human case studies 12 + 13

sydney high qol

- 5m+ pop, 30%+ born overseas

- $82k aud average single come

- large proportion of jobs in knowledge sector

- good timezone for business with asia and america

- low levels of deprivation apart from select areas like claymore / airds

- attractive climate and landscape

- not enough housing, col getting too high, will be hit hard by climate change

ghana trade

- creates 60% of worlds cocoa but is facing global competition due to wto favoritism

- tariffs on processed cocoa but not raw, so cannot process cocoa into chocolate and create extra value

- government can't pay subsidies to farmers but uk and us gov can

sahel region low qol

- chad, burkina faso, mali, niger

- landlocked, low quality road transport

- climate change is reducing savanna into desert, reduces space for agriculture

- subsequent food and water insecurity

- low gdp and hdi < 0.5

- limited export capacity as most farmers are substinence farmers

- foreign retailers, wealthy tncs and fdi are not interested

detroit low qol

- lowest median household income in michigan

- decreasing population due to white flight into suburbs + lack of opportunities

- average house price only around $30k

- 18% unemployment, high crime, high unmarried pop

- vacant and dilapidated rows of houses

- displacement due to rebuilding in downtown

- largest us city to file for bankruptcy

san francisco high qol

- $65k usd average income

- only 9% of houses are affordable due to very high rent and increasing costs

- severe deprivation in tenderloin due to gentrification

- majority of jobs in finance, tech and health

- only 3% have health insurance

canning town and custom house qol

- high school performance in newham

- only 37% in fte

- local led regeneration scheme based on census data of the most deprived areas

- 10k new affordable homes + redesigned social housing

south china sea conflict

- fishing opportunities, trade route, untapped natural gas

- many asean countries rely financially on china so cannot push back against chinas claim on spratly islands

- asean countries + china have built military bases in spratley islands to maintain power

crimea and russia

- strategic location for access to indian and south atlantic oceans

- sevastopol military base previously leased to russia

- corruption and voting interference allegations

china and africa relationship

- china invests in africa to create allies in lics that are no longer supported by colonial powers

- china imports valuable materials and oil from africa, exports technology to africa

- potential neo colonialism (indirect soft control through financial and cultural means)

- jobs in africa are filled by migrant chinese workers and china get cheap labour from unstable african countries

- 77% of djiboutis debt is to china

- china has funded transport developments and major hep projects

china one belt one road

- one belt = land route from russia and mongolia through central asia to western europe

- one road = sea route from southeast asia and india to the middle east and east africa

india as an emerging superpower

- large working age population

- 3rd largest national market

- located on key trading route

- controversial government

- unresolved tensions with pakistan and bangladesh

- small gdp per capita

- not a permanent member of un security council

- division between ethnic groups in india

middle east conflict

- sunni muslim, shia muslim and jewish

- relatively new countries with weak democracies

- arbitrary borders drawn by colonial powers

- young populations with high unemployment and low education

- 65% of crude oil comes from middle east

- shortage in water and farmland

eu vs usa

- both are trillions in debt but usa has advantage of having the global currency of choice

- eu is aging faster than usa

- political deadlock between reps and dems, issues with countries wanting more (france) and less (uk) involvement in the eu

- usa is energy secure through fracking, eu relies on imports mostly from russia

- 15% youth unemployment in eu

- usa health spending is a serious issue

colonised british india

- soldiers invaded bengal and calcutta and stole money and spices

- ww2 bankrupted the uk so it could no longer maintain all its colonies

claims on the arctic

- countries can claim within 200 nautical miles from their coastline

- denmark has claims through greenland and usa through alaska

- russia and denmark have conflicting claims on the lomonosov ridge

- shipping routes as ice melts from global warming + untapped oil and gas deposits

china's global shift and middle class growth

- world longest highway network

- 150 cities over 1 milllion population

- increase in the middle class

- poverty reduction although rural areas still suffering

- 94% literacy rate

- 10% yearly rise in urban wages

- growing rural urban divide = disposable income $412 vs $9000

- industrialisation has led to a loss in farmland + 12 million tonnes of grain polluted

- beijing pollution alerts

- 70% of rivers polluted

- chongqing toxic tap water

- over exploitation of rich black soil agricultural land

new delhi hyper urbanisation

- india's fastest growing city

- growth outstrips capacity to provide

tanzania trade and money

- fertile soil so 80% work in agriculture

- price boom for cotton encouraged many people to farm cotton which led to surplus and a price drop again

