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GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College Globalization. What the heck is it?. Something to do with … Technology?. Something to do with … Trade?. Something to do with … Money?. Something scary?. Or just alien?. My first encounter. Seattle, 1999.
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GO131: International Relations Professor Walter Hatch Colby College Globalization
My first encounter Seattle, 1999
What Globalization Is • The cross-border movement of commodites and services, as well as factors of production (capital, labor, technology), that increasingly integrates disparate communities • A set of neo-liberal institutions and norms fostering and shaping such flows
What Globalization Isn’t Globalization … “has swallowed most consumers and corporations, made traditional borders almost disappear, and pushed bureaucrats, politicians, and the military toward the status of declining industries.” -- Ohmae Kenichi
“Globaloney” • Distinctive political, social, and economic institutions remain • States still matter • “Globalization” is not brand new
The First Wave • 1870 – 1914 (Pax Brittanica) • Free flow of gold • High levels of trade • UK as hegemon • financial power and free trade policy
Two New Waves • 1945 – 1980 (Pax Americana I) • “Embedded Liberalism” • New institutions (GATT, IMF) • 1980 – Present (Pax Americana II) • “Washington Consensus” • Unleashing markets
Global Flows • Commodities and Services (Trade) • Labor • Technology • Capital
Trade • Almost everything today has an exchange value in global markets • Weapons • Drugs • Even human body parts (Harrison) • Volume is up ($34 trillion a year in exports) • 10% growth between 2000 and 2005
Labor • Migration (from global south to global north) • volumes may not be so much higher • But methods used are increasingly costly • in economic and human terms
Technology • International strategic alliances • Fairchild Semiconductor and Phillips • Technology transfer • Patents and licenses • Often from parent company to subsidiary
Capital • 1980s and 90s: • Relaxed controls on capital mobility • Moved to floating exchange rates • Volatility • Especially hard for developing countries
Increased Inequality? • Between rich and poor states • Within each state
A Race to the Bottom? • Lower and lower wages • Less and less public spending • Deregulation • Competition policy • Intellectual property rights
Cultural Homogeneity? • Fast food • Hollywood • Beauty queens
In Defense of Globalization • Yes, states must wear “Golden Straitjacket” • But what’s the alternative?