Geography GLOBAL CHALLENGES - GOING GLOBAL - Globalisation

GLOBAL CHALLENGES

GOING GLOBAL

Globalisation

What is globalisation?

• The word ‘globalisation’ only came into common use in the 1990s – before this, geographers talked about ‘global economy’
• There was growing recognition that economic changes were accompanied by cultural, demographic, political & environmental changes on a worldwide scale.
• Globalisation now used to describe the many ways in which people are becoming more closely linked. Shrinking world.
• Wealth spreading to more people.
• Cultures mixing & becoming more diverse.
• In UK, people consume food, films & music from all over the world.

DOWNSIDES

• Not everyone is happy with free movement across borders, such as that in the EU.
• Issues about how it is possible for goods and resources to move around so easily and yet people still go hungry.
• Everyone looks set to bear heavy costs of environmental impacts.

NOTHING NEW – always been connected?

• Trade – Especially after 1492 - Columbus reached Americas & traditional world economy began to take shape.
• Colonialism – By end of 19^th century, British empire controlled ¼ of the world.
• Cooperation – Since WWI ended in 1918, international organisations similar to UN have existed.

THE DIFFERENCE with modern globalisation

• Lengthening of connections between people and places & products sourced from further afield, e.g. Bottled water from Fiji to UK.
• Deepening of connections to other people and places in more areas of our lives through the products we consume.

Globalisation, population change and migration.

• Demographic changes are an important aspect of globalisation.
• Economic growth tends to trigger increased numbers of people in a region  due to changes in birth rate and death rate and natural increase.
• Changes also result from internal migration of economic migrants.
• Greater levels of international migration are another aspect of the strong influence that globalisation has on population dynamics.
• Push and pull factors.
• Globalisation can concentrate wealth in some places, such as businesses setting up factories in the worlds major cities, this makes them more attractive to economic migrants.
• Rural areas usually modernise in ways that reduce job opportunities such as the mechanisation of farming.
• Mass population movements are generated, some crossing territorial borders.
• In the past, Intervening obstacles such as political barriers often meant migration could not occur, globalisation reduces this however, e.g. the EU member countries can move freely between each other.
• Sometimes, intervening opportunities can interrupt a migration flow e.g. Polish en route to Ireland, may find better work in London.

POPULATION GROWTH OVER TIME

·        Since Europe’s industrial revolution in 18^th century, societies worldwide have seen falling death rates followed by falling birth rates.

·        Modern healthcare

·        Sanitation

·        Nutrition

·        Education

·        Resulting changes in natural increase and population sizes are described by demographic transition model.

·        In most cases, economic growth has been accompanied by a period of pronounced population growth.

·        UK was first country to industrialise – population increased from 5m in 1750 to 40 million by 1900.

·        In China and India, changes are still taking place.

·        High rates of population growth occur when a society’s death rate falls but birth rate does not – benefits of modern health, medicine and food reduce mortality but there is a time lag before preferences for fewer children come into effect. This is the situation in much of Africa.

·        European nations now have near zero population growth.

The evolution of globalisation

·        Many factors are responsible for lengthening and deepening of connections interconnections between places.

·        Some factors are continuations of older processes, such as growth of international air travel, others are entirely new, like the internet.

·        The period we are concerned with begins in 1945, after the second world war, worldwide economic reconstruction began and the international monetary fund (IMF) was set up.

TRANSNATIONAL CORPERATIONS

·        TNCs are firms with bases in two or more countries.

·        They are both makers and sellers of goods and services.

·        ‘Global brands’ such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds and the BBC (which is funded by UK government) have brought both cultural and economic changes to places that their products are made and consumed.

                 TRANSPORT

·        The intercontinental Boeing 747 introduction in 1960s made international travel more common.

·        Expansion of cheap flights sector (easyjet, Ryanair) has brought air travel to the masses in richer nations.

·        Growth in container shipping since 1940s is another factor – around 200 million container movements occur annually.

                 COMPUTER & INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

·        Computers have affected how businesses operate and where they can locate. Computer-aided design and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAD and CAM) have revolutionised manufacturing processes. They help make manufacturing more flexible & less reliant on human labour.

·        ICT allows managers of offices and plants which are geographically distant to maintain communication through e-mail and video conferencing.

·        TNCs able to expand into new territories.

                INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

·        Grew in power and influence throughout 20^th century.

·        Most important of these ‘brokers’ is the IMF which is based in Washington and channels loans from the worlds richest nations to countries applying for help.

·        Governments that receive loans must agree to run free-market economies open to investment to the outside. This means TNCs can enter more easily.

·        IMF rules&regulations may be controversial , especially structural adjustment programmes (SAPs). E.g. In Tanzania, water services to shanty towns in capital Dar es Salaam were cut off when country had to privatise water services as a condition of receiving $143 million debt relief.

·        Other organisations include the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the world bank.

·        Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Oxfam and Christian Aid, also have major transglobal influences working to connect people through aid or debt relief.

                 MARKETS

·        On the rise globally.

·        More people living in major world cities have enough wealth to be significant consumers of goods and services.

·        In 2007, China had an estimated 30 million affluent consumers, predicted to become worlds largest market for consumer goods by 2015.

·        Growth of major stock markets has also been an important influence. Since 1945, several new stock exchanges have opened, notably Shanghai.

Globalisation and population movements

• Globalisation may make the world seem borderless.
• People are increasingly thinking of themselves as ‘global citizens’, visiting and relocating to distant places – especially true of the international elite.
•  The elite find few obstacles to prevent them moving between countries for work or residency. There are around 200,000 Americans living in the UK, even though the USA is not part of the EU.
• Internal movements between regions of a country have increased. Large-scale rural-urban migration taking place in many of the worlds poorest and emerging economies on an unprecedented scale. 
• 2 important reasons for this shift^
• TV and radio, books and newspapers can be received in remote and impoverished rural regions in poor countries. Knowledge of other places can trigger migration in the young.
• The Foreign direct investment (FDI) that TNCs make in urban areas of poorer countries boosts employment opportunities on offer, attracting rural migrants.
• While globalisation means easier movement of goods and money, this is not always the case for population migration.
• Since 11 September 2001 (9/11), rich countries have introduced new immigration rules and restrictions.
• It has become harder to gain a visa into the USA.
• Heightened fears of terrorism & national security have accompanied the most recent phase of globalisation.
• The worlds poor continue to gain knowledge of the affluent conditions in rich countries, while their own suffer drought and flood resulting from climate change.
• European policy-makers are toughening their stance towards migration as increasing numbers of refugees from African nations such as Somalia try to cross the Mediterranean into Europe in leaky boats.

Shrinking world - Thanks to technology, distant places start to feel closer and  take less time to reach. Sometimes called ‘time-space compression’.

Birth rate - Number of births per 1,000 people per year in a region.

Death rate - Number of deaths per 1,000 people per year in a region.

Natural increase - Difference between birth and death rate, usually a %. Negative figure suggests deaths exceed births (natural decrease).

Economic migrant - A migrant whose primary motivation is to seek employment. Migrants with jobs may seek better pay or change of career.

Internal migration - The movement of people between regions of the same nation. Hundred have migrated from countryside to cities in recent years.

 

Intervening obstacle -  Barrier to migrant such as political border or physical feature (e.g. Mediterranean sea for North Africans heading to Europe). May include family and travel costs.

Intervening opportunities - An alternative migration destination that exists between migrants origin and intended destination.

IMF - The International Monetary Fund.

Structural adjustment programmes -

Strict conditions imposed on countries receiving loans from IMF and World Bank. Receiving governments may be required to cut back on healthcare, education, sanitation and housing programmes.

World Trade Organisation - The WTO is an organisation that intends to supervise and liberalise international trade.

World Bank - A United Nations agency created to assist developing nations by loans guaranteed by member governments.

Elite -A group of people who are economically and socially powerful. Money may be inherited or entrepreneurial in origin.

Foreign Direct Investment - A financial injection made by a TNC into a nations economy, either to build new facilities or to acquire or merge with an existing firm there.

Rural-Urban migration - A movement of population from rural to urban areas. Typically a young (15-30) migration and often male-dominated, but balanced in Asian nations.

JUST IGNORE THE RANDOM TABLE BELOW - I CAN'T GET RID OF IT. :)

Shrinking world
Birth rate
Death rate
Natural increase
Economic migrant
Internal migration
Intervening obstacles
Intervening opportunities
IMF
structural adjustment programmes
World Trade Organisation
world bank
elite
The Foreign direct investment
Rural-Urban migration