Globalisation Flashcards
Methods of transport
Railway, telegraph, steam ships, jet aircrafts, containerisation
Methods of communication
Internet, social networking, electronic banking, fibre optics, mobile phones
When was containerisation created?
1956 (by Malcolm Mclean)
How many tonnes could by moved per hour by labourers in 1965 and 1970? (containerisation)
1965 - 1.7 tonnes per hour
1970 - 30 tonnes per hour
Political and economic factors that led to the acceleration of globalisation
Privatisation, deregulation, free trade (encouraged by trade blocs)
Who supported privatisation?
Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, IGOs
What is privatisation?
The transfer of business/industry from public to private ownership
Examples of privatisation in the UK
- British Telecom in 1984
- Local bus services in 1985 (Transport Act)
- British Gas in 1986
- British Rail in 1993
What is a trade bloc?
A type of intergovernmental agreement where barriers to trade (e.g. tariffs) in a world region are reduced or eliminated among the participating states
Advantages of trade blocs
Easier trade, cheaper prices, access to wider market
Disadvantages of trade blocs
Some places aren’t in trade blocs (e.g. due to physical barriers, such as The Sahel), stops trade elsewhere
Measurements of globalisation
- KOF Globalisation Index (founded in 2002)
- AT Kearney Index
- IMF Annual Report
- KAOPEN Index (founded in 2005)
What does the KOF Globalisation Index measure?
Measures the extent to which countries are socially, politically and economically linked to others
What does the AT Kearney Index measure?
Uses measures of business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement to rank cities in terms of the quantity and quality of their connections
What is global economic shift?
The shift of primary/secondary industries to tertiary/quaternary industries
What percentage of jobs in the UK are tertiary or quaternary?
70%
What’s the name of Gunnar Mydral’s theory and what does it explain?
Cumulative causation (cycle of prosperity, multiplier effect), growth from growth from growth
What happened in Detroit?
Deindustrialisation/decline of motor industries (Ford, General Motors), which led to high unemployment rates and a decreased city population
What is high waged economic migration?
When nations, regions and cities are strongly connected to similar places globally through production and consumption of goods/services, they experience flows of elite migrants
What are the names of some Russian Obligarchs and what are their net worths?
- Roman Abramovich, net worth of $8.3 billion (in 2015)
- Len Blavatnik, net worth of £17.1 billion (in 2015)
- Alexander Knaster, net worth of £2.2 billion
Example of high and low waged economic migration
- High waged = Russia
- Low waged = Poland
What is meant by culture?
Tradition, accepted norms, religion and beliefs, language, art and symbols, values
Attempts to control the spread of globalisation and the rise of localism (box headers)
- Attitudes towards migration in the UK
- Trade protectionism
- Fairtrade and ethical consumption
- Protecting cultural identity
- Rise in far right
- Rise of localism
- Resources recycling
How do Chinese governments attract FDI?
- ‘Open door’ policy
- Hukou system
- Agricultural communities dismantled (farmers can now earn a profit)
- ‘Instant cities’
- Special economic zones (Shantou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen)
What are special economic zones?
Areas of land set aside by governments in locations well placed for international trade
How do British governments attract FDI?
- Privatisation
- Free-market liberalism (neoliberalism)
- Sovereign wealth funds (help fund new infrastructure projects)
- Trade blocs
- Sunday trading (1994)
China - loss of productive land (fact)
16mn acres lost to urbanisation in the last 20 years
China - environmental and resource pressure (fact)
100 cities suffer with extreme water shortages and 360mn students don’t have access to safe drinking water
TNC located in China
Lenovo
China - infrastructure investment (fact)
2016 longest high-speed rail system was complete
China - waged work (fact)
Employees work an average of 40 hours a week
China - poverty reduction (fact)
Reduced by 680mn between 1981-2010
China - education and training (fact)
In 2014, 7.2mn students graduated from university
China - disadvantages to the environment - globalisation
- Air and water pollution - 70% of China’s rivers and lakes are polluted
- Land degradation - 40% of China’s farmland is suffering from degradation
- Over-exploitation of resources - Oil, coal and iron
- Loss of biodiversity - habitats lost as they are destroyed to make room for infrastructure
Detroit’s size (by ranking) during 1920s compared to now
- 1920s = 4th
- Now = 18th
What year was Detroit considered bankrupt and with what debt?
2013, with debts of $18.5 billion
What fraction of families in Detroit are below the US federal government’s official poverty level?
1/3
What was Detroit’s murder rate in 2014?
45 per 100,000 people
What fraction of murders in Detroit are drug related?
2/3
How many Russians live in London?
100,000
For every flat bought by Russians for £10mn, how much is spent per year?
£4.5mn
What’s a disadvantage of Russian high wage economic migration?
It squeezes out residents from Knightsbridge and Mayfair, and 20% of all properties above £5mn are brought by Russian clients/speakers
Why has Russian high wage economic migration occured?