- drop in cotton buying prince leaves tanzania struggling to pay for imports

- had debt cancelled in 2001 which leaves more money for social investment

zambia trade and investment

- sub saharan landlocked, relies on allyship with neighbours like angola

- chinese invested, built and repaired tanzam railway to export copper

- increase in fibre optic use has decreased interest in copper however

- gni gdp life expectancy etc have increased

amazon market exploitation

- gives small manufacturers access to big market

- sells media and has cultural wealth as a streaming service provider + 'amazon prime' in current lexicon

pakistan fishermen

- 1995 pakistan joins WTO and has to open its fishing grounds to foreign competition

- TNC deep sea trawlers now take all the fish and pakistani fishing communities are in poverty

- many players in globalisation are invisible and make global decisions without consequence that affect local people

china open door policy

- four special economic zones (shenzen, xiamen, shantou etc) that offered pools of cheap labour and tax incentives to attract TNC's + FDI

- by 2005 50% of chinese exports came from foreign companies

- heavy investor in sub saharan africa and and worlds largest recipient of fdi

• china has experienced rabid urbanisation but is still criticised by other countries for things like internet censorship

guatemala cotton

- could not turn its raw cotton into clothes and import that instead due to wto policies

- locked into exporting raw cotton until competition forced them out, now rich countries use their cheap workforce to produce cheap clothes

disney globalisation

- glocalised movies to maintain global presence like moana

- $50 billion revenue

- media influences ie 24 hour channels in australia, malaysia etc

- theme park construction subsidised by local governments like hong kong

m-pesa

owned by vodafone

mobile banking service across many african countries like kenya where people don’t have physical bank accounts

dupont

gunpowder manufacturer that expanded greatly after improvements in transport

at kearney cities index

• economic integration (trade and fdi flows)

• technological connectivity (internet users)

• political engagement (membership in orgs / treaties)

• personal contact (remittances and tourism)

• considers soft power and cultural / social aspects

• focus on cities mean it cant apply to an entire country

• doesnt have the same temporal depth as the kof index

kof index

• economic, social and political globalisation for entire countries

• questionable indicators like number of mcdonalds and ikeas which are eurocentric

• temporal depth back to 1970 so good for comparison

aramco

• american company who made a deal with saudi arabia to refine their oil

• saudi arabia have a 50:50 profit share with aramco, unlike iran with anglo iranian oil

anglo iranian oil

• king of iran sold conessions to the anglo iranian oil company to develop and refine irans oil

• when iran later tried to renationalise their oil, they didnt have enough workers of infrastructure on their own

• after a coup in iran, the british refused to renegotiate the contract to be fairer

papua new guinea cultural erosion

• 1 in 4 of the ~7000 is at risk of extinction

• traditional communities are moving to westernised cities for work

beef and lamb

most carbon intensive foods

banana wars protectionism 2000’s

• eu had a trade deal with caribbean w quota of how many bananas each country would sell to europe

• meant to help caribbean develop without aid

• protectionism as it stopped free trade of bananas and made bananas not from the caribbean look expensive

• us complained to wto that their bananas were not selling in europe

totnes transition town

• ancient market town in devon

• transition towns aim for self sufficency due to peak oil, economic instability and climate change

• encouraged low carbon / low imports through food growing initiatives

• encouraged economy through rent for work spaces

• encouraged local spending with the totnes pound but was discontinued in 2019 due to the rise of contactless

• grant given to households to invest in insulation to reduce emissions

• small scale so hard to measure impact in a bigger area

• relies heavily on goodwill an volunteering

gazprom

• 80% of their gas goes to europe

• three pipelines go through ukraine which can be an issue for russia as ukraine can hike prices for allowing the pipelines

dependency theory (left wing)

• core developed countries exploit peripheral developing countries for money, political support and resources

• developed countries by the loyalty of developing countries by draining them of resources and keeping them underdeveloped and reliant

• strength - can be seen in some african and latin american countries

• weakness - we are still getting newly developed industrialised countries like south korea, singapore

world systems theory (marxist)

• periphery regions supply materials to semi periphery regions. core regions exploit semi periphery for labour

• core = oecd, us, eu

• semi = nics like china

• periphery = rest of the world

• strengths = can be seen in chinas sez’s

• weakness = very few countries have achieved the full cycle of moving up from periphery to core

modernisation theory (neo - liberal)

• countries go from traditional society, to take off into industrialisation and maturity, to an age of mass consumption

• strength = explains why some people think capitalism is the answer to poverty

• weakness = assumes all countries will experience industrial revolution

ip regulations and thailand

• consumers do not report ip violations because they dont care and just want things for cheap (meeee lol)

• little enforcement of ipr because its so widespread eg pirating websites

• thailand is reluctant to promote ipr because counterfitting has a big role in their informal economy

