Session 2: Globalization and geographies

1) Review of Participatory Reflective Learning Exercise

2) Commodity exercise – Part 2

3) Globalization and geographies (Chapter 2: 2.2): What are the connections between globalization and the geographical?

4) Globalization and geographies (Chapter 2: 2.3): Why do some people or groups oppose or resist globalization?

1) World Bank group exercise / role play

New York, NY

January 16, 2015

Fouberg, E. H., Murphy, A. B., De Blij, H. J. and C. J. Nash (2012). Human Geography: People, Place, and Culture. John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., Mississauga.

Participatory Reflective Learning Exercise

1. What learning tools that were/could be used last semester were useful for you developing an understanding of the geographic concepts (e.g. videos, guest lecturers, examples provided by the instructor, etc.)?

The following were helpful:

• guest lecturers • videos• more personal stories from instructor• examples / relatable concepts• variety of resources• class blog• more group discussions (aim of this term)• in class discussions

2. What was/is important for you (e.g. appointments with the instructor, more detailed descriptions of assignments, etc.) in completing your assignments in a fashion that you feel personally satisfied with (i.e. on time and of good quality)?

The following were helpful:

• being give ample time to complete assignments, most found there was enough time last semester

• detail in descriptions of assignments• meeting with instructor• flexibility that was offered

• some difficulties with study habits and confidence

3. What was/would be important for you for gaining confidence with the concepts and preparing for exams (e.g. study groups, in-class reviews, additional resources, etc.)?

The following were helpful:

• study groups / working with classmates• exam format worked• *** reading the textbook BEFORE class ***• in-class review• study outline• notes posted on the blog• several students wanted to know what was on the

exam...

Beginning to think about globalization...commodity exercise...

• What materials did you research?

• Where are these materials produced?

• What kind of transportation would be required to move these materials and produce the products that you have on hand?

• Consider the environmental, social and economic effects.

Section 2.2 - What are the connections between globalization and the geographical?

Time-space compression: The social and psychological effects of living in a world in which time-space convergence has rapidly reached a high level of intensity; associated with the work of David Harvey.

Harvey links this directly to the capitalist market – “global markets seem to reorganize the perception of time so as to reduce the constraints of space on their activities”

technology as a main driver

Anthony Giddens: “the intensification of worldwide social relations”

Harvey’s shrinking map of the world

Represents space-time compression

Amount of time it took to reach destinations has been dramatically reduced

Certain places like world cities are more connected

Networks: A set of interconnected nodes without a centre, as defined by Manual Castells.

Networks can be:

• financial• transportation• communication• kinship• corporate• nongovernmental• trade• government• media• education• and more

Networks in Media

Vertical integration: Ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist along a variety of points on a commodity chain.

Relates to parent companies...(media and other corporations)...

Synergy: The cross-promotion of vertically integrated goods.

creates gatekeepers for what information we get

is a major critique especially with news media, which is supposed to maintain an unbiased position

Networks of Retail Corporations

Horizontal integration: Ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist at the same point on a commodity chain.

Example for clothing retail:

Gap Inc. is the parent company of The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic

Why do you think a parent corporation would have different subsidiaries?

Revisiting Placelessness

Placelessness: The loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next, as defined by geographer Edward Relph.

Globalization as a cause the spread of brands become global brands

Places become homogenized lesser ability to find connection to place or ‘sense of place’ through affecting a place changes how an individual understands his or her position in that place

Global-Local

Glocalization: The process by which people in a local place mediate and alter regional, national, and global processes.

Term coined by geographer, Eric Swyngedouw in order to counter the concept of “deterritorialization” behind geographical notions of placelessness.

**insertion of local and material as a corrective to the tendency of thinking about globalization as only a set of macro-processes

The interactions of global and local influence flows, networks, and time-space compression.

Section 2.3 - Why do some peoples or groups oppose or resist globalization?

