Notes for Contemporary World

Technology - Technology refers to methods, systems, and devices which are the result
of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes.

Globalization - Advances in technology such as mobile phones, airplanes, telephones

and the internet have made the growth of transport and communication networks
possible.

- Globalization comes from globe and means the worldwide coming together as
countries and nations. Is a process of interaction and integration among the
people, companies, and governments of different nations.
- Is a term used to describe how trade and technology have made the world into a
more connected and interdependent place.
- Globalization also captures in its scope the economic and social changes that
have come about as a result.

Theories of Globalization

● World system theory

- Is an approach to world history and social change that suggests there is a
world economic system in which some countries benefit while others are
exploited.
- 3 regions (Core, Semi-periphery, Periphery)
● Modernization theory
- Is a description and explanation of the processes of transformation from
traditional or underdeveloped societies to modern societies.
● Dependency theory
- Was a reaction to modernization theory and uses the idea of core and
periphery countries from the world system theory to look at the inequalities
between countries.

Economic Globalization - Is a historical process, the result of human innovation and

technological progress. is a historical process of an increasing integration of economies
around the world particularly through trade and financial flows.

Advantages
- It promotes local growth by stimulating overall growth
- It would create higher levels of mutual trust
- It gives undeveloped countries a chance to join the developed world
 - New innovations would create new technologies in a number of fields
Disadvantages
- It removes the emphasis on local cultures
- It encourages the development and spreading of disease
- Worker exploitation would likely increase
- It would shift where unemployment and poverty happen to be

Developing countries - The countries with low industrialization and low human
development index are termed as developing countries.

Developed countries - refers to the sovereign state, whose economy has highly
progressed and possesses great technological infrastructure, as compared to other
nations.

Economic Development - is the creation of wealth from which community benefits are
realized. It is more than a jobs program, it's an investment in growing your economy and
enhancing the prosperity and quality of life for all residents. Economic development
means different things to different people.

Market Integration - occurs when prices among different locations or related goods
follow similar patterns over a long period of time. Groups of goods often move
proportionally to each other and when this relation is very clear among different markets
it is said that the markets are integrated.

Integration - Global economic integration. Measuring the impact of globalization on

individual economies. People, companies, and economies are more integrated and
interconnected than ever before. This helps facilitate connections, which leads to
specialization, innovation, and economic progress.

Merge - An amalgamation or joining of two or more firms into an existing firm or to form
a new firm.

- A merger is a method by which firms can increase their size and expand into
existing or new economic activities and markets.

Types of Market integration

● Horizontal Integration
- This occurs when a firm or agency gains control of other agencies
performing similar marketing functions at the same level in the marketing
sequence. In this type of integration, some marketing agencies combine to
form a union with a view to reducing their effective number and the extent
 of actual competition in the market. It is advantageous for the members
who join the group.
● Vertical Integration
- This occurs when a firm performs more than one activity in the sequence
of the marketing process. It is a linking together of two or more functions in
the marketing process within a single firm or under single ownership. This
type of integration makes it possible to exercise control over both the
quality and quantity of the product from the beginning of the production
process until the product is ready for the consumer. It reduces the number
of middlemen in the marketing channel.
● Conglomeration Integration
- A combination of agencies or activities not directly related to each other,
when it operates under unified management, be termed a conglomeration.

Integrated Ownership - is a catch-all term used to describe the summed percentage

ownership by an individual or entity of another entity.

Integrated Contract - a contract that states every provision to which the parties intend to
agree. Parol evidence cannot be used to change or supplement the provisions of an
integrated contract

Socius - A Latin word used for society

Global Stratification - compares the wealth, economic stability, status, and power of
countries across the world by comparing income and productivity between nations.

The wealthy nations are the most industrialized nations, and they consist primarily of the
nations of North America and Western Europe; Australia, Japan, and New Zealand; and
certain other nations in the Middle East and Asia.
Middle-income nations are generally less industrialized than wealthy nations. They
consist primarily of nations in Central and South America, Eastern Europe, and parts of
Africa of Asia and constitute about one-third of the world’s population

Poor nations are certainly the least industrialized and most agricultural of all the world’s
countries this category consists primarily of nations in Africa and parts of Asia and
constitutes roughly half of the world’s population.

Social Classes

Social Class - A group of people within a society who possess the same socioeconomic
status.

● The upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who
hold the highest social status.
● The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy.
● Lower class - those at or near the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy.

