Globalization

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Globalization
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Some More Questions

• Is globalization inevitable?
• Does globalization ultimately help or hurt
  people?
• Does globalization make the world more diverse or
  more the same?
• Does globalization lead to culture-sharing or
  cultural imperialism?
• Does globalization lead to an increase or
  decrease in violent conflicts?
• Is globalization ultimately good or bad for the
  environment?
• Does globalization increase or decrease instances
  of environmental injustice?
• Is globalization sustainable?

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A Popular Literary Image of Globalization

• Samuel Huntington The Clash of
  Civilizations
• and the Remaking of World Order
• (1993,
  1998)

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The Civilizations
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Another Popular Literary Image of Globalization

• Benjamin Barber Jihad vs.
  McWorld
• How Globalism and Tribalism
• are
  Reshaping the World
• (1995)

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And Two Last Popular Literary Images of
Globalization

• Thomas Friedman
• The Lexus and the Olive
  Tree The World is Flat
• Understanding
  Globalization A Brief History of the
• 
  (2000) Twenty-first
  Century
• (2005)

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Some Responses to Globalization in Terms of
Nation-States and International Economic
Integration

• Skeptics Globalization has not significantly
  reduced the regulative and redistributive
  capacities of nation-states. Nation-states can
  adequately respond to globalization.
• Deregulators or Hyperglobalists Globalization
  has reduced the regulative and redistributive
  capacities of nation-states. This is a
  beneficial, efficient, and overall good thing,
  and globalization should be encouraged.

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Some More Responses to Globalization

• Reversers Globalization is constraining the
  public policy making abilities of nation-states
  and other political actors, and this is
  undesirable. Globalization should be slowed down
  or reversed.
• Internationalists or Transformationalists
  Globalization is constraining the public policy
  making abilities of nation-states and other
  political actors. To deal with the bad
  consequences of this, international systems of
  effective governance should be developed.

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Assessing Global Poverty and InequalityIncome,
Resources, and Capabilities

• Ingrid Robeyns

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Scholars and Politicians on the Political Right,
and Mainstream Economists

• There are fewer people living in poverty today
  than there were in the past ten or twenty years!
• Inequality between the poor and the rich
  countries is decreasing!
• People in poor countries benefit from economic
  globalization!
• People in poor countries have become better off
  thanks to the policies of the World Trade
  Organization, the World Bank, and the
  International Monetary Fund!

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Scholars, Politicians, and Social Activists on
the Political Left

• There are more people living in poverty today
  than there were in the past ten or twenty years!
• Inequality between the poor and the rich
  countries is increasing!
• People in poor countries are harmed by economic
  globalization!
• People in poor countries have become worse off
  thanks to the policies of the World Trade
  Organization, the World Bank, and the
  International Monetary Fund!

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So what is the real story?

• Robeyns
• Different evaluative approaches used to assess
  well-being, poverty, and inequality give
  different answers to these kinds of questions.
• 1. Income Measures
• 2. Classifying Resources
• 3. Functionings and Capabilities

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Income Measures from the World Bank

• The World Bank says that poverty is decreasing in
  the world.
• http//devdata.worldbank.org/wdi2006/contents/cove
  r.htm
• But how is poverty defined?
• The most often cited measure is someone who lives
  on 1 (U.S.) or less a day.
• This is equivalent to the purchasing-power parity
  of 1.08 in the U.S. in 1993.

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Classifying Resources I GDP and GNP

• Human development traditionally is based on
  economic growth in monetary outcome terms for
  nation-states
• 1. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) A monetary
  measure of the value
• of goods and services, for final consumption or
  investment,
• produced by a national economy over the course
  of a year.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_
  GDP_(nominal)
• 2. Gross National Product (GNP) Start with
  GDP. Then add income
• that accrues to domestic residents from
  investments abroad.
• Then deduct income earned in the domestic
  economy which is
• owned by people abroad.

