GLOBALIZATION

Machunde Mauma

10.02.2020 – 14.02.2020

1
 The Big Issues
• Does Globalization make for more poverty or
less poverty?
• If poor countries resist globalization, does it
help or hurt?
• How do policies of rich countries matter for
global poverty?
• What are the impacts of Globalization on
Economy, Culture and Politics of the
Developing Countries?
 Why This Matters
• A large part of the world is poor.
 China (1134) + India (850)

Chart 4:
1990 Population Distribution of Per Capita National Income
Excluding China and India
350
Pakistan (112)
Bangladesh (108)
Indonesia (178)
300
1990 Population, Millions

US
(250)
250

Iran (56) France (57)

Nigeria (96) Thailand (56) Japan (124)
200 W. Germany (63)
Turkey (56)
Brazil (149)

150

Mexico (82) UK
100
(57)
Philippines (61)
Italy (58)
50

0
11

13

19

21

27

35

37

41

43

45
1

15

17

23

25

29

31

33

39

47

49
2-Percentiles of 1990 Per Capita National Income
 Why This Matters
• A large part of the world is poor.
• Poverty is not just low income; it is also high
child mortality, low life expectancy, adverse
working conditions, etc.
• Opinions differ on
– The role of globalization as cause or cure for
poverty.
– The desirability of particular policies
 What is Globalization?
•Anthony McGrew (1990) states that globalization
constitutes a multiplicity of linkages and
interconnections that transcend the nation states (and
by implication the societies) which make up the
modern world system. It defines a process through
which events, decisions and activities in one part of the
world can come to have a significant consequence for
individuals and communities in quite distant parts of
the globe.

6
 What is Globalization?
•Globalization involves economic integration; the
transfer of policies across borders; the transmission of
knowledge; cultural stability; the reproduction,
relations, and discourses of power; it is a global
process, a concept, a revolution, and “an establishment
of the global market free from sociopolitical control.”

7
 What is Globalization?.....
•Globalisation is the growth, or more precisely the
accelerated growth, of economic activity across national
and regional political boundaries. It finds expression in the
increased movement of tangible and intangible goods and
services, including ownership rights, via trade and
investment, and often people, via migration. It can and
often is facilitated by a lowering of government
impediments to that movement, and/or by technological
progress, notably in transportation and communications.
The action of individual economic actors, firms, banks,
people, drive it, usually in the pursuit of profit, often
spurred by the pressures of competition. Globalisation is
thus a centrifugal process, a process of economic outreach,
and a microeconomic phenomenon.” (Oman, 1996).

8
 5 ASPECTS OF GLOBALIZATION....
1.ECONOMIC
2.TECHNOLOGICAL
3.CULTURAL
4.POLITICAL
5.MILITARY
THESE ASPECTS ARE ALL INTERCONNECTED!

9
 1. ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
EARLY CAPITALIST IDEAS:
1. “Free Market Economy” (Adam Smith,
Wealth of Nations, 1776)
Market is “free” from State control

2. Division of labor

3. Competition
 Economic Globalization
TODAY:
Economies Are Increasingly Linked Together
EXS: NAFTA (MX, CA, US), The EU, WTO (World Trade
Organization)

WTO
• Only global international organization dealing with the
rules of trade between nations
• Goal: help producers of goods and services, exporters,
and importers conduct their business
 ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
MULTI-NATIONAL
CORPORATIONS
• OLD: Dutch East India
Company?
• 1602 company of Dutch
merchants & independent
trading companies
• Spice trade monopoly in East
Asia
• Power to colonize territories &
enslave indigenous people
• Indonesia & South Africa
 ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
• NEW: Nike, Wal-Mart, Royal/Dutch Shell
• Top 100 multinationals are all US-owned companies!
• Royal/Dutch Shell: global group of energy and
petrochemical companies, operating in more than 140
countries and territories, employing more than
112,000 people
 Economic Globalization in AFRICA
• Little Industry and Technology
• Can economic globalization can help reduce poverty?
• “Brain Drain”
• Debt (IMF loans) AF countries can’t even pay back interest
• 48% pple in sub-Saharan AF in extreme poverty (less than 750
calories/day)
• 2001 Index for Foreign Investment in Africa was “0”
• Gap between rich and poor increasing
• More than half of the extreme poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In
fact, the number of poor in the region increased by 9 million,
with 413 million people living on less than US$1.90 a day in 2015,
more than all the other regions combined. If the trend continues,
by 2030, nearly 9 out of 10 extreme poor will be in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
 2. TECHNOLOGICAL
GLOBALIZATION
• “World Wide Web” has exploded in last 10 years

• Computers can move money around world =

“finance capital”

• Silicon Valley is 9th largest economy in world!

Africa
• More computers in Manhattan than all of Africa!
• Post-colonial infrastructures don’t support
technology
CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION

McArabia Kofta
 3. CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION
• Cultural Imperialism = Dominance of one
culture over others
• Hollywood movies, MacDonald’s, Disneyland,
Starbucks
• Dominance of the English language and
invasion of other languages
• Do people all over the world have the same
taste?

Africa
• “Culture Industry” = opportunities for Africans
to sell their culture in the “global market” that
values traditional culture
 4. POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION

The United Nations: Global assoc. of govts. facilitating

cooperation in international law, security, economic
development, and social equity
• Whose interests does the UN represent?
• The US and the UK were the only nations in support of
going to war in Iraq
• Can a global politics with social values exist?
• Alternative political gatherings: Annual World Social
Forums since 2001, The Piece Process @ Gav!
 POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION
South Africa
• In 2001, US pharmaceutical corporations sued South African
companies for infringing on AIDS medication patent laws

• In 2003, President George W. Bush announced the Emergency

Plan in 2003 - the largest international health initiative in history
by one nation to address a single disease

• HIV/AIDS Situation in 2004

HIV Infected: 5.3 million
AIDS Deaths: 370,000
AIDS Orphans: 1.1 million
 5. MILITARY
GLOBALIZATION
Nuclear Bombs F/A-22 Raptor
 MILITARY
GLOBALIZATION
Smart Bombs Sidewinder Missiles
 MILITARY GLOBALIZATION
• Global alliances become clear during war time
• Example: Today’s US alliance with Britain in wars
against Afghanistan and Iraq
• What will happen with North Korea and nuclear
weapons?
Africa
• “Trade in Arms” = US sold $227 million in arms to
Africa in 1990s
• US train and provide weapons for African armies on
both sides of their civil wars (ex. Mobutu civil war in
Zaire)
• US is the #1 exporter of weapons globally
• US is the last on the list of exporters of non-military aid
to the developing world
 Discussion question

What are the impacts of Globalization on Economy,

Culture and Politics of the Developing Countries?