Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Globalisation
- A lengthening of connections between people and places, with products sourced from further away than ever before
- A deepening of connections to other people
and places in more areas of our lives
- The lengthening and deepening of connections over time and space - Time Space Compression
- Cultures are mixing and becoming more diverse
- People, Countries and continents have always been connected in economic, cultural and political ways through:
- Trade - Especially after 1492 when Columbus reached the Americas and the traditional world economy began to take shape
- Colonialism - By the end of the nineteenth century, the British Empire directly controlled one-quarter of the world and its peoples
- Cooperation - Since the First World War ended in 1918, international organisations similar to today's United Nations have existed
- Since Europe's industrial revolution in the 18th century, societies around the world have experienced a fall in death rate followed by a fall in birth rate
- Fall in death rates : Improved healthcare, sanitation, nutrition and education
- Fall in Birth rates : Contraception, Education, Women wanting careers, Abortion legalised
- The UK was the first nation to industrialise and its population increased from 5 million in 1750 to around 40 million by 1900 and has now reached 60 million
- In countries such as India and Brazil changes are still taking place, and on an even larger scale
- India, whose population was already large at 300 million in
1940, is predicted to reach a staggering 1.5 billion by 2030
- 1945, the year when the Second World War ended, worldwide economic reconstruction began (notably for Japan and Germany) and the International Monetary Fund was set up
- Transnational corporations
- Firms with operations spread across world in 2 or more countries
- Global brands
- Tesco
- Coca-Cola
- McDonalds
- MTV
- Transport
- The arrival of intercontinental Boeing 747
in the 60s made international travel more
commonplace
- Recent expansion of cheap flights
sector (EasyJet and Ryan air) has
brought air travel to the masses in
richer nations.
- The growth in containerised
shipping since the 1940s is
another important factor
- Around 200 million individual container movements
are thought to take place each year
- Computer and Internet technology
- Computers have a profound effect on how
businesses operate and where they can locate
- Computer-aided design and manufacturing have revolutionised manufacturing processes
- Make
manufacturing
more flexible and
less reliant on
human labour
- Information and communications technology
allows managers of offices and plants which
are geographically distant to keep in touch
- This has allowed TNCs to
expand into new territories, either
to make or sell their products
- International organisations
- Grew in power and influence throughout the twentieth century
- IMF is the most important in globalisation
- Based in Washington
- Channels loans from the world's richest nations to countries that apply for help
- In return the governments that receive loans must agree to run free-market economies that are open to investment from outside
- Some IMF rules and regulations are sometimes controversial, especially structural adjustment programmes
- Strict conditions imposed on countries receiving
loans from the IMF and World Bank. Receiving
governments may be required to cut back on
healthcare, education, sanitation and housing
programmes
- For example, in Tanzania, water services to shanty
towns in the capital Dar es Salaam were cut off when the
country was required to privatise its water services as a
condition of receiving $143 million debt relief
- TNCs can enter countries more easily
- World trade organisation
- NGOs
such as
Oxfam
and
Christian
Aid
- Markets
- On the rise globally
- More and more people living in
major world cities have enough
wealth to be significant
consumers of goods and
services
- In 2007, China already had
an estimated 30 million
affluent consumers, and it is
predicted to become the
world's largest market for
consumer goods by 2015
- Since 1945, several new stock
exchanges have opened, notably
Shanghai in 1990
- The growth of major
stock markets has
been a major influence
in globalisation
- Television and radio, as well as printed books and newspapers
can be received even in remote and impoverished rural areas
- The Foreign Direct Investment that TNCs make in urban areas of poorer countries
greatly boosts the employment opportunities on offer, thereby attracting rural migrants