Many different reasons to be critical of globalization

e.g. International organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, and World Trade Organization are set up to benefit the economic corecreating forced dependency (neoliberal argument)

“anti-globalization” or “alter-globalization” movements

seek participatory democracy and social justice at a global scale

Several NGOs have sprung up to be critical of the forces of globalization

Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC)**guest speaker next class**

Naomi Klein

– acclaimed Canadian author of the Shock Doctrine and other books that analyze and critique globalization

- “shocks” economics as the new model shaping globalizations (for the past 35 years)

- “shocks” are getting bigger – “a debt crisis no longer does the trick”... “it’s no longer enough to convince a whole society and get them to accept their bitter medicine”

- shocks are being harnessed

- video: Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKTmwu3ynOY

Naomi Klein

- video: Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism

Questions for reflection:

1. What was Klein’s point about generalizations?

2. What was Klein’s perspective on mixed economies?

3. What is the difference between rich and poor countries that counter neoliberalism?

Social action

Protest, education, counter actions, etc. (e.g., G20 protests)

Participatory Development

Participatory development: The notion that locals should be engaged in deciding what development means for them and how it should be achieved.

Opposite from top-down development / governance

World Bank / IMF and other are embracing this practice

Examples from instructor’s personal experience:

• Common Ground Research Forum (www.cgrf.ca)

• Common Ground through Creativity (commongroundthroughcreativity.org)

Local Currencies

Local exchange trading systems (LETS): A barter system whereby a local currency is created through which members trade services or goods in a local network separated from the formal economy.

• alternative to global norms - separate from the formal global economy

• trade can be goods or services

• a way of coping with economic downturns

• way of moderating some of the impacts of globalization

Group exercise

Goal of the exercise: To shed light on some of the debates and decision-making processes that occur at the World Bank.

Reading: Inside the World Bank, The Washington Post

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20050612&slug=worldbank12

What is the World Bank?

World Bank goals: End extreme poverty within a generation and boost shared prosperity.

Moves $20 billion annually towards ending third world poverty

History (source: Globalization101.org):

In 1944, representatives from the US, Great Britain, France, Russia, and 40 other countries met at Bretton Woods, a resort in New Hampshire, to lay the foundation for the post-war international financial order.

This was the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference

History continued...

• aimed towards preventing economic catastrophes such as the Great Depression, which destabilized Europe and the US in the 30s and contributed to the rise of fascism.

• the conference created the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank

• was to institutionalized also to rebuild economies shattered by war

• IMF: stabilize global financial markets and national currencies by providing the resources to establish secure monetary policy and exchange rate regimes

• World Bank: rebuild Europe by facilitating investment and reconstruction and development.

Ways that the World Bank can affect Trade and Competitiveness

Example from Zambia

World Bank Video: Promoting Trade and Competitiveness: What Can Zambia Do?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZZPwiDAa8Y

Some major critiques:

• That the World Bank is on the side of big business (i.e., is looking out for their bottom line)

• That the developing world is being saddled with a massive debt load

• That the elites running the World Bank are wasting resources

• That the World Bank has caused major environmental and social degradation at the local scale (e.g., GMO crops)

The case of India

Population: in 2011 was 1.24 billion up from 447.8 million in 1960 (World Bank)

Rejection of Monsanto, ¼ million suicides because of GMO crops

"In 1998, the World Bank's structural adjustment policies forced India to open up its seed sector to global corporations like Cargill, Monsanto, and Syngenta. The global corporations changed the input economy overnight. Farm saved seeds were replaced by corporate seeds which needed fertilizers and pesticides and could not be saved" Says Vandana Shiva, leader of the movement to oust Monsanto from India in her 2004 article The Suicide Economy Of Corporate Globalisation.

Vandana Shiva talking about Monsanto and colonization on Strombo -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3d9k23UyQQ

Instructions for Group Exercise:

You will be divided into 3 groups: 1) Representatives from the Democratic Republic of Hoover; 2) Critics; 3) Supporters

Together in your groups of 6 or 7, come up with an argument that represents your position. You should use the “Fact Sheet on Possible Sources of Energy” to help to shape your argument.

Group 1: Requests funding and gives reasons (i.e., environmental, social, economic)Group 2: Critiques the plans and gives reasons, and proposes alternativesGroup 3: Supports the funding from the World Bank and gives reasons

*before beginning with your group determine a strategy for recording and presenting * feel free to use your imagination