• actually enforcing ipr requires investment into policing which thailand might not want to spend their money on

spratly islands

islands that china make claim on as an extension of their continental shelf, also contested by philippines, malaysia and vietnam

stratford regen olympics

• olympic village converted into housing for 2800 people

• westfield stratford constructed walking distance from olympic park

• orbit observation tower added as rememberance of olympics (cultural)

• london aquatics centre is public swimming pool

• 4000 new trees after hundreds of hectares of derelict land were cleared

docklands regen

• regenerated after fell into disrepair as jobs were lost due to the dock not being able to handle modern containerisation

• new housing, new bus routes, new office space, cleaned streets to make local shops easier to access

• office space quickly snapped up by giants like itv and their employees moved into the new housing

• new housing was not cheap and the price was even higher when wealthy employees became interested, which pushed locals out

• a gated community was added to segregate wealthy incomers

australian atsi people

• evicted from ancestral lands

• forced removal of their children

• profiled by police

• healthcare discrimination

• earn $825/week avg but australian avg is over $1k

• lower life expectancy and higher rates of mental health issues

• only 10% over 18 are in education

women in afghanistan

• very little to none work compared to 69% of men

• veyr high maternal mortality rates bc access to medicine and access to studying it is restricted

• over 1 million women banned from attending school

latin american indigineous people

• displaced from their own land due to deforestation, mining and oil extraction

• 43% of entire pop is below poverty line

• low life expectancy and high dropout rates

bolivia diverse population

• $3350 gdp per capits

• high rates of death due to gender violence

• high rates of teen pregnancy

• poor health outcomes due to limited sanitation access

• ~30 languages in danger of extinction

hs2

• phase two which would have linked birmingham and the midlands dropped in 2021 due to costs

• creates tension as hs2 was sold as a project for the whole country but only really helped london and the south

• many people thought hs2 was unnecessary anyways and there is already lots of preexisting rail that needs money for renovation and renewal

new orleans food desert

• high percent of pop is in poverty esp after katrina

• many restaurants and grocery stores were not rebuilt after katrina

some imd factors

• income

• crime

• access to housing

• health or disability

easyjet

• budget airline which make tickets have appealing low prices by charging extra fees for everything, like bags, food, seat selection

• fly out of smaller airports to cut costs like london stansted instead of london heathrow

• uses apps and websites to helps customer buy things easily on their own accord

• increases tourism to european towns and cities that tourists may not have considered, like tallinn in estonia

• increases carbon emissions and contributes to overtourism

imf

• channel loans from hic’s and other countries apply for help

• applicant countries have to agree to free market economies where tncs can enter

• usa exerts significant control over the imf

• can force applicant countries to cut back on spending on health, education, housing etc

• forces countries to promote capitalism through structural adjustment plans

• countries have taken loans from china so they cant meet the conditions of the imf

wto

• advocates for trade liberalisation

• persuaded china to lift export restrictions on rare earth materials in 2014

world bank

• lends money globally

• loaned $470 million to the philippines in 2014 for a poverty reduction program

• gives direct loans to developing countries who need kick starts for things like dams

• wants to reduce extreme poverty to no more than 3% of the world

un millenium development goals and sustainable development goals

• mdg = 8 goals set in 2000 to be achieved by 2015 about mainly poverty and health

• extreme poverty halved globally by 2015

• high gains in primary school enrollment

• very underdeveloped countries like sub sahan africa missed key targets because the goals were not appropriate for their context as lic’s

• sdg = 17 goals from 2015 to 2030 about poverty, health, equality, economic growth etc

• meant to be more inclusive and global than the mdg’s

• progress is slow especially in asia after the impacts of covid

• goals like the climate ones are lagging very far behind

• there is a large amount of goals that can be hard to keep track of, and some like having no poverty in the next five years are very unrealistic

global flows

• capital = investment, stocks, foreign exchange of currency

• commodities = raw materials, food, minerals

• information = social media, internet use

• tourism

• migration

mumbai vs lagos megacity growth

• mumbai has doubled since 1970

• a range of economic sectors, like work in tncs like starbucks and hilton to call centre work

• many billionaires and bollywood stars live in mumbai

• mumbai also has the dharavi slums where most people work in plastic recycling

• there is pressure for land that slums is on to be reclaimed and developed on for wealthy residents to live in

• lagos has many rural urban immigrants and ~ 300k people move in per year

• very young city 40% aged up to 14

• over half of people live in slums with no reliable sanitation, but also wealthy enclaves like banana island

• major port city and west african telecommunications hub

uk steel deindustrialisation

• less than 20k people nationally work in steel, was over 300k in the 70s

• indian tnc tata sold british steel for only £1 after scaling the business down heavily and making 4k+ people redundant

