Globalisation EQ1 - Causes and acceleration of globalisation Flashcards
What is globalisation?
The widening and deepening global connections, interdependence and flows (commodities, capital, information, migrants and tourists)
Why does modern globalisation differ from the global economy which preceded it?
Due to the longer (products sourced further away), deeper (being connected to other places and people) and faster connections (people able to talk to each other in real time)
What is GDP?
Gross domestic product - a measure of the financial value of goods and services produced within a territory
What are the most important global flows?
Capital, commodities, information, tourists, migrants
What is interdependency?
Two places becoming over reliant on financial and or political connections with one another
What is the shrinking world effect?
Whilst the physical distances between places remain unchanged, developments in technology and transport makes places feel closer than in the past
What are some of the important innovations in transport contributing to a shrinking world effect?
Steam power (1800s)
Railways (1800s)
Jet aircraft (Boeing 747 in 1960s)
Container shipping (around 200 mil individual container movements take place every year - intermodal containers)
What is spatial division of labour?
The common practice among TNCs of moving low-skilled work abroad or ‘offshore’ to places where labour costs are low
What are intermodal containers?
Large capacity storage units which can be transported long distances using multiple types of transport, without the freight being taken out of the container
What are some of the important elements of the growth of ICT over time that contribute to time space compression?
Telephone and telegraph (first telegraph cables across Atlantic in 1860s)
Broadband and fibre optics (more than 1.2 million km of flexible undersea cables today)
GIS and GPS (1970s)
Internet and social networks (58% of world’s population using internet)
How can global flows be viewed as threats?
- Imports of raw materials and commodities can threaten nation’s own industries
- Migrants can bring cultural change and religious diversity, not always welcomed
- Information can provide citizens with knowledge own government finds threatening
What is FDI?
Foreign direct investment - 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 are the 3 ‘Bretton Woods institutions’?
International Money Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation
What is the IMF’s role in globalisation?
It loans from rich nations to countries that apply for help, but in return the recipients must agree to run free market economies that are open to outside investment
What is the World Bank’s role in globalisation?
It lends money on a global scale and gives direct grants to developing countries
What is the WTO’s role in globalisation?
It advocates trade liberalisation, and asks countries to abandon protectionist attitudes in favour of untaxed trade