WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION?

BY SAM CAREY

IB Core Topic – Global Issues

Before we start our new unit on the IB Core Topic – Global Issues, let’s take some time to ponder about the concept of GLOBALIZATION.(or ‘Globalisation’ if you’re British)…

BusinessDictionary.com defines globalization as: The worldwide movement toward economic, financial,

trade, and communications integration. Globalization implies the opening of local and

nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies if applied indiscriminately.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/globalization.html#ixzz30lP6tf2z

After reading that definition:

What are the implications of globalization?

Can you quickly come up with some possible advantages and disadvantages connected to globalization?

MORE DEFINITIONS…

Below is a report prepared by The World Bank on Globalization.

 We won’t bother reading ALL OF IT!! But we can look at headings and skim for main ideas

Globalization: The Concept, Causes, and Consequences. By John Williamson, The World Bank

CONFUSED YET?!! BORED??!! Trust me, many scholars have

written very long and complex books about GLOBALIZATION, IT IS NOT A TOPIC THAT YOU CAN EASILY UNDERSTAND!!!

So let’s look at some images instead, and try to relate them to this concept of GLOBALIZATION…

Typical ‘sweatshop’ manufacturing of athletic shoes in Vietnam.

Ultra full container ship likely heading towards lucrative western markets.

Extracting petroleum bitumen from the tar sands of Fort McMurray, Northern Alberta, Canada.

Miners working in ‘slave like’ conditions search for diamonds in Sierra Leone, Africa.

Starbucks in downtown Shanghai, China.

Traffic jam in Mumbai, India.

Deforestation in the Amazon, Brazil.

Landfill in England.

How big is your footprint?

What will be more important in the future?

THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

JOKES…

Blog task

Write a report (150 – 250 words) for a national student magazine focusing on either one of Chile’s main IMPORT products, or one of Chile’s main EXPORT products.

You must include: - product use, - numbers and figures- and an overall, general analysis of the

advantages AND disadvantages (practical, social, economic, environmental, etc.) of importing or exporting this product.