The Contemporary World - Lesson 1 & 2 PDF

**The Contemporary World** **LESSON 1** **VIEWS ON GLOBALIZATION** - **[Thomas Larsson]** - a *Swedish journalist*, saw globalization as a ***"process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer.*** - **[Martin Khor]** - the ***former President of Third...

**The Contemporary World** **LESSON 1** **VIEWS ON GLOBALIZATION** - **[Thomas Larsson]** - a *Swedish journalist*, saw globalization as a ***"process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer.*** - **[Martin Khor]** - the ***former President of Third World Network in Malaysia*,** once regarded ***globalization as colonization.*** - **[Kenichi Ohmae]** - stated globalization means ***the onset of borderless world.*** - **[Robert Cox]** - the characteristics of globalization trend include the ***internationalizing of production***, ***the new international division of labor, new migratory movements*** from South to North, ***the new competitive environment, and the internationalizing of the state.*** - **[George Ritzer]** - "***globalization is a transplanetary process or a set of processes involving increasing liquidity and the growing multidirectional flows of people, objects, places, and information, as well as the structures they encounter and create that are barriers to, or expedite, those flows..*** **METAPHORS OF GLOBALIZATION** - **[Solidity-]** refers to ***barriers*** ***that prevent or make difficult the movement of things.*** - **Border lines.** - **Something that can prevent or make difficulty of movement.** - **[Liquidity-]** refers to ***the increasing ease of movement of people, things, and information, and places*** in the contemporary world. - **Asset** - **Loans** - **Credit** **LESSON 2** - **[Prof. Theodore Levitt]** - Globalization refers to the ***existence of free exchange of goods, services, culture, and even people***, between and among countries. - **[Travel:]** People become more interested to travel - **[Languages:]** People learn new languages (Anyeong, Kamsahamnida, oppa) - **[Culture:]** People immerse themselves into new cultures and lifestyles **UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)** - **[Globalization]**- a closer integration of national economies through trade and financial flows as well as cross-border migration of people. - brings three freedoms (Free movement of goods or products, services, capital or investment, and persons. **European Union** 1. **free movement of goods** because of abolition of tariff -- tax on imported goods. 2. **free movement of capital or investment** because of lifting of strict banking and financial regulations that encourage investors 3. **free movement of persons** because of abolition of visa restrictions **Liberation** - economic process that require ***laws or policies*** which are products of confrontation between conflicting interests. - the **process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer**. ***Increasing ease*** with which somebody on one side of the world can interact to mutual benefits with somebody on the other side of the world. **PHILOSOPHIES AND IDEOLOGIES OF/ON/AGAINST GLOBALIZATION** - Globalization is **about the liberalization and global integration of markets.** - Globalization is **inevitable and irreversible.** - **Nobody is in-charge of globalization.** - Globalization **benefits everyone**. - Globalization **furthers the spread of democracy around the world.** **Pro-globalization** - **[Neoliberal capitalism]** -- freeing corporations from much government regulation will encourage capitalists to invest more on existing industries, even on experimental and innovative ones. Privatizing industries and services will create opportunities for corporations to create more wealth from almost sure profits and possibly reduce the price of commodities as competition between enterprises becomes stiffer - **[Capitalism]** profit motive (people tend to buy stocks of profitable companies, why Government of Third world countries allow mining corporations to operate even in places where the ecosystem is vulnerable). **Anti-globalization** - ***Wants to end to what is considers as a highly imbalanced system of globalization*** that favors the first world countries over developing countries, corporations over citizens and communities, and profit-seeking over environmental sustainability. - ***changing the current system to make it more humane, more pro-environment, and more grass-roots driven.*** **Alter-globalization** - ***The directing motive, the end and aim of capitalist production***, is to extract the greatest possible amount of surplus-value, and consequently to exploit labour-power to the greatest possible extent. *[(Karl Marx\'s Das Kapital)]*