Globalization

Globalization

- The process of accelerating engagement among peoples of the world

- Vastly accelerated after WWII

The Bretton Woods Conference - Officially known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference - A gathering of delegates from 44 nations that met from July 1 to 22, 1944 in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire - Agreed upon a series of new rules for the post-WWII international monetary system

The two major accomplishments of the Bretton Woods conference: - The creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - The creation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

Lessons Learned: - The policies adopted by governments to combat the Great Depression - high tariff barriers, competitive currency devaluations, discriminatory trading blocs - had contributed to creating an unstable international environment without improving the economic situation

- This experience led international leaders to conclude that economic cooperation was the only way to achieve both peace and prosperity, at home and abroad

Neo-Liberalism - Reduction of tariffs - Free global movement of capital - Encouraging Free Market - Free Movement of Capital a) Investing abroad

World Trade Organization

- An international organization established to supervise and liberalize world trade

- The WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was created in 1947 in the expectation that it would soon be replaced by a specialized agency of the (UN) to be called the International Trade Organization (ITO)

- Although the ITO never materialized, the GATT proved remarkably successful in liberalizing world trade over the next five decades

- By the late 1980s there were calls for a stronger multilateral organization to monitor trade and resolve trade disputes

- Following the completion of the Uruguay Round (1986–94) of multilateral trade negotiations, the WTO began operations on January 1, 1995

The WTO has six key objectives:

(1) to set and enforce rules for international trade

(2) to provide a forum for negotiating and monitoring further trade liberalization

(3) to resolve trade disputes

(4) to increase the transparency of decision-making processes

(5) to cooperate with other major international economic institutions involved in global economic management

(6) to help developing countries benefit fully from the global trading system

Transnational Corporations (TNCs)

- Produce goods and deliver services in many countries

- Large Multinational Corporations

- Operating in more than one country

Migration of Labor

- In search of jobs and wages

- A “Brain Drain” of educated professionals leaving Global South for higher paying jobs in Global North

Impact of Economic Growth

- Worsened rift between developed nations and developing world

- Rich nations of Global North and poor nations of Global South

Antiglobalization Movement

- Criticizing globalization

- Protests against WTO (World Trade Organization)

Chiapas Rebellion in Mexico

- Viewed globalization as negative

- Seen as “eliminating people who are not useful”

And then the Collapse of USSR

- US military dominance unchecked - Only one superpower (for a time at least)

September 11, 2001

- U.S. attacked Afghanistan

- Taliban had sheltered Osama bin Laden

U.S. attacked Iraq (2003)

- Hussein was developing Weapons of Mass Destruction

U.S. Effort to Contain Terrorism

- Another global struggle after collapse of USSR

And in addition to changes in trade and relations between nations, the spread of ideas has also increased in this age of globalization

The Civil Rights Movement

The Youth Culture

- 1968 * Student-led movement in France protesting university conditions

* “Prague Spring”: challenged Soviet rule in Czechoslovakia and although crushed, led to renewed efforts for democratization

Feminism * Challenged relationships between men and women * Had begun in West for suffrage

* Addressed inequities

* Addressed opportunities for women