Economic recession in Moscow
How much has annual turnover increased following low wage international migration?
20-30%
How much money do low wage migrants contribute to the economy?
£25bn
Average childbirth between foreign women and native women?
Foreign women have an average 2.28 compared to 1.89 in the UK for childbirth
Following the first year of Session 8, how many people became unemployed?
275,000
Percentage of Polish unemployment in 2005?
18.2%
What year was the first Paralympics held in London?
1948
What is the shrinking world effect?
Thanks to technology, distant places start to feel closer and take less time to reach
What is FDI?
A financial injection made by a TNC into a nation’s economy, either to build new facilities or to acquire, or merge with, an existing firm already based there
What is meant by ‘trickle down’?
The positive impacts on peripheral regions (and poorer people) caused by the creation of wealth in core regions (and among richer people)
What are sovereign wealth funds?
Government-owned investment fund and banks
What does ‘switched on’ mean?
Switched on places are those nations, regions or cities that are strongly connected to other places through the production and consumption of goods and services
What does ‘switched off’ mean?
Places that are poorly connected politically, economically, physically or environmentally
Example of companies with large global production networks
Kraft Foods and IBM (electronic firm) - both have 30,000 suppliers providing different items that they need
How many different suppliers provide parts for BMW’s Mini?
2500, some suppliers are in the EU (which allows them to avoid import tariffs), whereas the engine comes from an offshore factory in Brazil
What incident disrupted global supply chains?
2011 Japanese tsunami
What is meant by ‘glocalisation’?
In order to maximise profit, many TNCs have, additionally, adapted their products to suit local tastes (e.g. ‘Spiderman India’)
Example of a switched off country and why its switched off
North Korea - ruled by an autocratic leader, citizens don’t have access to social media or the internet, there are no undersea data cables connecting N. Korea with anywhere else
What kind of site can deindustrialisation lead to and what does this promote?
Brown field sites, promotes anti-social behavior (e.g. graffiti)
What is meant by interdependence and what causes this?
Interdependence between countries means that they are dependent on one another in some way, and it is caused mainly by international migration
How many different cultural groups live in Papa New Guinea?
7000
When did a British colony arrive in Papa New Guinea?
1884
When was copper found in Papa New Guinea and what did this cause?
1964, resulted in devaluing larger and local ecosystems
What year was the British Nationality Act passed and what did it do?
1948, granted members of the British Empire the right to live in the UK
What year was the Race Relations Act passed and what did it do?
1968, created rights for employment and housing, and governments were now held responsible for legislating (make laws) to prevent discrimination
What is meant by ‘Americanisation’?
The action of making a person or thing American in character or nationality, e.g. fast food chains locating all over the world
If people are Hyper Globalisers, what is their view? Are there any examples of this?
Hyper Globalisers are of the opinion that globalisation is real and everywhere, leading to a homogenous society. For example, TNC marketing strategies create similar consumer demand across cultures
If people are Transformalists, what is their view? Are there any examples of this?
That cultures are dynamic in their response to globalisation- all cultures will change, but in different ways, leading to new hybrid cultures. For example, in Britain, we eat an Indian-inspired dish called Chicken Tikka Masala
If people are Skeptics, what is their view? Are there any examples of this?
That cultures will not change, even with globalisation - languages and local traditions will never be lost. For example, Japan still has its culture
What are the causes of cultural diffusion in China?
- Disposable income (from growing middle class) spent on food
- Migrants/foreigners bring overseas dishes over
- Americanisation leads to TNCs, such as McDonalds, to locate all over the country
- China has poor land, which leads to more imports
What was the average amount of meat eaten in China, and how much has it increased to?
20kg to 50kg
What percentage of China’s population has diabetes
9.7% (compared to 11% in America)
How many obese people are there in China as of 2013?
100mn
How many acres of arable land is there per 100 people in China?
20 acres
Example of methods used in local communities to reduce the impact of globalisation on the environment (points for a 12 marker)
- Recycling resources - Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘Recycling Blueprint’; it has been used in Wales and caused the average recycling rate to increase to 60%
- Rise in localism - Totnes Pound in Devon encourages local spending
- Fairtrade and ethical consumption
According to DEFRA, how much is the UK recycling today compared to how much we were recycling in 2000?
4x as much
What was the 5-tier point system designed to help to control?
Immigration
What is the population of the EU?
508mn
Why do companies locate in emerging countries?
- Cheaper labour
- Less regulations, so quicker to build factories
Example of a TNC that has outsourced to India
Microsoft (also signed a 3-year deal with Infosys technologies in 2010)
How much does FDI contribute to India’s GDP today, compared to 1990?
- 1990 = 0.1%
- Today = 2%
What percentage does India account for for world trade?
2.7%
How many airports have been built in China in recent years?
100
What is the population of India?
1.3bn
