Is the world really that small? IB Student Guide to Globalisation Saskia Rock-Williams Joie-Anne Christe-Veitch Kaitlyn Eccleston
CONTENTS The Introduction 3 10 Technology In the introduction learn the basics of globalisation and find out the reasons for it.
11 Environment
13 Culture
Hyperglobalists 5
15 Facts and Figures
Anti-‐globalists 6
17 Glossary
Alter-‐globalists 7
18 Sources
The Economy 8
Introduction
The Basics Well, first of all what is it? What is globalisation? This is the process in which an art, language, idea or organization is recognized worldwide having an international influence being interconnected and multinational. It is everywhere! It allows us in
H ow do es globa lization we were in a specific location or nation. You affect t av erag e he person? see globalisation when you walk past a McDonalds or to have access to things we wouldn’t unless
simply logging into your Google account, it’s all part of globalisation. There are many advantages and disadvantages in globalisation. But, the question is, how does it affect us? How does globalisation affect the average person? This process has been going on for many years but gradually is speeding up over time as we become more connected. TNC’s and MNC’s are from MEDC’s like the USA or the UK. They are major contributors to globalisation. For example, Ford the car company is worldwide having many stores and producers located in the UK. But not only that they invest in LEDC’s as well.
For example: Coca Cola is just one example of a multinational corporation (MNC). This company is American but sells their product all over the world. The picture below is a Coca Cola billboard in
What are the reasons for globalization? There are many reasons why globalisation has become a process and not just an industrial approach or manner over centuries. Essential attributes that have influenced globalisation include employment, communication, trade and transportation. Let’s start with employment. Globalisation reduces labour costs and promotes high skill levels. Therefore industries can take
Religion
advantage of cheap labour by producing things in other countries. If you want to learn more about employment check out page. 7. The next attribute is communication. This is also essential to globalisation because how are people supposed to have conversations in different countries without the Internet or mobile technology? The answer is they
Globalisation in history had and still has a lot to do with religion. This began especially when the Europeans particularly started colonising internationally. Then globalisation grew in a different way by religion. Distinctly Christianity, as European explorers were keen on spreading their religion to different districts. The picture above shows Europe and the concentration of the Christianity religion.
can’t. Are you tech savvy? If yes, then head over to page. Following is trade, many organisation particularly the WTO want there to be free trade between countries, find out more at page. 9. Improvement of transportation means the more produce we have the larger our ships will become
The Silk Road
This route got its name from the transmission of Chinese silk over the course of the Han Dynasty. The Silk Road a course that was between China and the Mediterranean Sea that supported the swapping of knowledge and practices. Not to mention, the trade of produce like silk, spices, and many other goods from the East. In fact in the present day the clothing industry is one of the most globalized, as textiles, clothing and footwear are imported across the world, either to be made or to be sold.
Hyperglobalists International Monetary Fund The IMF gives advice to developing countries or especially countries with economic difficulties. Founded over more than 60 years ago and having membership with of exactly 188 countries, the IMF feels that economic globalization has brought significant amount of advantages to nations around the world.
The World Trade Organization The WTO is an organization that acts as the traffic lights with nations and trade. Created from negotiations in 1995 substituting for the GATT. The WTO strive to promote stability, participation, support, transparency and openness. Commending globalization, the WTO discuss terms around lowering tariffs, having fair-trade and elevate having an open-mind to other nations service markets. Did you know? That
is the fair-‐trade this sign. You see this logo on fair-‐trade produce.
Who are they? Hyperglobalists believe that having separate or national economies are less pivotal as the role of TNC’s and MNC’s are becoming more prominent and the ideology of being interconnected and interdependent is becoming a significant role in globalization. This has lead to reduced political constraints and limitations making it easier for everyone to extend to other nations boundaries, either via computerized contracts immediately allowing for money and goods to be delivered. Also, believing that corporations are seen as multinational not national as workforces and produce should be dispensed all around the world. To summarise hyperglobalists have credence in the fact that our world should be one nation.
Anti-‐Globalists
Who are they? Anti-globalists are against all MNC’s and feel that many of these corporations deliberately damaging the work conditions and labour safety in the hands of maximizing products. They are very keen on the social impact that globalisation has on us, the societies. Many antiglobalists aim towards sustainable development, human rights, and fair-trade. Also, they believe that big corporations have a
target demographic of people and small or local corporations which include people that do not have the privilege to travel as they wish across different borders, utilize natural and human resources as needed. 1. Peoples Global Action The PGA is a national group of social movements who hold campaigns and vote for social and environmental equality. They work all over the world, having campaigns in Geneva, Mexico and more.
Did you know? That in 2011, Americans brought 399 Billion-dollar worth of products made in China!
2. Zapatista Army of National Liberation Known as the EZLN and made up of mostly indigenous people of Mexico the EZLN believe in keeping their culture and the beliefs of the Mayans. They vote for having control of the land they and their ancestors grew on, the local resources and much more. The EZLN has refrained from using weapons and are currently using new strategies. Below is their flag.
