Globalisation Flashcards
How do connections become deeper and wider?
- Wider: new links between places that are far apart
- Deeper: more people’s lives connect with far away places e.g buying goods or cheaper travel.
Five main drivers of the 21st century
Mobile phones, internet, social media, fibre optics, electronic banking
Significant developments in transport
- Standardised container shipping is used globally, so goods can be loaded and unloaded faster, lowering the costs and improves speeds of travel, improving trade flows
- High speed railway networks
- Cheaper/larger planes makes travelling the world quicker, low cost airlines makes it more accessible, increased capacity
- Steam/sailing ships
How does transport help the supply chain?
Cheaper and faster travel makes a lengthy supply chain financially viable, allowing manufactured goods to be shipped over long distances.
Structural Adjustment Programmes
IMF - countries must agree to stop what puts them further in debt, so that they know they can pay the money back.
Trade blocs
- The market is bigger, business can merge, and you can protect yourselves from other parts of the world.
- But you lose some sovereignty, interdependence mean problems spread between countries, and you have to compromise and concede.
How does FDI help?
- Brings capital into the country
- Creates jobs, income and increases taxes and spending power for workers
- More infrastructure
- But too much FDI leads to domestic companies shutting down
FDI chain
companies invest, set up and export -> other companies arrive -> growth of employment, income, wealth tax income, and government spending -> supply chains develop
KOF Globalisation Index
- Measured since 1970 for 158 countries (ignores a lot of countries)
- Judges how well countries are socially, politically and economically linked to each other
- More globalised = more links
- Top 10 are only European and many EU members, shows trade bloc encourage globalisation
AT Kearney Index
- Look at 64 countries, as well as cities
* Measure business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement
Global production networks
- Not tied down to one place, size and density growth
- Risky: hazards, dodgy products, poor working conditions
Why is there development of new markets?
New trends (global/local) and new consumer needs
What are the benefits of change in built environment with the global shift?
- Millions migrate for job opportunities in secondary sector
- Infrastructure investment: connected to 2 longest highway network routes
- Waged work: 750+ companies on Dhaka Stock Exchange
- Poverty reduction: provides 35% of Bangladesh’s economy
- Education and training: British council helps teach GCSEs+A2, increased literacy
Costs of built environment with the global shift
- Lost agricultural land from development
- Slums quickly expand
- Env/resource pressure: flooding from garbage in river, congestion rise from little infrastructure, coloured waste water dumpings
Major env problems of the global shift (Bangladesh)
- World’s worst air quality
- Metal pollution contaminated rice paddies and farmland
- Erosion of buried water pipes and damage
- Fish stocks dying
- Health: respiratory problems, workers exposed to chemicals for long periods of time
Deindustrialisation social issues
- Loss of income
- No services or investment
- Poor QoL
- Loss of community
Environmental issues of deindustrialisation
- Less money spent on environment
- High toxicity in abandoned factories (look unattractive too)
- Animals might eat debris
Economic restructuring due to deindustrialisation
- Dereliction: as services, companies and people leave, places become ghost towns (deserted and neglected)
- Depopulation: people (only wealthy) move to areas with job opps and services e.g. healthcare, education
- Crime and high unemployment: can’t afford anything so turn to crime, job losses when factories leave
Social challenges of megacities
- Lack of public transport
- Slums + overcrowding
- Informal sector
- Pressure on government
- Higher rent, but lower pay
Environmental challenges of megacities
- Increase in waste + litter
- Congestion creates lots of CO2 emissions (factories and more imports/exports)
- High energy usage
Migration benefits and costs for source location
- Remittances used for investment, less unemployment, wages rise, new job opportunities, less overcrowding + house prices fall
- Skill shortages in key areas, demographic imbalance (depopulation leads to dereliction), loss of tax = reduced gov spending, less can be spent on environment
Migration benefits and costs for host location
- Fills skill gaps/labour shortages, more tax to offset ageing population, consumer contribution (immigrants)
- Pressure on rented housing sector, more translation costs, need extra healthcare + school places, extra community policing, high population density
Awareness of opportunities for disadvantaged groups (+ in developing countries)
- Tourists demand wheelchair access
- Global agenda of rights seen as more important due to culture spreading
- Developing countries - RUM migrants exposed to equality, global media raised awareness
How cultural erosion causes environment change and devalues ecosystems
- Global production chains lead to environmental pollution/degradation and loss of habitats
- Can learn from traditional cultures on how to interact with the environment
- Economic growth becomes the primary goal, and social value of biosphere is lost.
- Exploiting rainforests and minerals (copper)
Anti-globalisation groups
Greenpeace- whale hunting
Extinction Rebellion- encourage environmentally friendly, vegan lives
Poverty History - more aid and help to reduce exploitation
Impact of western global culture on env and people
- Impact: opportunity or threat?
- Positive: UNESCO World Heritage Sites + subsidies e.g. for french filmmakers to preserve language/culture
- Negative: protest e.g. against Nigerian oil companies
China/Asia eat more pork and beef
How to calculate the Gini Coefficient
- To calculate the areas: count complete squares (x) and bisected squares (y)
- Area = x + (y/2)
- To calculate ratio: A is area between line of equality and Lorenz Curve. B is area under the Lorenz Curve
- Ratio = A/(A+B)
Issues with gini coefficient and indices
Economic growth is not always distributed accurately, so it does not reflect the true quality of life for the average citizen
Median is better than mean as it is not skewed by outliers
QoL is not easy to measure - need standardised, comparable measures of econ activity
Single/composite indicators of development can have wide variations within a population
What tensions are there due to immigration
- Between/within countries or between organisations (e.g. trade blocs) and countries
- Government/leadership attitudes can prevent or encourage tensions e.g. censorship
- Intergenerational and cultural clashes, growth of nationalist groups, migration pressures
- Econ development but growing inequalities
How do countries limit immigration
UK points based system, Japan’s restrictive laws and high qualification requirements
How to retain control of culture
Could be through resource nationalism - protection of local resources and environment
Economic costs and benefits of transition towns
- Cuts income for developing countries
- Removes reliance on global finance
Social costs of transition towns
Not affordable for everyone
Extensive farming means higher costs
Environmental costs and benefits of transition towns
- Damaging due to heated greenhouses
- Industrial symbiosis: one industry uses another’s waste
- Reduce food and trade miles
Fair trade
- Fair price and guaranteed minimum price (consumers pay a bit more)
- Tougher environmental standards
- Fair working conditions
- Fair trade premium where some money goes to community projects
What are the economic costs and benefits of local sourcing?
- Local food can be more expensive
- Less sales creates surplus and price fluctuates
- Local farmers receive raised income
What are the social costs and benefits of local sourcing?
- Lose year round access to seasonal foods
- Unrealistic for local farmers to support high city population as crop yield is unpredictable
- Workers own co-op and work together positively
Environmental costs and benefits of local sourcing
- High environmental costs e.g. heated greenhouses
- Depots means long polluting journeys
- Lower carbon footprint
- Organic, so good for biodiversity
Managing resource consumption
Alternative strategies include supermaterials amd exporting recycling waste
Ecological footprint
Land is needed to provide people with everything they consume and absorb their waste and pollution
UK local Agenda 21
Established after 1992 UNEP conference
Banning free plastic bags
Switched off countries
- Shallow/extremely low level of globalisation that is unlikely to increase
- Lack strong flows of trade and FDI, not integrated into global economy