• eventually in 2019 british steel was bought by another foreign tnc (chinese jingye group)

glasgow effect + postcode lottery

• places like glasgow have life expectancies ~ 75, while places like kensington and chelsea have them ~ 85

• postcode lottery includes access to healthcare, being in a food desert, whether you work a manual job that can put you at risk through pollutants (like building or agriculture), access to education

what percentage of all income in the uk do the richest 1% receive

13%

hapurhey vs cornwall population demographics

• hapurhey is the most deprived ward in manchester, has a very young, diverse population mostly 20 - 30

• cornwall is 96% white and has a v aging population, mostly 60 - 80

• cornwall is suffering from outward migration of young people esp those looking for work

slough vs middlesbrough

• both areas are mostly urban, middlesbrough is mostly white surrounded by rural communities while slough neighbours more towns + london and is majority minority

• both have poor reputation, slough is mocked online and in shows like the office, middlesbrough is associated with industrial decline and poor public health

• slough ~ 73rd most deprived local ward on the imd, middlesbrough is ~ 5th

• slough has trading estate w lots of jobs in finance, logistics, manufacturing etc. middlesbrough reliant on retail, education (teeside university) and public sector (nhs, council)

• slough 56% 5 or above in english and maths, only 38% in middlesbrough

• 47% of slough has degree level qualifications, 22% of middlesbrough

• slough avg house price and rent ~ triple that of middlesbrough

• slough well connected with tfl, m4, m25, central london, windsor and reading. middlesbrough limited trains to london and over an hour away from newcastle, leeds, york.

• slough is attempting to regenerate its town centre and build new housing with mixed results, middlesbrough trying to invest in more creative and tech industries

• slough has poor housing affordability and is very densely populated, middlesbrough struggling to retain graduates from teesside university and has high youth NEET rates

broadwater farm

sink estate characterised by high levels of economic and social deprivation

cumbria vs central manchester voter turnout

• younger people, lower income, and bame communities tend to vote less

• one rural cumbria district has a 70%+ voter turnout compared to a manchester district with 50%+

• cumbria is more affluent, has little diversity and has an older median age

heathrow third runway

• has been up in the air for over 15 years

• heathrow runs at 99% capacity and europes busiest airport - was very disruptive when there was a fire in 2025 and it had to close

• head of corporate affairs at heathrow lobbied politically for the third runway approval

• thousands of homes including the village of sipson would have to be destroyed

• most recent plans were approved by the government but shelved due to covid

• there would be a carbon emission increase of 200 million tonnes + of carbon

• alternatives included increasing the use of more regional airports including ones like london luton

bronte county

• in west yorkshire

• famous for the bronte sisters who wrote great literature

• bronte museum which is the bronte house

• area was experiencing an aging population and a decline in industry, specifically in textiles

• guided literary walks of ‘the bronte sisters footsteps’ encourage culture led regeneration through tourism

• over 80k annual visitors to the house museum

• creates job but these rely on seasonal tourism and peak months

algeria leadership and governance

• gdp increased by 30%

• life expectancy increased by 16 years

• hdi 0.7+

• low literacy among women at 73% compared to men at 87%

• rural population lack sanitation access

• achieved many of the millenium development goals like halving poverty and hunger by 2015

• achieved primary school enrollment rate of 98%

• 98% of export earnings are from oil

mali life expectancy and death

• life expetancy ~ 60

• overcrowding in bamako as population will double by 2035

• very high maternal mortality over 600 per 1000 births

• child marriage and fgm are common

• high rates of malaria and few clinics have access to testing kits

• illness stems from lack of clean water

• 80% of people rely on agriculture for living but climate change is degrading the soil

european convention on human rights vs universal declaration of human rights

• echr is legally binding while udhr is just a declaration

• echr is just eu countries while udhr is all un member states

• echr can be amanded with new protocols, while udhr has not been revised but is still considered foundational for human rights law

intervention in libya 2011

• foreign military intervention justified due to a belief that the libyan gov was not protecting demonstrators who were protesting against them

• intervention was focused more on changing the regime rather than helping human rights

• libya is now extreme politically unstable and there hasnt been an election in years

intervention in yemen 2015 - present

• airstrikes in yemen can be considered war crimes

• blockades on yemen have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis

• intervention justified bc presiden asked for help to prevent civilians from being killed by houthi rebels

• high focus on military aid rather than political aid, people in yemen are being killed by intervention

intervention in afghanistan

• us intervention improved life expectancy from 42 to 52

• decreased infant mortality as afghanistan has some of the highest in the world

• increase in registered midwives

• topics like childbirth remained taboo and not well discussed

• book keeping was inadequate so cant account for all the money sent to afghanistan