Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Migration, identity and Sovereignty
- What are the impacts of globalisation on international migration
- 'the growing interdependence of countries worldwide through
increasing volumes of cross-border transactions, freer international
capital flows and more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology'
- Migration between countries
- The global migration rate has been consistent
since 2005; countries with emerging economies
have higher numbers of emigrants
- Singapore is the fifth most globalised country in the
world according to the KOF 2015 Index of globalisation
- CS: Singapore,
international
migration and the
global shift
- By contrast, Japan is the 54th most globalised country due to its
stricter laws on immigration. 65% of respondents in a survey on
immigration opposed the idea
- Causes of migration
- Globalisation has created many push and pull factors of
migration
- Lee model
- Push: persecution due
to race, gender,
sexuality, political
opinion or otherwise,
lack of job
opportunities, national
security, war or other
military factors and
natural hazards
- Economical factors are always likely to be the
most prominent for voluntary migration
- CS: MENA region
displaced persons
- Pull: improved
financial position,
job opportunities,
family, better living
standards, climate,
seeking asylum,
better education,
improved
healthcare system
- Neoclassical economic theory
- Dual labour market theory
- Relative deprivation theory
- World systems theory
- Economics of labour migration
- Labour shortages as the world's population
growth rate slows and average ages increase
- Consequences of international migration
- Influx of young migrant workers
could potentially challenge national
identity and sovereignty
- Immigration leads to: traffic congestion, increased spending on
public services and health, higher taxes, increased population
density and stagnating wages if there's excess labour
- CS: Schengen Area
- Political tensions
- CS: Labour flows across the US-Mexico border
- Border control
- People trafficking
- Physical characteristics: Greece 13,000km of coastline
- Migration within countries
- CS: Rural-urban migration in China
- Movement of labour within countries is usually
unrestricted - two thirds of UK internal migrants had
not moved out of their local constituency (2011 census)
- How are nation states defined and how have they evolved in a globalising world?
- Nation states are political entities with
sovereignty over their territory and
recognition by other nations
- CS: Iceland vs Singapore
- Japan is the worlds largest
nation state, with 127 million
people
- Origins of national borders
- Often linked with physical geography e.g. rivers,
coastlines, mountains (such as the UK-France border)
- Historical events e.g. ROI and Northern Ireland
- Some borders ignored social and physical
geography and were simply straight lines drawn
on a map e.g. USA-Canada and Mali
- Often leads to tension
- CS: Iraq's borders and Sunni vs Shiite muslims
- Contested borders and conflict
- Possible reasons
- Valuable resources (Artic ocean seabed), cultural unity, ethnic unity
(Taiwan and China) (North and South Korea), absorption of territory
- CS: Republic of China vs
People's Republic of China
- Nationalism and the modern world
- Nationalism is the shared feeling for a special, significant
geographical area; this may be expressed by political
identification with and a sense of belonging to a nation
- Friedrich Hegel said that nationalism holds
modern societies together as religious and
dynastical allegiance are declining
- Independence movements since 1945
- Colonies were driven by self-determination,
especially after the imperial powers had
fought two world wars
- Non-violent protests
- CS: India's road to independence
- Violent protests
- Post-colonial conflict
- South Sudan is the world's newest country
as an agreement to end the 2005 civil war.
However, there were still conflicts
between the country's 60 ethnic groups
and there was another civil war in 2013
- 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état
- Post-colonial migration: conflicts in former British colonies
led to refugee immigration e.g. about 20,000 Hong kong
boat people settled in British cities
- Other pull factors include job opportunties (e.g. 1960
British textile industry attracted 1,000,000 Indians
- 'Wind of change' swept through Africa - 17
countries received indpendence in 1960
- The extent of decolonisation was
quite large; the UN had 51 member
states in 1945 but over 120 in 1960
- The emergence of new state forms
- Tax havens
- 'Paradise Papers'
- Growing inequality - reduces the amount of
money that governments have to spend and this
is particularly severe in many poorer African
countries, according to Christian Aid
- What are the impacts of global organisations on managing global issues and
conflicts?