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Classifying Resources II Rawlsian Social
Primary Goods

• Recall John Rawls theory of distributive
  justice.
• People in the original position (POPs) behind a
  veil of ignorance know nothing about who they
  are. They do know, however, that regardless of
  who they turn out to be, they will want social
  primary goods, including income, wealth,
  liberties, opportunities, and the social basis of
  self-respect.
• To determine these goods, we could track and
  compare
• 1. Individual disposable income within a given
  state.
• 2. Basic rights guaranteed by a given state.
• 3. What kinds of social, political, and economic
  opportunities are
• available to individual people within a given
  state.
• 4. Whether or not people feel there exists a
  social basis for
• self-respect within their given state.

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Human Development Reports (HDRs)

• Developed by the United Nations Development
  Program in the 1990s as an alternative to simple
  GDP and GNP to measure human well-being.
• Theoretically linked to capabilities approaches
  to justice.
• In addition to goods and services, an HDR is
  designed to capture peoples opportunities,
  choices, valued ways of living, and flourishing.
• Based on an aggregate of data
• http//hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators
  /

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Capabilities Approaches

• These are theoretically linked to HDRs, but they
  might allow us to move beyond welfare comparisons
  and actually compare peoples lives.
• Central insight Human development concerns not
  just what people have (such as resources and
  money) but, more importantly, what people
  actively can do with their lives.
• Amartya Sens approach is based on the idea that
  expanding peoples freedoms is both the principal
  means of development and the primary end of
  development.
• Martha Nussbaums approach is based on the idea
  that there are core human capabilities that are
  central in human lives and that distinctively
  make us human.
• These approaches support the creation of social,
  political, economic, legal, and moral conditions
  for people to develop and exercise their
  capabilities.

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Amartya Sen Development as Freedom

• What justice ought to distribute
• 1. Elementary functions doings and
• beings such as having access to
• adequate food and shelter that can be secured
  by
• personal liberty, income, and wealth.
• 2. Complex functions doings and beings such
  as
• having self-respect and being able to take part
  in
• political communities that depend on factors
• independent of possessing resources.

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Some Aspects of Sens Approach

• Rather than an exclusive focus on economic
  indicators, focuses also on the range and quality
  of valued options of peoples choices.
• To examine a persons capabilities, normatively
  rank
• 1. A set of life paths that person could
  follow.
• 2. How that person actually lives.
• 3. How satisfied that person feels
• 4. The goods/commodities that person uses.

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Martha Nussbaum Capabilities Approach

• Develops an open and revisable threshold list of
  central human capabilities that all people ought
  to be able to exercise.
• This list can be used for public planning
  purposes by governments and other political
  entities. The goal would be to develop legal,
  political, and social institutions and procedures
  that create conditions in which people can
  develop and exercise their capabilities.

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List of Central Human Capabilities to be
distributed.

• 1. Life being able to live a normal human life
  span.
• 2. Bodily Health being able to have good
  health.
• 3. Bodily Integrity being able to be
  physically secure, including rights over
• ones own body.
• 4. Senses, Imagination, and Thought being able
  to use these mental
• capacities in a truly human way through adequate
  education,
• informed consent, and freedom from repression.
• 5. Emotions being able to have and freely
  express feelings and sentiments.
• 6. Practical Reason being able to form a
  conception of the good and to
• engage in critical reflection about the planning
  of ones life.
• 7. Affiliation (a) being able to interact well
  with other people, and
• (b) having the social bases for self-respect,
  dignity, and non-humiliation.
• 8. Other Species being able to live with
  concern for the natural world.
• 9. Play being able to play and laugh.
• 10. Control Over Environment being able to
  effectively participate in
• political processes, to have possessions, and to
  seek employment.

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Conclusion

• We might be able to reconcile conflicting answers
  to questions about poverty, inequality, and
  economic globalization by viewing these different
  evaluative approaches as complementary rather
  than as purely rival alternatives.
• This might open a door for bringing together
  globalization champions from the political right
  and anti-globalization champions from the
  political left.