 | Chapter Outline (See related pages)
- The global economy
- Economic globalization
- Global economy evident after collapse of communism
- Expanding trade, foreign investments, privatization of industry
- Free trade: free of state-imposed restrictions
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
- Formed in 1947 as vehicle to promote free trade
- In 1994, 123 GATT members created Word Trade Organization (WTO)
- Dramatic growth in world trade, 1966-1990
- Global corporations symbols of the new economy
- Multinational businesses operate apart from laws and restrictions
of any one nation
- Seek cheapest labor and resources; prefer lax environmental
laws
- Pay less in taxes in developed world than formerly
- Economic growth in Asia
- Japan's "economic miracle"
- Postwar Japan had few resources, no overseas empire
- Benefited from U.S. aid, investments, and protection
- Japan pursued export-oriented growth supported by low wages
- Began with labor-intensive exports, textiles, iron, and steel
- Reinvested profits in capital-intensive and technology-intensive
production
- Rapid growth, 1960s-1980s; suffered recession in 1990s
- The Little Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan
- Followed Japanese model of export-driven industry; rapid growth
in 1980s
- By 1990s highly competitive; joined by Indonesia, Thailand,
and Malaysia
- The rise of China since the death of Mao Zedong
- Late 1970s opened China to foreign investment and technology
- Gradual shift from planned communist economy to market economy
- Offered vast, cheap labor and huge domestic markets
- China joined WTO in 2001
- Perils of the new economy: vulnerable to global forces
- Investors withdrew support from Thailand in 1997
- Ripple effect: contraction of other Asian economies
- Trading blocs
- The European Union
- Begun in 1957 with six nations, now includes fifteen
- A common market, free trade, free travel within the Union
- Eleven members adopted a common currency, the Euro, in 1999
- Expectations of a European Political Union eventually
- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- Cartel established in 1960 to raise global oil prices
- After Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed embargo on oil
to United States, Israel's ally
- Price of oil quadrupled from 1973 to 1975, triggered global
recession
- Overproduction and dissension among members diminished influence,
1990s
- Regional trade associations formed to establish free-trade zones
for member states
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967, five
members
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993: United
States, Canada, Mexico
- Critics of globalization
- To supporters, global economy efficient, best path to global
prosperity
- To critics, widens gap between rich and poor, destroys environment,
threatens local and traditional crafts and economies
- Cross-cultural exchanges and global communication
- Global Barbie
- Western consumerism becoming a global phenomenon
- Sara versus Barbie in Iran
- Barbie seen as a threat to Islamic values, symbol of cultural
imperialism
- Iranian dolls, Sara and her brother Dara (an Islamic cleric),
are modest alternatives
- Barbie in Japan
- Image of Barbie unsettling, Mattel created a younger doll for
Japanese market
- Whereas Iranians reject image of Barbie, Japanese adjust Barbie
to their aesthetic
- Consumption and cultural interaction
- Global culture of consumption
- Satisfies wants and desires rather than needs or necessities
- Homogenization of global culture: blue jeans, Coca-Cola, McDonalds
- Western icons often replace local businesses and indigenous
cultures
- Brand names also identify local products, for example, Swiss
Rolex, Perrier, Armani
- Pan-American culture competes with United States
- Eva Pe_on (Evita) has become a pop icon in Argentina and beyond
- Latin American societies blended foreign and indigenous cultural
practices
- The age of access
- Globalization minimizes social, economic, and political isolation
- Preeminence of English language
- Critics: mass media become a vehicle of cultural imperialism
- Internet is an information colony, with English hegemony
- China attempts a firewall to control Internet information
- Adaptations of technology in authoritarian states
- Zaire television showed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko walking on
clouds
- Vietnam and Iraq limit access to foreign servers on Internet
- Global problems
- Population pressures and environmental degradation
- Dramatic population increases in twentieth century
- Population increased from 500 million in 1650 to 2.5 billion
in 1950
- Asia and Africa experienced population explosion after WWII
- 5.5 billion people in 1994; perhaps 11.6 billion people in
2200
- So far, food production has kept pace with population growth
- Fertility rates have been falling for past twenty years
- The planet's carrying capacity: how many people can the earth support?
