Introduction

Introduction to Topics
These are the 10 topics that will be covered in the course. Read through these introductions
to get a sense of the entire content of the course that we will cover in the weeks ahead.
Starting 9/15/201! all of the sections will be open! and "ou can go through the# at "our own
pace$ we suggest one per week. The final deadline to co#plete the entire course is
12/15/201.
Transportation Networks
Throughout recorded history, maritime transportation has been the foundation of global trade
and intercontinental contacts between the dispersed populations of the earth. Ever larger
container ships are now the primary foundation of global trade. At the same time, airline
transportation has replaced maritime travel as the transport technology that carries the vast
majority of global passengers but far less cargo than ships do.
Media & The Internet
Globalization is inseparable from what rofessor !anfred "teger has called the Global
Imaginary, meaning people#s growing awareness of belonging to a global community. Internet
and satellite$based global media ma%e this virtual community possible by sending news,
cultural products, and social media around the world.
Governance & the Nation-State
Globalization limits and erodes the powers of the nation state in various ways. The global
system of offshore ta& havens undermines national priorities, such as the power to collect
ta&es from multinational corporations and to regulate corporate conduct around the world.
The absence of controls on the flow of capital across national borders can create financial
chaos that destabilizes governments. 'ncontrolled labor migration can subject governments to
protest from nationalists or racists. !ultinational corporations can ignore the national interests
of the nations that protect them. Globalization can even challenge the meaning of national
identity itself.
Capitalism & Social Justice
Global capitalism is rooted in forms of economic competition and ambition that do not aim at
creating social justice. Economic growth does raise living standards, but the world#s peoples
do not enjoy e(ual benefits. )hat we call mar%et globalism has promoted asymmetric$$ that
is, unfair$$ trade relations between rich and poor societies.
The harmful conse(uences of this %ind of mar%et globalism include a deregulation of
international financial institutions that impoverishes the disadvantaged. An unregulated global
economy also produces sweatshop labor conditions that benefit multinational companies. In
addition, a deregulated global economy leads to the erosion of the welfare state and its
protections, as well as to net capital outflows from some of the world#s poorest societies.
Challenges of egulation
The global regulation of both legitimate and criminal behaviors is enormously difficult and
often impossible. Indeed, the problem of global regulation occurs in every political,
economic, and cultural sphere that re(uires international cooperation$$ the arms trade*
climate$changing carbon emissions* the management of the internet* organized crime
networ%s* the global labor mar%et* the overfishing of the oceans* threats to global health, such
as deadly viruses and tobacco* or the damaging financial effects of offshore ta& havens.
Transnational !rgani"ed Crime
Transnational organized crime networ%s have flourished by ta%ing advantage of basic features
of the globalization process. These criminal organizations e&ploit the deregulation of financial
mar%ets and the auditing of corporate conduct. They create blac% mar%ets for the sale and
distribution of illicit drugs. They ta%e advantage of the vulnerability of online, corporate, and
governmental databases to commit so$called cyber crimes. They e&ploit the human misery
around the world that drives poor and powerless people into criminal enterprises such as drug
traffic%ing and se&ual slavery.
The criminal potential of globalization results from an uneven globalization. It tolerates both
mass poverty and illicit arrangements such as ta& havens for the rich that seduce financial and
political elites into criminal behaviors that impose great costs on ordinary people.
The #a$or Market
The global labor mar%et is driven by an imbalance between the world#s labor supply and the
global demand for labor. +eveloped countries produce most of the world#s wealth, but with a
wor%force that is currently shrin%ing. The populations of the developing countries survive on
much smaller per capita incomes, but have e&panding wor%forces that need employment.
The movement of wor%ers across national borders is one solution to this labor imbalance.
,abor migration, however, is controlled by national policies that may erect barriers to
immigration. The so$called outsourcing of both low$s%ill and high$s%ill wor% moves jobs
rather than people from one country to another, creating unemployment in one place and
economic opportunity elsewhere. !edical tourism, for e&ample, is a form of high$s%ill
outsourcing that e&ports doctors# wor% by attracting patients to low$cost medical facilities
outside their own countries.
%opular Culture & #ocal Standards
Global media#s spread around the world a global popular culture that consists of a variety of
cultural products that include music, film, sports, foods, social media, clothing styles,
televised soap operas, lifestyle magazines, beauty pageants, !T-, and .ouTube clips.
American cultural products have often dominated these mar%ets and reduced demand for
domestic cultural products such as /rench or Italian films, which were once more widely
distributed around the world. "uch dominance may be resented as what is called American
cultural imperialism.
0r it can be embraced as a charismatic global style, one thin%s of 1ollywood movies or the
global appeal of roc% music. 2ultural products of foreign origin are often adapted to meet
local standards around the world. It is interesting to as% why it is that certain types of cultural
products such as soccer, popular music, and action films seem to have a truly global appeal.
Small-Countr& Self-'ssertion & Survival
As the largest and most comple& topic on earth, globalization compels us to thin% on a grand
scale. )e imagine the globalization process in terms of global systems, forces, and networ%s.
The news about globalization is dominated by the actions and strategies of the largest and
most powerful political and corporate global players$$ the 'nited "tates, 2hina, India,
Google, /aceboo%, 1onda, "amsung. In a world that is dominated by giants, it is easy to
overloo% the achievements of the least conspicuous global players of all, the small countries
and tiny city$states that manage to thrive amidst the contests in which the global giants
struggle for strategic advantage in global mar%ets.
3ecent history has demonstrated that many of the smallest actors on the world#s stage have
coped well with the globalization process and its challenges. ,et us put aside the small states
and territories that have prospered as offshore financial havens for ta& evaders and criminals.
The focus here is on small societies that have accomplished more than simply sheltering the
fortunes of the global financial elite.
The advanced small countries and micro states are mostly democracies but also include some
authoritarian regimes that have performed well while curtailing the rights of citizens and large
numbers of foreign wor%ers. Authoritarian state capitalist regimes can benefit from their
monopoly on power when playing the globalization game. "mall democracies can e&cel as
high performing economies, as civil societies, and as global citizens. In fact, small countries
occupy most of the top positions in surveys that assign world ran%ings for (uality of life,
environmental activism, and even competitiveness. In summary, small democracies possess
advantages that can outweigh the disadvantages of being small.
Sports
Today#s modern sports world originated during the second half of the 45th century and has
now become a global system of competitive events that often carry symbolic meaning for
national and ethnic groups around the world. Global sports revenue for the year 6746 was
estimated to be nothing less than 8497 billion.
Global elite sport is administered by transnational bodies that include the International
0lympic 2ommittee and the international sports federations with which it is affiliated, such as
the International /ootball /ederation %nown as /I/A. ,i%e other offshore institutions, these
bodies too are vulnerable to corruption. In addition, sport of nationalism and commercial
incentives have produced epidemic use of doping drugs in some major sports that is
monitored by a global watchdog organization that is called the )orld Anti$+oping Agency.