- IGO's play a significant role in managing global conflicts
- The United Nations (Created in 1945) was the first post-war IGO and the most influential
- Some important UN bodies:
- World Health Organisation (WHO)
- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
- World Food Programme (WFP)
- United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- "Aims to achieve international cooperation in
solving international problems of an
economic, social, cultural or humanitarian
character"
- Doesn't always engage with solely
political issues, however these are
likely to affect one or more of the
other characteristics e.g. the economy
- CS: UN sanctions against Iran
- Example of successful UN intervention
- "war on terror" - G.W. Bush
- Despite much more solid threats from the UN
and a stronger military than its predecessor
(LoN), there are still sometimes 'failures'
- The UN is an IGO, however it could be argued that
actually although it plays a significant role in global
affairs, it isn't itself global, due to the power of veto
- CS: The UN security council
- Some countries, e.g. UK, USA, Russia decide
to act independently of the UN on occassion
- Can backfire - e.g. Russia annexing Crimea in
Ukraine led to sanctions on Russian officials,
banning them from entering the US and EU
- IGO control of world trade and financial flows
- The purpose of the IMF is to look after the stability of
the world economically by helping governments
balance their payments in times of economic difficulty
- Countries are given a financial 'rating' and pay a
certain sum towards the IMF dependent on this score
- The USA contributes about 18% of the IMF
so has the most influence on it - members
within IGO's don't have equal influence
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD)
- Provides loans for rebuilding economies and to alleviate
poverty
- Aims to decrease global poverty to only 3%
living on under $1.25 a day by 2030
- CS: Jamaica's structural adjustment programme
- IGO management of environmental problems
- The atmosphere, hydrosphere and certain
parts of the cryosphere are all transboundary
so require cooperation between all countries
- Examples of environmental problems managed by IGO's
- Successes
- Montreal Protocol
- Ratified by 197 countries making it the first
universally signed treaty from the UN, governments
acted quickly (only 14 years), reversing damage
done to the environment by CFC's
- Antarctic Treaty
- All parties meet annually to discuss the treaty, 53
signatory countries, freedom from military activity and
mining, conservation of flora and fauna
- Failures
- Helsinki Rules
- No mechanism in place to enforce the rules,
often international water treaties do not
achieve 'equitable use' or' equitable share'
because one or more parties in the
negotiations has disproportionate political
or socio-economical power and can strongly
influence other countries
- What are the threats to national sovereignty in a more globalised world?
- National identity and nationalism are powerful forces and have
been the causes of many major conflicts in history.
- Nationalism is reinforced through education, sport, culture and politics in a
nation, where loyalty to a favourite team, party or otherwise is emphasised
- Sir Andrew Motion, "of all the things that are
sacred to us in England, the countryside is
one of the most precious of them all"
- As a result of globalisation, most developed countries and
many developing countries are interconnected
- The consequences of national disunity
- CS: Catalonia in the EU
- Failed states
- A failed state means a government has broken down and is characterised by:
- Loss of control over its borders
- Erosion of legitimate authority in the decision-making process
- Inability to have a solid democracy and elect new governments
- Lack of recognition and inability to act with other states in the international community
- CS: Somalia
- Challenges to national identity
- Migration of workers and refugees has led to
questions of loyalty and national identity has
become a complex issue
- 2011 UK census: only
13% of people aged over
75 described their
identity as British and
about half of all people
with black or Asian
ethnicity defined
themselves as British
- Terrorism
- Led to tensions between Muslim communities in
religiously neutral countries. The Islamic Association
of Britain says that when there are tensions between
the UK and a Muslim country, British Muslims should
support the UK, since they are citizens of the country
- 'Made in Britain' is an increasingly complex idea because so
many UK-based companies are foreign owned
- CS: Foreign ownership of UK utilities
- Foreign investors own around 40% of Britain's assets in the water,
energy, transportation and communication sectors
- CS: Indian TNC's
- Capitalist theory
- Capitalism's greatest strength is dynamism,
the ability to change regardless of economic
conditions and replace older markets
- This is also it's greatest weakness - the dividing line between
success and failure is often thin and growth and economic
decline can occur at the same time. Instability in one region
can cause a chain reaction