Social Classes according to Karl Marx - based his conflict theory on the idea that
modern society MARX has only two classes of people: the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat. The Bourgeoisie are the owners of the means of production: the factories,
businesses, and equipment needed to produce wealth. The Proletariat are the workers.
According to Marx, the bourgeoisie in capitalist societies exploit workers. The owners
pay them enough to afford food and a place to live, and the workers, who do not realize
they are being exploited, have a false consciousness, or a mistaken sense, that they
are well off. They think they can count on their capitalist bosses to do what was best for
them.

Bourgeoisie - This is a sociologically defined social class, equivalent to the middle or

upper-middle class.

Ploetariat - s the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only
possession of significant economic value is their labor power (their capacity to work).

Micro-level and Macro level - At a macro level, the countries and the world trade are
globalizing; at the micro-level, the individual companies, particularly industries are
globalizing.

Industrializing Countries - A nation with a low living standard, undeveloped industrial

base, and low Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries.

INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES:
- India
 - China
- Indonesia
- Philippines

Less-developed Countries - Least developed countries (LDCs) are low-income

countries confronting severe structural impediments to sustainable development. They
are highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks and have low levels of
human assets.

LESS-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES:
- Afghanistan
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Cambodia

Tripartite world system - Wallerstein world system divides the nations and areas of the
world into three units; (Core, peripheral, semi-peripheral)

● Core - wealthy and industrialized country

- Core countries are dominant capitalist countries that exploit peripheral
countries for labor and raw materials.
- Describes dominant capitalist countries which exploit the peripheral
countries for labor and raw materials.
● Periphery - wealthy and industrialized country
- Peripheral countries are dependent on core countries for capital and have
underdeveloped industry.
- Peripheral countries are dependent on core countries for capital and
have underdeveloped industry.
● Semi-periphery - developing countries
- Semi-peripheral countries share characteristics of both core and
peripheral countries.
- Countries that share characteristics of both core and periphery
countries.

Hegemony - refers to the leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social

group over others
 - Hegemony describes the dominance of one social group or class in a society.
This control can be exercised subtly rather than forcefully through cultural means
and economic power, and rest on a mixture of consent and coercion.
- According to Wallerstein, hegemony "refers to those situations in which one static
combines economic, political, and financial superiority over other strong states,
and therefore has both military and cultural as well as economic and political
power"

IMF (The International Monetary Fund) - is an organization of 190 countries, working to

foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international
trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty
around the world.

World Bank - It is an international organization designed to finance projects that

enhance the economic development of member states.

Composition of WB

“The World Bank”

● International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( IBRD )

- Established in the year 1944, the IBRD provides debt financing on the
basis of sovereign states
● International Development Association ( IRD )
- Established in the year 1960, the IDA provides concessional financing,
usually with sovereign guarantees.

“World Bank Group”

● International Development Association ( IRD )

● International Finance Corporation ( IFC )
● Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency ( MIGA )
● International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ( ICSID )
● International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( IBRD )

Global corporation - A global company is generally referred to as a multinational

corporation (MNC).

- A global corporation, also known as a global company, is coined from the base
term 'global', which means all around the world. The global company definition,
therefore, should be a little more lenient to accommodate this fact, which would
enable more companies to call themselves global companies.
MNC - a company that operates in two or more countries, leveraging the global
environment to approach varying markets in attaining revenue generation.

● Multinational Corporations
- Usually a large corporation operated in a home country that produces or
sells goods or services in various countries. The two main characteristics
of MNCs are their large size and the fact that their worldwide activities are
centrally controlled by the parent companies
● Transnational Corporations
- Operates in other countries other than their home country or operates
differently in each country according to their markets

Global Interstate system - It is the whole system of human interactions. The modern
world-system is structured politically as an interstate system – a system of competing
and allying states. Political Scientists commonly call this the international system, and it
is the main focus of the field of International Relations.

Purpose of Globar interstate system: To contribute to peace and security by promoting

international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order
to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with
fundamental freedom.

World Trade Organization (WTO) - is the only global international organization dealing
with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements,
negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations and ratified in their
parliaments.

Specialized Agencies

United Nations - The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945.

Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the
purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.

The UN has evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.

But one thing has stayed the same: it remains the one place on Earth where all the
world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared
solutions that benefit all of humanity.

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/specialized-agencies

Other Specialized International institutions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_specialized_agencies_of_the_United_Nations