- Scientists and citizens concerned about physical limits of
the earth
- Club of Rome issued "The Limits to Growth" in 1972
- Dire predictions not borne by facts: prices have fallen, food
has increased
- Environmental impact
- Urbanization and agricultural expansion threaten biodiversity
- Gas emissions, coal burning contribute to global warming
- In 1997 at Kyoto, 159 states met to cut carbon dioxide emissions
- Population control: a highly politicized issue
- Some developing nations charge racism when urged to limit population
- UN agencies have aided many countries with family-planning
programs
- China's one-child policy has significantly reduced growth rate
- Other cultures still favor larger families, for example, India
- Economic inequities and labor servitude
- Causes of poverty
- Inequities in resources and income separate rich and poor societies
- Attendant problems: malnutrition, environmental degradation
- Legacy of colonialism: economic dependence
- Labor servitude increasing
- Slavery abolished worldwide by 1960s
- Millions still forced into bonded labor
- Child-labor servitude common in south and southeast Asia
- Trafficking of persons across international boundaries widespread
- Victims, mostly girls and women, lured with promises of work
- Often in sex industry; hugely profitable though criminal
- Global diseases
- Many epidemics now under control
- Last major pandemic (1918-1919): flu epidemic that killed twenty
to forty million
- Smallpox and diptheria eradicated
- HIV/AIDS identified in 1981 in San Francisco
- In 2000, 36.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide,
21.8 million in Africa
- Kills adults in prime; many children in Africa orphaned
- Threatens social and economic basis of African societies
- Many cannot afford treatment
- Global terrorism
- The weapon of those out of power, of anticolonial and revolutionary
movements
- Difficult to define terrorism
- Deliberate violence against civilians to advance political
or ideological cause
- Rarely successful; often discredits potentially worthy causes
- 11 September 2001 focused international attention on terrorism
- Coordinated attack on World Trade Tower and Pentagon
- Source identified as Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda
network
- Angered by U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia; proclaimed jihad,
holy war
- Islamic State of Afghanistan was established 1996 by Taliban
- Imposed strict Islamic law: regulated dress, entertainment,
media
- Women barred from education, work, health services
- November 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, drove out Taliban,
al-Qaeda
- Coping with global problems: international organizations
- Many global problems cannot be solved by national governments
- Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
- Red Cross, an international humanitarian agency, founded 1964
- Greenpeace, an environmental organization, founded in 1970
- The United Nations, founded 1945 "to maintain international peace
and security"
- Not successful at preventing wars, for example, Iran-Iraq war
- Cannot legislate, but has influence in international community
- More successful in health and educational goals: eradication
of smallpox, decrease in child mortality, increase in female literacy
- Human rights: an ancient concept, gaining wider acceptance
- Nuremberg Trials of Nazis established concept of "crimes against
humanity"
- UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: forbids slavery,
torture, discrimination
- NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
- Crossing boundaries
- Women's traditions and feminist challenges
- Feminism and equal rights
- Status of women changed dramatically after WWII in industrialized
states
- Women demanded full equality with men, access to education
and employment
- Birth control enables women to control their bodies and avoid
"biology destiny"
- U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination on basis
of race or sex
- Gender equality in China
- Communist states often improved women's legal status
- Despite legal reforms, China's women have not yet gained true
equality
- One-child policy encourages infanticide or abandonment of baby
girls
- Domesticity and abuse restricting rights of women in developing
world
- Women in Arab and Muslim societies twice as likely as men to
be illiterate
- Most Indian women illiterate (75 perecent in 1980s) and confined
at home
- "Dowry deaths" common in India; burning of wives in Pakistan
- Women leaders in south Asia
- Effective political leaders: Indira Gandhi (India) and Benazir
Bhutto (Pakistan)
- Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga became president of Sri
Lanka, 1994
- Democratic activist Aung Sang Suu Kyi received Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991 when under house arrest in Myanmar
- UN launched a Decade for Women program in 1975
- Migration
- Internal migration: tremendous flow from rural to urban settings
- Part of process of industrialization; in western societies
75 percent of population is urban
- Urbanization a difficult transition for rural people
- Crowded in slums (barrios) at the edge of cities; strain urban
services
- External migration: fleeing war, persecution, seeking opportunities
- Thirteen million "guest workers" migrated to western Europe
since 1960
- Ten million migrants (mostly Mexican) migrated to United States
since 1960
- In oil-producing countries, foreigners make up half of working
population
- About 130 million people currently live outside their countries
of citizenship
- Migrant communities within host societies
- Migrants enrich societies in many ways, but also spark hostility
and conflict
- Fears that migrants will undermine national identity, compete
for jobs
- Anti-immigrant movements (xenophobia) lead to violence and
racial tension
- Cross-cultural travelers
- Mass tourism possible with more leisure and faster travel
- First travel agencies: Thomas Cook and Karl Baedeker in nineteenth
century
- In 1800s, tourism fashionable for rich Europeans; adopted by
working people later
- By the twentieth century, leisure travel another form of consumption
- After WWII, packaged tours took millions of tourists across
the world
- Effects of mass tourism
- Now travel and tourism is the largest single industry on the
planet
- Low-paying jobs; profits go mostly to developed world
- Tourism exposes cultural variations and diversity of local
traditions
- Tourism leads to revival and transformation of indigenous cultural
traditions
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