Globalization Exam #1 Vocabulary Flashcards

50 vocabulary flashcards designed for students reviewing key concepts, actors, theories, and institutions for Globalization Exam #1.

Time-space compression

The processes and technological advancements that alter the qualities of space and time, making physical distance feel less significant and accelerating global interactions.

Interdependence

A condition in which nations, societies, or entities rely on one another for political, economic, or social stability and resources.

Globality

A social condition characterized by tight global economic, political, cultural, and environmental interconnections that make traditional border-based limits obsolete.

Globalization

A set of social processes that transform a social condition of conventional nationality into one characterized by globality.

Global imaginary

A growing consciousness among individuals of global connectivity and belonging to a worldwide human community.

Steger’s definition of globalization

Manfred Steger's conceptualization of globalization as the expansion and intensification of social relations and consciousness across world-time and world-space.

Bretton Woods Conference (System)

A 1944 economic conference that created the postwar international financial system, establishing institutions like the IMF and World Bank to maintain global economic stability.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

An international organization formed at Bretton Woods to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, and assist nations with balance-of-payments problems.

World Bank (WB or IBRD)

An international financial institution created to provide loans, grants, and technical assistance to developing countries for economic development projects.

General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT)

A multilateral agreement established in 1947 aimed at promoting international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

An intergovernmental organization founded in 1995 that officially replaced GATT to oversee, regulate, and facilitate international trade agreements.

Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs)

Economic policy reform packages imposed on developing nations by the IMF and World Bank as conditions for obtaining financial loans.

Washington Consensus

A set of free-market economic policy recommendations for developing countries, backed by institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and US Treasury.

Transnational Corporations (TNCs or MNCs)

Enterprises that own, control, or manage production facilities and services across more than one sovereign nation.

Absolute Advantage

The economic ability of an entity or country to produce a specific good or service more efficiently and with fewer inputs than any competitor.

Comparative Advantage

The ability of a country to produce a particular good or service at a lower opportunity cost relative to other goods compared to its trading partners.

Free Trade

International trade operating without government restrictions, protective tariffs, import quotas, or subsidies.

Mercantilism

An economic theory and policy aimed at increasing national wealth and power through strict government regulation of exports over imports.

Distributional effects of trade

The uneven distribution of financial benefits, costs, and risks among different societal groups, industries, or workers caused by international trade.

Hard currency

A stable and globally recognized currency issued by developed nations that can be easily converted and accepted in international transactions.

Soft currency

An unstable or volatile currency issued by a developing nation that fluctuates in value and is not widely accepted in international trade.

Fixed exchange rate

A currency system where a nation's government or central bank ties its official currency exchange rate to another single currency or standard like gold.

Floating exchange rate

A currency regime where a country's exchange value is continually determined by supply and demand forces within the foreign exchange market.

Acquisition strategies for hard currency (LDCs)

Methods utilized by Less Developed Countries to secure hard foreign currency, including raw material exports, foreign loans, tourism, FDI, and remittances.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

A long-term investment made by a firm or individual from one country into productive enterprise or business operations located in another country.

Portfolio investment

Investments made in foreign financial assets, such as stocks, bonds, or securities, without seeking direct operational control of the foreign company.

Remittances

Financial transfers made by migrant workers back to family members or households living in their country of origin.

Global poverty

The state of individuals or populations worldwide living below a minimum threshold of income or lacking adequate resources to meet basic human needs.

Global inequality

The disproportionate allocation of wealth, resource distribution, and socio-economic opportunities across nations and populations worldwide.

Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI)

A trade policy strategy that attempts to foster domestic industrial development by substituting foreign imports with domestic production.

Export-led Growth

An economic policy framework aimed at promoting economic expansion by focusing production on international export markets.

Flying Geese model

A model of regional economic development in East Asia where a technologically leading nation drives regional industrial expansion to less-developed follower nations.

China model of development

An economic growth model characterized by state-directed market capitalism, strong infrastructure investment, and centralized political authority.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A composite index created by the UN measuring human development based on health, education levels, and standard of living.

Sen’s ‘missing women’ argument

Amartya Sen's demographic analysis exposing the millions of missing women in developing societies resulting from gender bias, neglect, and unequal survival conditions.

Wade’s 1:3:2 world

Robert Wade's economic framework illustrating global inequality and income distribution across different structural divisions of the global population.

Treaty of Westphalia

The 1648 peace treaties ending the Thirty Years' War, foundational to establishing modern concepts of territorial state sovereignty.

Westphalian state system

An international political structure composed of sovereign states holding exclusive authority over their domestic territories and external non-interference.

Nation

A large community of people united by common cultural identity, language, history, or shared sense of heritage.

State

A political institution that maintains sovereign control and a legal monopoly over the legitimate use of physical force within a defined territory.

Nation-State

A political entity where a sovereign state's territorial boundaries align with a single distinct cultural nation identity.

Hyperglobalizers vs. skeptics

A theoretical debate between those who believe globalization renders the nation-state obsolete (hyperglobalizers) and those who assert state power remains central (skeptics).

Global Civil Society

A sphere of non-governmental organizations, social movements, and citizen networks operating across national boundaries outside of government and market structures.

Steger arguments about sub-state/supra-state organizations

Manfred Steger's argument that political globalization alters state power by diffusing authority downward to sub-state regional units and upward to supra-state organizations.

Primordialist vs. constructivist conceptions of nationalism

A theoretical debate over whether national identity is an ancient, organic phenomenon (primordialist) or a modern, imagined social construct (constructivist).

Civic vs. ethnic nationalism

The contrast between nationalism based on shared political principles and citizenship rights (civic) versus identity based on shared ancestry, language, and culture (ethnic).

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

A landmark document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 setting universal human rights standards for all peoples and nations.

Convention against Genocide

A 1948 international treaty that formally defined genocide as a legal crime under international law and bound participating nations to prevent and punish it.

Generations of rights

A framework categorizing human rights evolution into civil-political (first generation), socio-economic (second generation), and collective-solidarity rights (third generation).

Rafael Lemkin

The Polish-Jewish lawyer

Created the term 'genocide'

Led international efforts to pass the UN Convention against Genocide.

William Proxmire

Wisconsin politician and senator

Advocacy against genocide

Instrumental in raising awareness about human rights abuses and the importance of the Convention against Genocide

Senate finally ratified in 1986

International Criminal Court

A permanent tribunal established in 2002 to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

—> US is very opposed to this