Chapter Outline

Chapter 40: A WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS

Chapter Outline

The global economy

Economic globalization
1. Global economy evident after collapse of communism
  1. Expanding trade, foreign investments, privatization of industry
  2. Free trade: free of state-imposed restrictions
2. General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
  1. Formed in 1947 as vehicle to promote free trade
  2. In 1994, 123 GATT members created Word Trade Organization (WTO)
  3. Dramatic growth in world trade, 1966-1990
3. Global corporations symbols of the new economy
  1. Multinational businesses operate apart from laws and restrictions of any one nation
  2. Seek cheapest labor and resources; prefer lax environmental laws
  3. Pay less in taxes in developed world than formerly
Economic growth in Asia
1. Japan's "economic miracle"
  1. Postwar Japan had few resources, no overseas empire
  2. Benefited from U.S. aid, investments, and protection
  3. Japan pursued export-oriented growth supported by low wages
  4. Began with labor-intensive exports, textiles, iron, and steel
  5. Reinvested profits in capital-intensive and technology-intensive production
  6. Rapid growth, 1960s-1980s; suffered recession in 1990s
2. The Little Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan
  1. Followed Japanese model of export-driven industry; rapid growth in 1980s
  2. By 1990s highly competitive; joined by Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia
3. The rise of China since the death of Mao Zedong
  1. Late 1970s opened China to foreign investment and technology
  2. Gradual shift from planned communist economy to market economy
  3. Offered vast, cheap labor and huge domestic markets
  4. China joined WTO in 2001
4. Perils of the new economy: vulnerable to global forces
  1. Investors withdrew support from Thailand in 1997
  2. Ripple effect: contraction of other Asian economies
Trading blocs
1. The European Union
  1. Begun in 1957 with six nations, now includes fifteen
  2. A common market, free trade, free travel within the Union
  3. Eleven members adopted a common currency, the Euro, in 1999
  4. Expectations of a European Political Union eventually
2. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
  1. Cartel established in 1960 to raise global oil prices
  2. After Arab-Israeli war of 1973, OPEC placed embargo on oil to United States, Israel's ally
  3. Price of oil quadrupled from 1973 to 1975, triggered global recession
  4. Overproduction and dissension among members diminished influence, 1990s
3. Regional trade associations formed to establish free-trade zones for member states
  1. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967, five members
  2. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993: United States, Canada, Mexico
4. Critics of globalization
  1. To supporters, global economy efficient, best path to global prosperity
  2. To critics, widens gap between rich and poor, destroys environment, threatens local and traditional crafts and economies

Cross-cultural exchanges and global communication

Global Barbie
1. Western consumerism becoming a global phenomenon
2. Sara versus Barbie in Iran
  1. Barbie seen as a threat to Islamic values, symbol of cultural imperialism
  2. Iranian dolls, Sara and her brother Dara (an Islamic cleric), are modest alternatives
3. Barbie in Japan
  1. Image of Barbie unsettling, Mattel created a younger doll for Japanese market
  2. Whereas Iranians reject image of Barbie, Japanese adjust Barbie to their aesthetic
Consumption and cultural interaction
1. Global culture of consumption
  1. Satisfies wants and desires rather than needs or necessities
  2. Homogenization of global culture: blue jeans, Coca-Cola, McDonalds
  3. Western icons often replace local businesses and indigenous cultures
  4. Brand names also identify local products, for example, Swiss Rolex, Perrier, Armani
2. Pan-American culture competes with United States
  1. Eva Peron (Evita) has become a pop icon in Argentina and beyond
  2. Latin American societies blended foreign and indigenous cultural practices
The age of access
1. Globalization minimizes social, economic, and political isolation
2. Preeminence of English language
  1. Critics: mass media become a vehicle of cultural imperialism
  2. Internet is an information colony, with English hegemony
  3. China attempts a firewall to control Internet information
3. Adaptations of technology in authoritarian states
  1. Zaire television showed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko walking on clouds
  2. Vietnam and Iraq limit access to foreign servers on Internet

