3.1 Globalisation Flashcards
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
globalisation
Globalisation is ‘the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through eh movement of goods, services, and capital across border. There are also broader cultural, political, and environmental dimensions of globalisation.’ IMF
Globalisation involves widening and deepening global connections, interdependence and flows (commodities, capital, information, migrants and tourists)
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
economic globalisation
the growth of TNCs accelerates cross-border exchanges of raw materials, components, finished manufactured goods, shares, portfolio investment and purchasing
information and communications technology (ICT) supports the growth of complex spatial divisions of labour for firms and a more International economy
e.g. online purchasing using Amazon on a smartphone
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
social globalisation
international immigration has created extensive family networks that cross national borders- world city-societies become multi-ethnic and pluralistic
global improvements in education and health can be seen over time, with rising world life expectancy and literacy levels, although the changes are by no means uniform or universal
social interconnectivity has grown over time due to the spread of ‘universal connections’ such as social media, the internet and email
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
cultural globalisation
western cultural traits come to dominate in some territories e.g. the ‘Americanisation’ or ‘McDonaldisation’ of tastes and fashion
globalisation and hybridisation are. more complex outcome that take place as old cultures merge with globalising influences
the circulation of Idas and information has been accelerated through the media
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
political globalisation
the growth of trading blocks (e.g. EU, NAFTA) allows TNCs to merge and make acquisitions of firms in neighbouring countries while reduced trade restrictions and tariffs help markets to grow
global concerns such a as free trades credit crunch and the global response to natural disasters
The World Bank, the IMF and the WTO work internationally to harmonise national economies
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
interdependence
if two places become over-reliant on financial and/or political connections with one another, then they have become interdependent
the success of one place depends on the success of other places
for example, if an economic recession adversely affects the host country for migrant workers, then the economy of the source country my shrink too, due to falling remittances
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
flows of capital
at a global scale, major capital flows are reputed daily through the world’s stock markets
a range of businesses, including investment banks and pension funds, buy and sell money in different currencies to make profits
in 2013, the volume of these foreign exchange transactions reached US$3 trillion per day
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
flows of commodities
valuable raw materials such as fossil fuels, food and minerals have always been traded between nations
flows of manufactured goods have multiplied in size in recent years, fuelled by low production costs in China and even lower-waged economies , such as Bangladesh and Vietnam
in 2015 global GDP fell just short of US$80 trillion in value, of this around one-third was generated by trade flows in agricultural and industrial commodities
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
flows in information
the internet has brought real-the communication with distant places, allowing goods and services to bought at the click of. button
social networks have ballooned in size and influence, with Facebook gaining 1.5 billion users by 2015
on demand TV has increased data usage further
information is stored in enormous ‘server farms’ such as the Microsoft Data Centre in Washington State and Facebook’s data centre in Sweden (cold temperatures reduce the costs of cooling the hard drives)
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
flows of tourists
many of the world’s air passengers are holiday makers
budget airlines have brought a ‘pleasure periphery’ of distant places within easy reach for the moneyed tourists of high-income nations
increasingly, people from emerging economies travel abroad too using budget airlines
China is now the world’s biggest spender on International travel with 120 million outbound trips made in 2014
3.1a Globalisation, Interdependence and Flows
flows of migrants
of all global flows, the permanent movement of people still faces the greatest number of obstacles due to border controls and immigration laws
as a result most governments have a ‘pick and mix’ attitude towards global flow: they embrace trade flows but attempt to resits migrant flows unless there is special need (such as Qatar’s encouragement of Indian construction workers)
despite restrictions, there are record flows of people recorded every year
the combined number of economic migrants and refugees worldwide reached almost one-quarter of a billion in 2013; the same year, around US$500 billion of remittances were sent home by migrants
3.1b Transport, Technology and Globalisation
19th century: railways
in the 1800s, railway networks expanded globally
By 1904, the 9000km Trans-Siberian Railway connected Moscow with China and Japan
3.1b Transport, Technology and Globalisation
19th century: the telegraph
the electric telegraph was the first long-distance instant communication technology (1830s)
the Trans-Atlantic telegraph cable in the 1860’s replaced a 3 week boat journey with instant Morse Code messages
3.1b Transport, Technology and Globalisation
19th century: steam ships
Britain became the leading world powering the 180s using steam technology
steam ships and trains moved goods and armies quickly along trade routes into Asia and Africa
steam ships increased the spend and cargo capacity dramatically from sailing ships
3.1b Transport, Technology and Globalisation
20th century: jet aircraft
the arrival of the intercontinental Boeing 747 in the 1960s made international travel more commonplace, while recent expansion of cheap flights has brought it to the masses in richer nations
3.1b Transport, Technology and Globalisation
20th century: containerisation
around 200 million individual container movements take place each year
some commentators describe shipping g as the ‘backbone’ of the global economy since the 1950s
everything can be transported efficiently across the planet using intermodal containers, making consumer goods cheaper
container ships are soft efficient that the transport costs of moving an iPhone or television from China to the UK are less than £1
the Chinese vessel Cosco can carry 13,000 containers
3.1b Transport, Technology and Globalisation
spatial division of labour
the common practice e long TNCs of moving low-skilled work abroad (or ‘offshore’) to places where labour costs are low
important skilled management jobs are retained at the TNC’s headquarters in its country of origin
3.1c Communication Technology
‘shrinking world’ and space-time compression
shrinking world results from technology causing distant places start to feel closer and take less time to reach
the time-space compression is an effect of increased connectivity with more distant place and changes the conception of barriers to flows
this is due to the costs of communicating over distance falling rapidly during the development of technology (and specifically social media)
3.1c Communication Technology
mobile phones
mobile phones have become common since their invention in the mid-1990s
‘smart’ devices (phones, watches, tablets, etc) has extended the information flows to locations beyond landline networks
reduced mobile phone costs (link to global shift?) expanded usage from an expensive business tool to an ubiquitous consumer product
mobile phones are used even in developing countries with a lack of communication infrastructure
by 2015 70% of people in Africa owned a mobile phone
3.1c Communication Technology
internet
internet access became common from the mid 1990s, followed by fast broadbands
around 50% of the world’s population uses internet
broadband internet in the 1980s and 1990s meant that large amounts of data could be moved quickly through cyberspace
3.1c Communication Technology
social networking
social networks allow people to communicate instantly for free
in 2014, 5 billlion Facebook ‘likes’ were registered each day
the development of social media (Facebook 2006, Instagram 2010, WhatsApp 2010) enabled much cheaper communication between friends and family than landline telephone, leading to space-time compression
this has also enabled migrants to maintain stronger bonds with their distant family
3.1c Communication Technology
economic banking
the rise of mobile phones has revolutionised life for individuals and businesses through internet banking
internet banking allows migrants to transmit remittances of money back to their home countries (increasing leakages?)
Kenya:
one third of the country’s GDP is transferred between phone users
mobile banking is used widely in bills, fees and checking market prices for selling produce
women in rural areas can secure micro-loan due to evidence of good credit from internet banking
3.1c Communication Technology
fibre optics
land based and sub-sea fibre optic cables in the 2000s increased the speed and volume of data transmission through cyberspace, and allow instant global communications
GPS use continuously broadcasting satellites as beacons to triangulate information
SATNAV used for delivery
electronic banking extends capital flows beyond the physical banking network
