What is globalisation? (1)

IMF

International Monetary Fund

"the increasing integration of economics around the world, particularly through the movement of goods, services, and capital across borders

new age of globalisation

Philip McMichael (2008), views globalisation as a post-Second World War 'project' of nation-states from the West whose leaders joined forces with multi-lateral agencies (such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization) to build a free enterprise global economy.

Anthony Giddens (1990) => it has grown out of Western modernisation: capitalism, industrialism, state-based governance, surveillance + military might

Deregulation and Neoliberalism

1986
known in the uk as the "Big Bang" Margaret thatcher

deregulation = easier for different countries to trade in global financial market with each other, so lower taxes

... meant that banks and investment firms + financial services could operate outside of their own national boundaries

flows of finance and capital between core and periphery regions

globalisation

"the process by which people, their cultures, money, goods and information can be transferred between countries with few or no barriers"

McPig

Money
Culture
People
Information
Goods

Professor Giddens

"globalisation is the intensification of worldwide social relations"

globalisation can be categorised into...

1. economic
2. social
3. cultural
4. political

economic globalisation

= transnational corporations (TNCs)
... use of outsourcing and offshoring

= trade blocs
... create economic integration

= global money markets
... transactions of money and sources of income from international companies

social globalisation

= growth of online social networks
... revolutionised human connections and the spread of ideas

= migration
... creating multicultural societies where people share and adopt cultures

= increase in health and education
... global NGOs involved in global improvement e.g., WHO

cultural globalisation

= the growth of global culture
... exposure to media sources

= ability to travel internationally
... experience and understand other cultures

= glocalisation of products
... expansion into foreign markets for TNCs

= growing transmission of ideas and values
... including westernisation

political globalisation

= Growing importance of international organisations
... harmonise national economies and political relations (e.g., UN)

= global governance
... improve global relations and the care and use of global commons (e.g., Antarctica, action on climate change COP)

= geopolitical relations
... trade blocs and agreements, deregulation

history of globalisation

roots in the expansion of the Greek, Roman, Muslim and Chinese empires thousands of years ago
==> Marco Polo in 13th century, trade routes across Silk Road from china to Europe

Some sociologists consider that colonialism first moved to imperialism and then on to globalisation.

Thomas friedman

said that globalisation is
"farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper"

"the world is flat" (2005)
= a metaphor for how goods, ideas, and people slide smoothly across borders to describe globalisation

since 1950....

the volume of world trade has increased by 20x

value of world imports and exports of goods hit $5.6 trillion in the third quarter of 2021

(new quarterly record according to UNCTAD)