Debate: Is globalization good or bad? and Final Exam Review

1
Debate Is globalization good or bad?and Final
Exam Review

• Lesson 29

2
Debate Is globalization good or bad?

• Source of issues is the Globalisation Guide.org
  website at http//www.globalisationguide.org/ (an
  Australian organization)

3
Why is there global inequality,and is it getting
worse?

• The gap between the rich and poor nations of the
  world is increasingBy the late 1990s the fifth
  of the worlds people living in the
  highest-income countries had
• 86 of world GDPthe bottom fifth just 1.
• 82 of world export marketsthe bottom fifth just
  1.
• 68 of foreign direct investmentthe bottom fifth
  just 1.
• 74 of world telephone lines, todays basic means
  of communicationthe bottom fifth just 1.5.

4
Why is there global inequality,and is it getting
worse?

• There is mounting evidence that inequalities in
  global income and poverty are decreasing and that
  globalization has contributed to this turnaround.
  For example, the World Bank notes that China's
  opening to world trade has brought it growth in
  income from 1460 a head in 1980 to 4120 by
  1999. In 1980, American's earned 12.5 times as
  much as the Chinese, per capita. By 1999, they
  were only earning 7.4 times as much. The gap
  between rich and poor is also shrinking with most
  nations in Asia and Latin America. The countries
  that are getting poorer are those that are not
  open to world trade, notably many nations in
  Africa.

5
What are the costs and the benefits of free
trade?

• International trade and investment have been the
  engines of world growth over the past 50 years
  The benefits of that growth have been shared. The
  countries that are getting poorer are those that
  are not open to world trade, notably many nations
  in Africa Many people believe that exports
  create jobs, and imports cost jobs and that it
  therefore makes sense to have barriers against
  imports. This thinking led to the Great
  Depression in 1930, because so many countries had
  erected barriers against imports that global
  trade fell with catastrophic consequences.

6
What are the costs and the benefits of free
trade?

• The World Trade Organization agreements on free
  trade have functioned principally to pry open
  markets for the benefit of transnational
  corporations at the expense of national
  economies workers, farmers and other people and
  the environment. The WTO should not solely focus
  on opening markets but also allow trade to be
  restricted to support human rights, labor rights
  and environmental objectives in other countries.
  The WTO and trade agreements should also allow
  non-government organizations a direct voice in
  their governance. The freeing of financial
  markets has brought global instability, as
  evidenced in financial crises in Asia and Latin
  America and the continuing marginalization of
  sub-Saharan Africa.

7
What is the role of the internetand
communications technology in globalization?

• Many within developing countries see the
  internet as an opportunity to gain access to
  knowledge and services from around the world in a
  way that would have been unimaginable previously
  Globalization has drastically improved access of
  technological latecomers to advanced technologies
  and, to the extent that technological upgrading
  is important for development, it provides a
  unique opportunity for low-income countries to
  raise per capita income.

8
What is the role of the internetand
communications technology in globalization?

• Although the internet started off as a communal
  medium for sharing information, principally among
  academics, it is increasingly becoming the tool
  of transnational corporations to market their
  information products around the world. Because
  it is rich countries generating most of the
  content on the internet, it becomes a form of
  cultural imperialism, in which western values
  dominate. English is the language of the
  internet.

9
Is globalization shifting power from nation
states to undemocratic organizations?

• There are two strands to the argument that
  globalization is undermining nation states.
  First, it is that it is empowering corporations
  at the expense of the nation state, and secondly,
  that the international institutions such as the
  WTO and World Bank are not democratic. There is
  an issue of sheer size. It is noted that many
  corporations are larger than nation states more
  than half the 100 largest economies in the world
  are corporations. The sales of Ford and General
  Motors combined are greater than the combined GDP
  of sub-Saharan Africa while those of the six
  largest Japanese trading companies are almost as
  big as all the nations of Latin America
  combined. None of these supranational
  organizations are democratically constituted, and
  they make their decisions behind closed doors.

10
Is globalization shifting power from nation
states to undemocratic organizations?

• The major multilateral institutions acknowledge
  the need to improve the transparency of their
  decision making and each has programs to make
  themselves more open to outside contributions and
  develop better information flows. However they
  are all organizations composed of governments. In
  the case of the World Trade Organization, the
  practice has been that no decisions are made
  unless a consensus of governments is achieved.
  This guarantees that the WTO reflects the will of
  its member nation states.

11
How does globalization affect culture? Is it
Americanization?

• It is argued that one of the consequences of
  globalization will be the end of cultural
  diversity, and the triumph of a uni-polar culture
  serving the needs of transnational corporations.
  Hence the world drinks Coca-Cola, watches
  American movies and eats American junk food.
  American culture is seen to be dominated by
  monetary relationships and commercial values
  replacing traditional social relationships and
  family values.

12
How does globalization affect culture? Is it
Americanization?

• It does not make sense to talk of a world of 6
  billion people becoming a monoculture. The spread
  of globalization will undoubtedly bring changes
  to the countries it reaches, but change is an
  essential part of life. It does not mean the
  abolition of traditional values. Indeed, new
  global media, such as the internet, have proven a
  powerful means of projecting traditional culture
  (and the culture of radical opponents of
  globalization).

13
What are the environmental impacts of
globalization?

• Integration in the world economy contributes to
  environmental improvements by promoting growth,
  increasing incomes, improving property rights and
  the allowing the efficient use of resources. The
  major cause of environmental damage is market
  failure. Market failure is when those who are
  producing or consuming goods or services do not
  have to bear the full costs of their actions,
  such as the cost of pollution. The remedy is to
  make the polluter pay.

14
What are the environmental impacts of
globalizations?

• One of the drivers of globalization is that
  transnational companies want to place
  environmentally degrading industries in countries
  that do not have adequate environmental
  controls.Resource industries such as forestry,
  mining and fisheries exploit the resources of
  poor countries with little regard to either the
  long term cost to the country in terms of the
  loss of a national resource, or to the
  environment.

15
Is globalization resulting in industries in
developed countries being undermined by
industries in developing countries with inferior
labor standards?

• Globalization results in the exploitation of
  millions of workers in countries that do not give
  workers rights to organize. For example, a woman
  who sows a 200 Liz Claiborne jacket sown in El
  Salvador is paid just 74 cents less than half
  of one per cent. In the US, the labor cost to sew
  a garment is typically 10 per cent of the retail
  price.Workers in poor countries may have to work
  12 hours a day, seven days a week with few
  protections for health and safety. In some
  countries, globalization leads the exploitation
  of child, and prison labor.

16
Is globalization resulting in industries in
developed countries being undermined by
industries in developing countries with inferior
labor standards?

• The growth in trade between nations has
  contributed to lifting 3 billion people out of
  poverty over the past 50 years. Reducing tariff
  barriers, which makes it easier for nations to
  trade with each other, lifts the wealth of all
  nations by allowing them to concentrate on those
  where they have greatest expertise.

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So.

• Is globalization good or bad?