3.1 - What Is Globalisation And Why Has It Accelerated Flashcards
What is the definition of globalisation
Involves widening and deepening global connections, interdependence and flows (commodities, capital, information, migrants and tourists).
Globalisation is the process of increasing interconnectivity between countries. Globalisation is caused by the development of new technologies and political and economic decisions (e.g. removing tariffs)
What are the 4 types of globalisation
- Economic: the growth of TNCs, the spreading of investment and rapid growth of world trade
- Cultural: people around the world having increasingly similar clothes, food, music, values often western in origin
- Political: the spread of ideologies, global connections eg the UN and the view of western democracies
- Environmental: the impact of pollution from one country to another, global warming seen as a global threat and international climate change agreements
- Demographic: increase in migration and tourism creating fluid and mixed populations
What types of flows does globalisation increase
- goods and services (including commodities) - products and commodities, that can be bought, and are often made or grown in other countries
- capital - flows of money between people, banks, businesses and governments
- people (including migrants and tourists)
- information e.g. data transferred between businesses and people, often using the internet
What developments in the 19th century helped accelerate globalisation
- 1802 steam trains invented
- 1830s public railways (Liverpool and Manchester)
- 1830s the electric telegraph was the first long-distance instant communication technology
- 1840s steam ships replaced sailing ships and increased speed and cargo capacity dramatically
- 1860s The Trans-Atlantic telegraph cable replaced a 3 week boat journey with instant Morse Code messages
What developments in the 20th century helped accelerate globalisation
- 1960s the Boeing 747 ‘jumbo jet’ lowered the cost of international air travel, bring international tourism within the purchasing capabilities of the middle class reducing travel time for passengers to hours, rather than days, replacing steam ships.
- Rise of containerisation: Dramatically sped up goods trade and reduced costs, making consumer goods cheaper, most goods are transported like this. standardised metal boxes quickly transferable from a ship to a lorry or railway making process easily mechanised
What is the shrinking world and time space compression
The physical distance between places remains unchanged, but new technologies reduce the time taken to transport goods/people/communicate information.
time-space compression: an effect of increased connectivity with more distant place, and an effect of the shrinking world.
There is also more widespread knowledge about distant places, so they feel less exotic. The friction of distance has been reduced.
How have mobile phones accelerated globalisation
- Made it easier to communicate with people no matter how far away
- Used even in countries with a lack of communications infrastructure. By 2015, 70% of people in Africa owned a mobile phone.
How has the internet accelerated globalisation
- Internet access became common from the mid 1990s, followed by fast broadband.
- Close to 50% of the world’s population uses internet.
- Broadband internet in the 1980s and 90s meant that large amounts of data could be moved quickly through cyberspace
How have social networks accelerated globalisation
- allows people to communicate instantly and without charge (with an internet connection)
- The development of social media (Facebook 2006, Instagram 2010, WhatsApp 2010) enabled much cheaper communication between friends and family than landline telephone.
- This has led to space-time compression, where the cost (time or money) of communicating over distance has fallen rapidly, so people can communicate regardless of distance.
How has electronic banking accelerated globalisation
- The rise of mobile phones means they can be used for economic banking, revolutionising life for individuals and businesses
- In Kenya People in towns and cities use mobiles to make payments for utility bills and school fees. Whereas in rural areas, fishermen and farmers use mobiles to check market prices before selling produce.
How have fibre optic cables accelerated globalisation
- Land-based and sub-sea fibre optic cables in the 2000s increased the speed and volume of data transmission through cyberspace, and allows instant global communications.
