Globalization & Geography

1. Globalization & Geography Geo100 Fall 2003 Lecture #1

2. Outlines • Globalization • What triggers globalization? • What is the effects of globalization? • Is globalization good or bad? • Geography • What is geography? • Introducing core concepts of geography…

3. Globalization U.S. popular culture all over the world

4. Globalization Global connection

5. Globalization Cultural globalization in an interactive way

6. Global “Electronic Herd” Electronic herd Rapid movement of capital

7. Global “Sweatshops” Sweatshop International division of labor

8. Globalization • The increasing interconnectedness of people and places through converging processes of economic, political, and cultural change • Economic activities are the prime movers behind globalization; affects cultural patterns, political arrangements, and social developments • Transcends traditional boundaries

9. What triggers Globalization? • Global communication systems: • Transportation, internet, media… • Transnational conglomerate corporate: • eg. McDonald, SONY, Chrysler, NOKIA… • Multinational organization: • World Bank,IMF, WTO…

10. Effects of Globalization • Economic: International division of labor • Cultural: • Continuing dispersion of the Western (inc. American) cultures and social values, organizational structures • Social tensions between traditional cultures and new, external globalizing currents

11. Effects of Globalization • Geopolitical: economic activity and politics are more intertwined than ever due to the process of transcending territorial boundaries • Demographic: International migration • Environmental: aggravates worldwide environmental problems

12. Is globalization good or bad? • Pro-globalizers: efficiency • Anti-globalizers: inequity

13. Advocates of Globalization Open market (reduce barrier to trade) -> spread new technologies and ideas -> enhance competition -> enhance national productivity Thus Economic Convergence (Trickle-down): The world’s poorer countries will gradually catch up with the more advanced economies

14. Advocates of Globalization • Who supports this? • Multinational organizations • Multinational firms • International investors

15. Advocates of Globalization • Empirical evidence? • Self-sufficiency is bad • Eg. North Korea, Burma • Openness is good • Eg. Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand

16. Critics of Globalization • Globalization is not a natural process, rather product of economic policy promoted by free-trade advocates • Globalization creates greater inequity between rich and poor

17. Global economic inequity From UN report (2001)

18. Critics of Globalization • Who supports this? • Environmental movement group • Labor movement group • Student group

19. Critics of Globalization • Empirical evidence? • The economic model adopted by the highly successful developing countries is not the same as the one Western industrial countries used: The countries have prevented their domestic industries from foreign competition

20. International Financial System • Is good in that it’s flexible (promotes free flow of capital) by pro-globalizers • Is bad in that it’s unstable (liable to stampedes eg. bubble economy) by anti-globalizers

21. Middle position • Both are right in some extent, but somewhat exaggerated • promise or pitfall globalization holds can be managed to reduce inequality and protect natural environment • Need for globalized networks of environmental, labor, and human rights groups

22. Make openness work • Openness to global economy can be beneficial, but how can we make this openness work? • By investing in education and maintaining social cohesion? (Dani Rodrik)

23. Diversity • Globalization homogenizes the world, but the world is still a diverse world • Ethnic and cultural differences are contributing to separatist political movements

24. Diversity • Each conflict is unique, understandable only in the light of the specific cultural and political environments in which it occurs • Understanding the extant fabric of a highly diverse world is the starting point of comprehending globalization on which our future depends

25. Geography • Geography: Greek for “describing the Earth” • Physical vs Human geography • Systematic vs Regional geography • Regional geography as a science of understanding the extant fabric of a highly diverse world

26. Subjects in Regional Geography • Human-Environment interaction • Areal differentiation & integration • Regions • Cultural Landscape

27. Human-Environment Interaction • Environmental determinism environment -> human • Possibilism: determinism + human modification of environment • Taoism? human in balance with nature

28. Areal Differentiation & Integration • Areal Differentiation: Why is the same phenomenon manifested in a different fashion place by place? • Eg. California-Mexico border • Areal Integration: How areas interact with each other? • Eg. Taiwan and Syllicon valley

29. California-Mexico Border

30. Regions • Areal units grouped based on similar traits like • Era in History: WWI, WWII, Cold war • Epoch in Geology: Jurassic, Cambrian period • Region in Geography: North America, Latin America, North Africa & Southwest Asia, East Asia, Europe…

31. 12 Regions in a global scale

32. Cultural Landscape • Let’s look at some photos showing Settlement patterns in different parts of world

33. Yunnan Province, China Due to the intensive agriculture (rice crops), the settlement shows highly concentrated patterns

34. Iowa, US Township-and-range survey system stamped suchrectangular patterns of settlement

35. Cultural Landscape • shows how humans shape the environment into distinctive forms that give places their special identities

36. Peruvian village in Andes populated by indigenous people, expresses their local traditions

37. Town in Venezuela The Spanish colonial presence is still found in the plaza, street pattern, and building architecture

38. Cultural Landscape • City and village landscapes differ widely because of the interplay between contemporary and historical forces

39. Cultural Landscape • Defined as “visible, material expression of human settlement, past and present” • Human beings transform space into distinct places loaded with meaning • Tool for the analysis of place • Marker of cultural values, attitudes, and symbol