Global problems

Population pressures and environmental degradation
1. Dramatic population increases in twentieth century
  1. Population increased from 500 million in 1650 to 2.5 billion in 1950
  2. Asia and Africa experienced population explosion after WWII
  3. 5.5 billion people in 1994; perhaps 11.6 billion people in 2200
  4. So far, food production has kept pace with population growth
  5. Fertility rates have been falling for past twenty years
2. The planet's carrying capacity: how many people can the earth support?
  1. Scientists and citizens concerned about physical limits of the earth
  2. Club of Rome issued "The Limits to Growth" in 1972
  3. Dire predictions not borne by facts: prices have fallen, food has increased
3. Environmental impact
  1. Urbanization and agricultural expansion threaten biodiversity
  2. Gas emissions, coal burning contribute to global warming
  3. In 1997 at Kyoto, 159 states met to cut carbon dioxide emissions
4. Population control: a highly politicized issue
  1. Some developing nations charge racism when urged to limit population
  2. UN agencies have aided many countries with family-planning programs
  3. China's one-child policy has significantly reduced growth rate
  4. Other cultures still favor larger families, for example, India
Economic inequities and labor servitude
1. Causes of poverty
  1. Inequities in resources and income separate rich and poor societies
  2. Attendant problems: malnutrition, environmental degradation
  3. Legacy of colonialism: economic dependence
2. Labor servitude increasing
  1. Slavery abolished worldwide by 1960s
  2. Millions still forced into bonded labor
  3. Child-labor servitude common in south and southeast Asia
3. Trafficking of persons across international boundaries widespread
  1. Victims, mostly girls and women, lured with promises of work
  2. Often in sex industry; hugely profitable though criminal
Global diseases
1. Many epidemics now under control
  1. Last major pandemic (1918-1919): flu epidemic that killed twenty to forty million
  2. Smallpox and diphtheria eradicated
2. HIV/AIDS identified in 1981 in San Francisco
  1. In 2000, 36.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 21.8 million in Africa
  2. Kills adults in prime; many children in Africa orphaned
  3. Threatens social and economic basis of African societies
  4. Many cannot afford treatment
Global terrorism
1. The weapon of those out of power, of anticolonial and revolutionary movements
2. Difficult to define terrorism
  1. Deliberate violence against civilians to advance political or ideological cause
  2. Rarely successful; often discredits potentially worthy causes
3. 11 September 2001 focused international attention on terrorism
  1. Coordinated attack on World Trade Tower and Pentagon
  2. Source identified as Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda network
  3. Angered by U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia; proclaimed jihad, holy war
4. Islamic State of Afghanistan was established 1996 by Taliban
  1. Imposed strict Islamic law: regulated dress, entertainment, media
  2. Women barred from education, work, health services
  3. November 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, drove out Taliban, al-Qaeda
Coping with global problems: international organizations
1. Many global problems cannot be solved by national governments
2. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
  1. Red Cross, an international humanitarian agency, founded 1964
  2. Greenpeace, an environmental organization, founded in 1970
3. The United Nations, founded 1945 "to maintain international peace and security"
  1. Not successful at preventing wars, for example, Iran-Iraq war
  2. Cannot legislate, but has influence in international community
  3. More successful in health and educational goals: eradication of smallpox, decrease in child mortality, increase in female literacy
4. Human rights: an ancient concept, gaining wider acceptance
  1. Nuremberg Trials of Nazis established concept of "crimes against humanity"
  2. UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights: forbids slavery, torture, discrimination
  3. NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch

Crossing boundaries

Women's traditions and feminist challenges
1. Feminism and equal rights
  1. Status of women changed dramatically after WWII in industrialized states
  2. Women demanded full equality with men, access to education and employment
  3. Birth control enables women to control their bodies and avoid "biology destiny"
  4. U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids discrimination on basis of race or sex
2. Gender equality in China
  1. Communist states often improved women's legal status
  2. Despite legal reforms, China's women have not yet gained true equality
  3. One-child policy encourages infanticide or abandonment of baby girls
3. Domesticity and abuse restricting rights of women in developing world
  1. Women in Arab and Muslim societies twice as likely as men to be illiterate
  2. Most Indian women illiterate (75 percent in 1980s) and confined at home
  3. "Dowry deaths" common in India; burning of wives in Pakistan
4. Women leaders in south Asia
  1. Effective political leaders: Indira Gandhi (India) and Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan)
  2. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga became president of Sri Lanka, 1994
  3. Democratic activist Aung Sang Suu Kyi received Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 when under house arrest in Myanmar
  4. UN launched a Decade for Women program in 1975
Migration
1. Internal migration: tremendous flow from rural to urban settings
  1. Part of process of industrialization; in western societies 75 percent of population is urban
  2. Urbanization a difficult transition for rural people
  3. Crowded in slums (barrios) at the edge of cities; strain urban services
2. External migration: fleeing war, persecution, seeking opportunities
  1. Thirteen million "guest workers" migrated to western Europe since 1960
  2. Ten million migrants (mostly Mexican) migrated to United States since 1960
  3. In oil-producing countries, foreigners make up half of working population
  4. About 130 million people currently live outside their countries of citizenship
3. Migrant communities within host societies
  1. Migrants enrich societies in many ways, but also spark hostility and conflict
  2. Fears that migrants will undermine national identity, compete for jobs
  3. Anti-immigrant movements (xenophobia) lead to violence and racial tension
Cross-cultural travelers
1. Mass tourism possible with more leisure and faster travel
  1. First travel agencies: Thomas Cook and Karl Baedeker in nineteenth century
  2. In 1800s, tourism fashionable for rich Europeans; adopted by working people later
  3. By the twentieth century, leisure travel another form of consumption
  4. After WWII, packaged tours took millions of tourists across the world
2. Effects of mass tourism
  1. Now travel and tourism is the largest single industry on the planet
  2. Low-paying jobs; profits go mostly to developed world
  3. Tourism exposes cultural variations and diversity of local traditions
  4. Tourism leads to revival and transformation of indigenous cultural traditions