Alter-‐globalists Another world is possible.
Some organizations are: The Independent Media Center is a group of journalists that report on all AntiWTO protests since 1999.
Who are they? Alter-globalists love the idea of social globalization and the idea of interconnectedness but detest all the disadvantages of economic globalization, as they believe it does not encourage human principles such as
The ATTAC monitor the WTO as they believe that there is something needs to be changed about the tax on foreign exchange.
labor rights, protection of cultures and peace. The Alter-globalization movement created to change the political, economic, environmental and cultural disadvantages of globalization. Also, they fight for the equality of third world and developing countries (LEDC’s). Asking for equal human rights and better treatment of economies for a better world.
Did you know? Since 2001 when China joined the WTO the USA have lost around 50,000 manufacturing jobs.
THE ECONOMY Let’s start with the advantages.
Still don’t understand the absolute advantage? Imagine your friend Sophie could make three bracelets in an hour. But your other friend Katie could only make 2 bracelets in a hour. Sophie is more effective and productive in making bracelets. Therefore, Sophie has an absolute advantage.
Globalization has lead to the idea of free trade. This means that different nations can specialize in producing goods because they can exchange other goods and resources with other nations. Isn’t that great? When a nation can be experts at producing certain goods this means they have an absolute advantage. Therefore, they can make these goods at a lower cost.
When nations have an absolute advantage it has a significant benefit to their nation, some of which include, lower consumer prices, larger abroad markets and a wider range of goods. But in order to make things you need worker. Also, it increases the rate of employment and is fantastic for countries that have a low employment rate.
For example: America’s leading export are civilian aircrafts because that one of their absolute advantages. But their leading import is crude oil, because they don’t have that resource as much as another nation.
More advantages: Investment by TNC’s with LEDC’s can be a great advantage. Inward investment can help countries by not only supplying them skills and jobs but with technology and resources. TNC’s also bring foreign currency when buying the resources, and services they need. Many organizations particularly the WTO have programs like Trade 4 Aid. The goal is to use the extra money made by the inward investment to help the local community for education, health and more.
Economic globalization also helped many countries rise out of extreme poverty and even increases the growth rate. There have been improvements of GDP, therefore higher per capita incomes. In 2004 the OECD Growth Project that nations with at least 10% trade exposure had at least 4% increase in the income per capita. If nations such as the UK maintain competitiveness then growth with come in the long term as societies becoming demanding.
But economic globalization has disadvantages too. Globalisation mostly only works with MEDC’s the countries with all the money. The richest countries preside over all the LEDC’S, having control of world trade. The North and West mostly dictate to the LEDC’s what to provide for them. This means that they can have the materials and produce cheaply. Inward investment isn’t a promise. TNC’s can’t assure that extra wealth will benefit their local communities. Also, if TNC’s make extra money most of them don’t allow the extra profits to go back to the country it’s produced in but from where the company originates.
Not to mention, that many LEDC’s won’t have many local businesses left because they have been previously driven out of business by the TNC’s that have moved to their country. For TNC’s it’s cheaper to produce goods in a different country, therefore many local people become unemployed from the businesses that have been shut down by financial obligations or by replacements. Globalisation also widens the gap between rich and poor. The poorer are moving into extreme poverty and the rich are very wealthy.
In 1970s nations, which include Thailand, Mexico, and Brazil, made a profit from the investors from the TNC’s, but with all the competition these business didn’t work and the investors took back their money. This creates lots of financial problems. Places like Africa, which already has extreme poverty, could get even poorer as they aren’t as educated and don’t have all the technology like MEDC’s do.
Economic Globalisation in India
There are numerous amounts of advantages that India has gained but the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Economic globalisation has affected mostly the health aspect of the Indian society. This nation particularly suffers with the gap between rich and poor. Also, inequality is also significant as this leads to battles for resources and other inexorable consequences.
The Indian Flag
Technology We are getting so attached to new technologies that we are not going to be able to depend on ourselves. Economies have improved due to technology and also it has helped many countries grow in terms of population. Technology is essential to help the growth of an economy, creating new jobs for people every day. Did you know?
That just eighteen years ago the Internet became popular! Did you know?
That fifteen years ago the search engine “Google” was founded. Did you know?
That every 60 seconds a new app is created.
Globalisation and Technology Large changes in technology have taken place over the last few years. This has affected the way cultures relate and economies work. The Internet allows us to share information 24.7 all around the world. We are able to search basically anything on the Internet in today’s world. The Internet has also allowed us to start businesses and to market different products around the world. Advanced technology is one of the main reasons why globalization has increased over the past few years. In communication technology has become faster, smaller and therefore more affordable for the consumers. In transportation technology, the cars have become faster and bigger. They have become more environmentally friendly and affordable. Overall technology has helped globalization become bigger. People all over the world are more connected than ever before due to telecommunications. This is communicating over distance, for example telephones, telegraphs or broadcasting.
