Globalization

Lsn 2

Globalization

• The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War abruptly opened up possibilities for trans-global connections that had previously been limited

• Globalization is the increasing interconnectedness of all parts of the world in all areas, most notably communication, commerce, culture, and politics

• It is welcomed by some and vilified by others

Globalization: The Pro Argument

• The global economy delivers markets that operate with maximum efficiency

• Globalization is the only way to bring prosperity to the developing world

• Globalization is inevitable and should be embraced

Globalization: The Con Argument

• The global economy is an untamed juggernaut that rewards the few and impoverishes the many

• Globalization is neither inevitable or desirable• It diminishes the sovereignty of local and

national governments and transfers the power to shape economic and political destinies to transnational corporations and global institutions

• It is responsible for the destruction of the environment, the widening gap between rich and poor societies, and the worldwide homogenization of local, diverse, and indigenous cultures

Technology

• “… Advances in technology just increase our ability to do things, which may be either for the better or for the worse. All of our current problems are unintended negative consequences of our existing technology.”– Jared Diamond, Collapse, 505

Conflict

• “The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural…. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.”– Samuel Huntington, Clash, 1

West vs the Rest

• “The central axis of world politics is likely to be… the conflict between ‘the West and the Rest’ and the responses of non-Western civilizations to Western power and values.”– Samuel Huntington, Clash, 11

Anti-Americanism

• “Throwing sand into the gears of globalization is seen as a way to spit on America’s hegemony, if not to limit the exercise of it in the political, cultural, and economic domains.”– Jagdish Bagwati, Defense, 27

Western Dominance

• “…. The West has driven the globalization agenda, ensuring that it garners a disproportionate share of the benefits, at the expense of the developing world.”– Joseph Stiglitz, Discontents, 7

Yali’s Question

• “”Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” – Jared Diamond, Guns, 14

The Environmental Explanation

• “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among people’s environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.”– Jared Diamond, Guns, 25

Eurocentric Explanation

• “In a world of relativistic values and moral equality, the very idea of a West-centered (Eurocentric) global history is denounced as arrogant and oppressive. It is intended, we are told, ‘to justify Western dominance over the East by pointing out European superiority.’ What we should have instead is a multicultural, globalist, egalitarian history that tells something (preferably something good) about everybody. The European contribution– no more or less the invention of and definition of modernity– should be seen as accidental or to use the modish word, contingent.”– David Landes, Wealth, 513-514

McDonaldization

• “…. America’s enormous cultural vitality and technological creativity, combined with hegemonic status in world politics, make her a net exporter of culture, giving her therefore no sense of threat from that direction either: it is her culture that spreads. But this spread of American culture threatens others to whom it goes.”– Jagdish Bagwati, Defense, 120

Greed

• “Globalization has little to do with people or progress and everything to do with money.”– Ignacio Ramonet, Debate, 118

Haves and Have-nots

• “A growing divide between the haves and the have-nots has left increasing numbers in the Third World in dire poverty, living on less than a dollar a day.”– Joseph Stiglitz, Discontents, 5

Different Realities

• “People in the West may regard low-paying jobs at Nike as exploitation, but for many people in the developing world, working in a factory is a far better option than staying down on the farm and growing rice.”– Joseph Stiglitz, Discontents, 4

Global Institutions

• “…. The current system run by the IMF [International Monetary Fund] is one of taxation without representation.”– Joseph Stiglitz, Discontents, 20

Perspective

• “…. From one’s luxury hotel, one can callously impose policies about which one would think twice if one knew the people whose lives one was destroying.”– Joseph Stiglitz, Discontents, 24

Failed States

• “Lack of state capacity in poor countries has come to haunt the developed world much more directly….. Suddenly the ability to shore up or to create from whole cloth missing state capabilities and institutions has risen to the top of the global agenda and seems likely to be a major condition for security in important parts of the world. Thus state weakness is both a national and an international issue of the first order.”– Francis Fukuyama, State-Building, x-xi

The World is Flat

• “The world is flat… the global competitive playing field was being leveled. The world was being flattened.”– Thomas Friedman, Flat, 7-8

Opportunity

• “Globalization has reduced the sense of isolation felt in much of the developing world and has given many people in the developing countries access to knowledge well beyond the reach of even the wealthiest in any country a century ago.”

Joseph Stigltiz, Discontents, 4

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