Chapter 1 What Is Globalization
Chapter 1 What Is Globalization
Chapter 1 What Is Globalization
Globalization
- Primarily viewed as economic process
- Usually refers to the integration of the national markets to a wider global market signified by
the increased free trade
- Described by Manfred Steger as the expansion and intensification of social relations and
consciousness across world time and across world space
- Globalization processes do not occur merely at an objective, material level but they also involve
the subjective plane of human consciousness
- Scholars do not necessarily disagree with people who criticize unfair international trade deals
Expansion – refers to both the creation of social of new social networks and multiplication of existing
connections that cut across traditional political, economic, cultural, and geographic boundaries.
Intensification – refers to the expansion, stretching, and acceleration of international networks
- Shanghai steadily returned to its role as a major trading post
Globalism – widespread belief among powerful people that the global integration of economic markets
is beneficial for everyone, since it spreads freedom and democracy across the world
- Arjun Apparudai said different kinds of globalization occurs on multiple and intersecting
dimensions and integrations called scapes
Scape – intersecting dimensions of integration
Ethnoscape – global movement of people
Mediascape – flow of culture
Technoscape – circulation of mechanical goods and software
Financescape – global circulation of money
Idioscape – political ideas move around
Neoliberalism
- Focuses on free trade and the notion that the government shouldn’t interfere with the workings
of economy
- Focuses on privatization of various sectors such as water, transportation, and electricity
Transition from Keynesianism to Neoliberalism
- Started in the early 1970s when OAPEC (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries)
issued an oil embargo to America
- End of Bretton Woods System and reliance to gold as money standard crippled America’s
Economy
- Milton Friedman and Friedrich proposed neoliberalism
- The Washington Consensus adopted the ideology of neoliberalism
Main Proponents of Neoliberalism
- Margaret Thatcher: Prime Minister of United Kingdom
- Ronald Reagan: President of United States
Problems with Neoliberalism
- In Post Communist Russia, neoliberalism was suggested to implement in Russia
- Privatization was done in Russia but only the elite members of the society during the communist
era were able to participate in the free market thus what happened was oligarchy
- 2007-2008 Financial Crisis dealt a huge blow to the world economy; worst economic crisis since
the Great Depression
Economic Globalization
- Global financial crisis will take decades to resolve
- The United States, Japan, and member countries of EU were responsible for 65% of global
exports while developing countries only accounted for 29%
- By 2011, developing countries like PH, India, China, Argentina, Brazil accounted for 51% of global
exports
- According to IMF, the GDP rose over five fold in the 2nd half of the 20th century and it was this
growth that created large Asian economies like Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore
- Developed countries are often protectionists eg: Japan protecting its rice while USA protecting
its sugar industry
Christendom
-People see themselves as members of larger political categories like “Christendom” (the entire
christian world)
“Not all states are nations and not all nations are states”
E.g. Scotland has own flag and culture but belongs in a state w/c is U.K.
State
-Refers to a country and its gov’t
-4 attributes: *exercises authority over a specific population, called its citizens
* governs a specific territory
* state has a structure of gov’t that craft various rules that people follow
* state has sovereignty over its territory
Sovereignty
-refers to internal and external authority.
-internally, no indiv/grps can operate in a given national territory by ignoring the state
-groups, orgs, churches, corporations have to follow the laws of the state
-externally, sovereignty means that a state’s policies & procedures are independent of
interventions of other states
Nation
-Accdg to Benedict Anderson, it is an “imagined community”
-It is limited bc it does not go beyond a given “official boundary”
-Rights and responsibilities are mainly the privilege and concern of the citizens of that nation
-being limited means that the nation has its boundaries
-(In citizenship conversion) Nations limit themselves to people who have imbibed a particular
culture, speak a common language, and live in a specific territory
-“imagined” doesn’t mean that the nation is made up
-nation allows one to feel a connection w/a community of people even they will never meet all
of them in his/her lifetime.
-nation-builders can only feel a sense of fulfillment when that nat’l ideal assumes an
organizational form whose authority&power are recognized and accepted by “the people”
-if there are communities that are not states, they often seek some form of autonomy w/in their
“mother states”
Ex. Canada- has diff. Laws about language
Scotland- though part of the UK, has a strong independence movement (Scottish nationalist
Party)
-nation and state are closely related because it is nationalism that facilitate nation formation.
-nationalist movement- allowed the creation of nation state.
-states become independent and sovereign because of nationalist
sentiment.
-sovereignty- fundamental principle of modern state politics.
Internationalism
-The Westphalian and Concert systems divided the world into separate, sovereign entities.
-Since the existence of this interstate system, there have been attempts to transcend it.
-has 2 forms: liberal internationalism snd socialist internationalism.
-First thinker is german philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 18th century.
Internalization Type equation here.