Globalization WHAP/Napp
“On 9 November 1989, Kristina Matschat felt excitement and tension in the night air of Berlin. She had joined thousands of other East Germans at Checkpoint Charlie, one of the most famous crossing points in the Berlin Wall. Anticipating that some momentous event was soon to occur at the wall, that the wall might come down that night, she also shivered in fear at the proximity of the Volkspolizei (‘people’s police’) – the same officers who since 1961 gunned down East Germans attempting to scale the wall and escape to freedom in West Berlin. She wore running shoes in case she needed to sprint away if shooting broke out or tanks rumbled through East Berlin to prevent the destruction of the wall.
She remembered that ‘everybody was full of fear – but also full of hope.’ Bitter memories flooded her consciousness as she recalled not being allowed to study what she wanted in school, not being able to speak freely of her discontent in case her friends were government spies, and not being able to locate disgruntled colleagues whom the government had condemned as ‘unwanted elements.’ Her hope overcame her fears, though, as she chanted with her fellow compatriots, ‘Tear the wall down! Open the gates!’ She could see that on the other side of the wall massive crowds of West Berliners had gathered to join their demonstration. Thrilled by this open protest against this symbol of the cold war, she was yet psychologically unprepared for victory when it came. Just before midnight East German soldiers suddenly began not only opening gates in the Wall but also gently helping East Germans cross to the West, often for the first time in their lives. Her near disbelief at the swift downfall of Berlin’s decades-old barricade registered in the word she heard shouted over and over again by those passing through the wall: Wahnsinn (‘craziness’).
The fall of the Berlin Wall brought down one of the world’s most notorious borders and symbolized the breaching of all sorts of boundaries in the contemporary world. Along with decolonization, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the cold war, many other forces were at work to create a new, more open, world. One pronounced feature of this world was an increased level of economic interaction between countries and a tighter economic integration of the world. The forces driving the world economy in this direction, often referred to as globalization, included advances in communication technology, an enormous expansion of international trade, and the emergence of new global enterprises as well as governments and international organizations that favored market-oriented economics. Global economic interaction and integration were not all new, of course. The more recent phenomenon of globalization, however, has been different and unprecedented in both scope and speed, and it has the potential to transform the social and political as well as the economic contours of the world.” ~ Traditions and Encounters
1. The process whereby national economies and business systems are becoming deeply interlinked with each other is called:(A) Globalization.
(B) Localization.
(C) Internationalization.
(D) Global linking. / 2. Globalization involves:
(A) A stretching of social, political, and economic activities across political frontiers.
(B) A growing interconnectedness.
(C) An accelerating pace of global interactions and processes.
(D) All of the above.
Key Words/ Questions / I. Globalization
A. Process of accelerating engagement among peoples of the world
B. Vastly accelerated after WWII and aided by development of the
computers, the Internet, and the World Wide Web
II. Attempting to Stabilize the World’s Economies
A. At Bretton Woods, a meeting held during WWII to make
financial arrangements for the postwar world
1. Negotiated “rules” for commercial dealings
B. Established the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
1. Advocated Neo-Liberalism
a) Reduction of tariffs
b) Free global movement of capital
c) Encouraging Free Market – free movement of capital abroad
III. Transnational Corporations (TNCs)
A. Produce goods and deliver services in many countries
IV. Impact of Economic Growth
A. Worsened rift between developed nations and developing world
1. Rich nations of Global North and poor nations of Global South
B. Also Inequalities Within Global South
1. Oil-rich Middle East vs. Cash crop Nations
2. Making united action difficult
C. Chiapas Rebellion in Mexico
1. Viewed globalization negatively , as “eliminating people who are not
useful”
