dark web also exists which is much harder to control
● Limiting Immigration
○ UK
■ Immigration is ranked among the top 5 issues for British people
■ Since 2010, a 5 Tier Point system has been placed to control immigration by checking that
economic immigrants process skills or resources that the UK needs
■ The COnservative government pledged to cut net migration to 100,000 people a year
■ This target has not be met because:
● Fewer British people have left the UK to live overseas
● The £-€ exchange has wakened, meaning the cost of living in Europe has
increased
● Refugees are allowed to remain in the UK under human rights law
○ Illegal immigration (such as from Mexico to the USA) is often hard to tackle as.
○ European countries are obligated to take refugees irrespective of economic migration rules
● Trade protectionism
○ Involves restrictive quotas, tariffs and regulations on foreign TNCs
○ Protectionist belvie this is important to protect the economy, the standard of living and the
dominant culture
○ Trump recently announced tariffs on steel imported from Canada, Mexico and the EU
Some groups seek to retain their cultural identity within countries and seek to retain control of culture and
physical resources , whereas others embrace its economic advantages.
Case Study: First Nations
● Canada is home to 6 groups of indigenous people called First Nations
● They lived there way before European settlement, near the Yukon River basins
● Petroleum development (tar sands and fracking) have already disrupted the way of life for the people
● Over 200 million barrels of conventional oil has been extracted since 1920s
● Concerns include:
○ Death of trout and fish in oil polluted lakes
○ Drugs and alcohol use have increased
Local Sourcing - Costs and benefits
Local groups and NGOs promote local sourcing ( Transition towns) as one response to globalisation by increasing
sustainability (A: actions of local pressure groups); this has economic, social and environmental costs and
benefits
● Globalisation has resulted in cheaply produced food, which has driven up consumption
● One response to this is local sourcing by local groups and NGOs, aiming to improve sustainability
● Local sourcing refers to the local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and
promotion of local history, culture and identity
● Transition towns are settlements where individuals and business have adopted a bottom up approach
where the aim is to make the community more sustainable and less reliant on global trade - e..g Todmorden
○ In Todmorden, the food on sale is locally grown
○ THe Incredible Edible Todmorden created 40 public fruit and vegetable gardens and has reducal
educational talks
● Negatives
○ Locally sourced goods tend to be more expensive - this may not be completely rational from an
economic perspective
○ Will negatively affect development in Africa and Asia where they used to be sourced from
○ Tomatoes grown during winter requiring heating which results in a large carbon footprint anyway
● Positives
○ NGOs such as Greenpeace argue that importing of food is not cheap as there are long term costs
to society from greenhouse emission.
■ For poor people, this is often not a compelling argument
■ Locally sourced foods tends to be seen as a middle class luxury
● They have reduce carbon emissions as they travel shorter distances
● They create jobs and income which can be reinvested into society