The Environment There are many advantages and disadvantages of globalization on the environment but first lets start with the positives.
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The main positive impact that globalization has on the environment is that there are improvements in the use of resources and the raise of awareness, this has lead to research that is being done that creates greener technology. Globalization has helped in many ways in improving the use of resources and saving the environment by improving education and incomes. The World Bank is an example of this as it has successfully helped Mexico City in the 1990's to reduce the number of unhealthy ozone days. Due to globalization multinational corporations have been doing research and creating technology to reduce the impact of humans on the environment called green technology. Some examples of greener technology are hybrid cars and the new ‘green’ Apple Mac computer.
Below are more positives and find out about the negative as well. Hybrid cars are a green option for cars and they typically achieved greater fuel economy and lower emissions than normal cars, which results in less emission. Apple has stated that MacBook has been built “using materials that are highly recyclable and free of many of the harmful substances present in other computers.” The software and hardware have also been designed to work together to make the computer more energy efficient and to “minimize the carbon footprint of the Mac-Book.”
Now it’s time for the negatives. Globalization has also had a negative impact on the environment through global warming which is due to greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by a growth of industrialization in the developing world and by a heavy reliance on fossil fuels. Carbon release into the atmosphere, which has caused global warming, has resulted in increases of sea levels as ice sheets and glaciers melt which has an extensive impact on biodiversity and weather systems. Average global temperatures have risen approximately 0.6°C since the late 19th century due to humanity’s emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Due to globalization, transportation and the gases produced has become a large contributor to global warming.
Did you know? Only 500 corporations use 2/3 of all trade, worldwide!
Culture
What is Culture? Cultures are the ideas, language, customs and social behaviors of a particular group of people or society. This could mean the music, the clothes they wear, or even just the language they speak. Read below to find out the affect globalization has on cultures of today. H ow do es globa lization How is globalization changing the music of today’s affect c u lture? world? Music will blend and be mixed together because it is being influenced by other cultures. We will also have a wider variety of artists, genres and music in general. Popular music influences different Cultural and economic boundaries cultures around the world and different kinds of are broken because of the music will be shared with the different cultures. globalization of music. Globalization The music industry tries their best to meet the provides many different requirements of the different consumers around opportunities for music industries to the world. Yuko Aoyama, an industrial geographer share their music with the world and once said, “Just as in any other industry, for a make a large amount of money. music genre to gain popularity, it necessitates the expansion to an export market near and far.” This means that for a genre to become popular, it needs to become popular in other countries and cultures.
Music
How is globalization changing the clothes we wear? Like music, fashion in today’s world will all be morphed together because of globalization, and also Americanization. This is the influence the United States of America has on different cultures of other countries. Sweatshops The clothes you are wearing were most likely made in a sweatshop. Sweatshops are factories that have unacceptable working conditions. The workers are paid poorly and the buildings are usually not suitable for people to work in. Sweatshops are located in 3rd world countries (for example, China) that have not access to the world around them. Their government controls the amount of money they get paid daily which is usually not much because they want to tax the profits they make.
How is globalization changing the languages we speak? Language is a code for the social interaction of humans. Over 375 million people are claiming English to be their first language and over 750 million people are claiming it as their second language. It is the most disperse language, spreading all over the world. English is changing quickly, and many people are going to have to speak it on a daily basis. This is because of globalization and also Americanization. At least 3,000 out of 7,000 languages are going to be lost because of globalization. Globalization is endangering many different languages around the world. As less and less people use their local language, it eventually dies out and is not spoken anymore. As globalization expands, the loss of human languages increases.
Fashion and Globalization in History
In 2008 there were more that 40 cities around the world that attended fashion week. Just in 1943 Americans couldn’t attend Paris because of the World War II to see all the latest trends. In 2005 the USA brought one billion garments made in China even high-‐end companies.
+ Facts and Figures
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$6 BILLION A YEAR IS THE AVERAGE COST FOR ALL OF EDUCATION
80% Of the foreign direct investment is distributed to just 20 countries. KEY: Low-income cities Middle-income cities High-income cities
This Pie chart shows the GDP per capita of low-income, middle-income and highincome cities between 19972008.
Glossary Words that you should definitely know! WTO-‐ World Trade Organizations Consume – To buy goods or services Inflation – Relating to Economics, it is a general increase in prices Integrate – Combining one thing with another making a whole IMF – International Monetary Fund Monetary-‐ relating to money or currency Multinational-‐ including or involving several countries Stock Market-‐ a stock exchange Tariff-‐ a tax to be paid on particular imports Trade Barrier-‐ any policy that restricts trade LEDC-‐ Less economically developed country MEDC-‐ Less economically developed country Ubiquitous-‐ Appearing or found everywhere Investment-‐ the act of devoting something with an expectation of a result Welfare-‐ the health, happiness, and fortunes of a group of people Unprecedented-‐ never done or known before Trend-‐ a general direction in which something is developing
It has been said that arguing against globalisation is like arguing against the laws of gravity. – Kofi Annan