D. Antiglobalization
1. Protests against WTO (World Trade Organization)
IV. USA’s Role after the Collapse of the Soviet Union
A. US military dominance unchecked
B. September 11, 2001
1. U.S. attacked Afghanistan which had sheltered Osama bin Laden
C. U.S. attacked Iraq (2003)
1. Hussein was accused of developing Weapons of Mass Destruction
V. Effort to Contain Terrorism
A. Another global struggle after collapse of USSR
VI. Changing Realities - USA
A. Once world’s leading creditor/Now world’s leading debtor
VII. The Movement of Ideas
A. The Civil Rights Movement
B. The Youth Culture
C. 1968
1. Student-led movement in France protesting university conditions
2. “Prague Spring”: challenging Soviet rule in Czechoslovakia
VIII. Feminism
A. Challenged relationships between men and women
B. Had begun in West for suffrage and addressed gender inequalities
1. The Kyoto Accord of 1997 was intended to deal with the problems associated with
(A) The illegal trade in small arms
(B) The HIV/AIDS epidemic
(C) The growing number of biological-weapons programs
(D) The climatic trend known as global warming
(E) The spread of nuclear weapons
2. Which of the following is NOT a nongovernmental organization (NGO)?
(A) Greenpeace
(B) The National Rifle Association
(C) Amnesty International
(D) Habitat for Humanity
(E) The European Union
3. Which of the following would be considered an integrating trend in global development today?
(A) The worldwide proliferation of Internet technology
(B) Religious fundamentalism in Afghanistan
(C) Discrimination against Turkish guest workers in Germany
(D) All of the above
(E) None of the above
4. Postindustrial modes of economic activity focus MAINLY on providing
(A) Manufacture goods
(B) Services
(C) Raw materials
(D) Plastics
(E) Hand-crafted products / 5. How did World War II change the patterns of international trade?
(A) No countries traded with Germany after the war.
(B) The World Trade Organization was created soon after the war ended.
(C) The war diminished the European powers’ control over world markets.
(D) The USSR began trading more with Western Europe.
(E) The United States stopped trading with Asian countries.
6. In Latin America, modernization has often led to
(A) Greater social equality
(B) Better control over illegal drug trafficking
(C) Diversified economies
(D) A concentration of wealth in the hands of political and economic elites
(E) The establishment of communist regimes
7. Which of the following factors has NOT interfered with African modernization?
(A) The AIDS/HIV epidemic
(B) Lack of cultural or linguistic unity within African states
(C) Negative population growth
(D) Corruption
(E) Interethnic conflict
Thesis Practice: Comparative
Analyze economic and cultural similarities and differences in the process of globalization with the incorporation of the Americas into the world economy as of 1492 and the process of globalization after the Second World War.
______
Critical Thinking Questions:
1. To what extent did the two world wars end European global dominance?
______
2. To what extent did the creation of the League of Nations, United Nations, the Pan-Arab League, and the Non-Aligned Nations affect the patterns of global interactions in the 20th century? ______
3. Discuss the extent to which the impacts of the globalization of science, technology, and culture have led to a unification of the global community in the 20th century. ______
4. Discuss the extent to which global economic developments of the 20th century have benefited two of the following regions: the Americas, the Middle East, and India. ______
5. Discuss the extent to which local opposition to the forces of globalization have succeeded in the second half of the 20th century. ______
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY IN WORLD HISTORY
“Summary: During the newest stage of world history, 1914 to the present, great Western empires declined and were replaced by regional groups and multinational corporations. There are several triggers for this dramatic shift. The first is the collapse of European imperial dominance and subsequent decolonization. Another trigger was massive technological innovation in military capacity and communications. The final reason for this shift in world history was an explosion in population growth. These triggers created political innovation and a renewed globalization. But even with these changes many societies resisted changes to traditional worldviews. These key developments in the 20th and 21st centuries effected people’s emotions and behaviors by decreasing birth rates and increasing consumerism.” ~ World Civilizations
Globalization: The increased interconnectedness of all parts of the world, particularly in communication and commerce but also in culture and politics.
Cultural Globalization
“Cultural contact and exchange accelerated by the close of the 1990s. A path to worldwide homogeneity has been caused by the adoption of Western cultural values, art forms, consumer goods, and the English language. Other cultures also contributed to the homogeneity. Models often were adapted to local cultures.” ~ World Civilizations
Sometimes individuals speak critically of cultural globalization. What are the benefits and dangers cultural globalization? Share your views on this phenomenon. ______