Introduction to Globalization Quiz

Study Notes

Globalization encompasses economic, social, cultural, political, and technological dimensions.
It involves the integration of goods, services, and culture among nations, facilitated by advances in telecommunication and transportation.
Rooted in historical processes, globalization intensified with European colonization and corporate expansion.

Increasing interdependence of global economies enables buying and selling across countries.
Key features include:
- Enhanced technology and communication networks.
- Internet access facilitating global commerce.
- Emergence of trading blocs like the EU and NAFTA.
- Decline of communism, promoting capitalist ideologies.
- Expansion of global financial markets and free trade movements.

Benefits of Trade:
- Offers consumers increased choices and opportunities for economic growth.
- Creates economies of scale and boosts international trade.
- Expands employment opportunities across nations.
Disadvantages of Trade:
- Widening rich-poor gap, benefiting primarily wealthy northern hemisphere countries.
- Limited market access for impoverished regions.
- Risks exploitation of workers and local producers in developing nations.

Multi-national (MNCs) and trans-national corporations (TNCs) operate globally, with headquarters in one nation and operations in others.
Characteristics include:
- Revenue growth while lowering operational costs.
- Sourcing raw materials globally.
- Control over supply chains and processing facilities—leading to economies of scale.
Key Issues:
- Environmental damage and labor exploitation.
- Monopoly power and economic degradation.
- Cultural impacts and challenges to local traditions.

Growing concern over corporate accountability and ethical responsibilities towards global businesses.
Economic disparities between rich and poor are recognized as factors fueling social unrest and potential terrorism.
Calls for removal of trade barriers to promote fairness across global markets.

Immanuel Wallerstein describes globalization as the success of a capitalist world economy connected by a global division of labor.
Martin Albrow frames globalization as the integration of peoples into a single world society.
Paul Bairoch and Richard Kozul-Wright highlight the interlinkage of production and financial structures, shaping an international division of labor and dependency.