Transcript Globalisation - WordPress.com

GLOBALISATION
• WHAT IS GLOBALISATION?
• MANY SOCIOLOGISTS NOW SEE THE DISTRIBUTION OF POWER AS CROSSING
TRANSNATIONAL BOUNDARIES.
• THEREFORE GLOBALISATION IS SEEN TO WEAKEN THE POWER OF NATION STATES TO
CONTROL THEIR OWN ECONOMIES.
• IN ADDITION POLITICS AND POLITICAL ACTION HAVE BECOME MORE GLOBALISED
• HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE GLOBALISATION?
• GLOBALISATION IS WHERE THE POWER OF NATIONAL BOUNDARIES ARE BECOMING LESS
SIGNIFICANT……
• ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION HAS SEEN THE GROWTH OF TRANSNATIONAL
COMPANIES/CORPORATIONS (TNCS)
• POLITICAL GLOBALISATION REDUCES THE POWER OF NATION STATES
• CULTURAL GLOBALISATION AND HETEROGENEITY
• ACCORDING TO OHMAE’S BOOK ‘THE END OF THE NATION STATE’, 1995, POLITICAL BORDERS WILL BECOME
INCREASINGLY INSIGNIFICANT.
• IN THE GLOBALISED WORLD MORE AND MORE ECONOMIES ARE INTERLINKED THROUGH THE CONCENTRATION
OF INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL CAPITAL.
• TRANSNATIONAL COMPANIES ARE INCREASINGLY KEY PLAYERS OF AN EVER INCREASING INTERNATIONAL
ECONOMY.
• THEODORA LEVITT ARGUES WITH OHME SHE ARGUES THE NEW REALITY IS ABOUT ‘GLOBAL MARKETS’
WHEREBY GLOBAL CORPORATIONS OPERATE AS IF THE ENTIRE WORLD WERE A SINGLE ENTITY.
• TRANSCENDING NATIONAL DIFFERENCES GLOBAL CORPORATIONS WORK TO TREAT THE WORLD AS A SINGLE
MARKET.
• OHMAE POSITION IS THERE’S NOW ONE ECONOMY, GLOBAL IN STRUCTURE COVERING
DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING SOCIETIES.
• THIS INTER-LINKED ECONOMY IS CO-ORDINATED BY GIANT CORPORATIONS WITH GLOBAL
BRANDS LIKE APPLE
• MODERN 24/7 COMMUNICATIONS VIA SYSTEMS SUCH AS INTERNET ALLOW INDIVIDUALS TO
PURCHASE GOODS FROM ANYWHERE AND ANYBODY IN THE WORLD. JUST THINK OF EBAY.
• GOVERNMENTS CAN NO LONGER TAX, CONTROL, OR INFLUENCE SUCH ORGANISATIONS AS THEY
CAN MOVE MONEY WHEREVER, WHENEVER THEY WISH
• CONSUMERS HAVE MORE POWER THAN THE STATE
• HOWEVER OTHER SOCIOLOGISTS ARGUES THINGS AREN’T SO BLEAK FOR THE STATE
• HIRST AND THOMPSON (1996) ARE CRITICAL OF OHMAE’S IDEAS. THEY ARGUE FOR THE NEED
TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN TRANSNATIONAL AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS BECAUSE
THERE’S A DISTINCTION BETWEEN A GLOBALISED AND INTERNATIONALISED ECONOMY.
• MULTINATIONAL BUSINESSES REMAIN REGULATED BY THEIR HOME GOVERNMENT WHILE
TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS (TNCS) ARE GLOBALLY BASED.
• HIRST AND THOMPSON’S RESEARCH FOUND THAT MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS (MNCS)
DOMINATE IN A MAINLY INTERNATIONAL RATHER THAN GLOBAL ECONOMY.
• HIRST AND THOMPSON ADMIT THAT STATES HAVE LOST SOME POWER, BUT THEY STILL
CONTROL THEIR SOVEREIGN TERRITORY AND REGULATE THE POPULATION LIVING WITHIN IT
THEREFORE STILL RETAIN THEIR POWER.
• THIS IS EVIDENT FROM MINIMUM WAGE REGULATIONS AND THE POWER OF THE STATE TO
PENALISE THOSE FIRMS THAT FLOUT SUCH LAWS SUCH AS THE ARCADIA GROUP WHO RUN
MISS SELFRIDGE AND TOPSHOP STORES.
• HOWEVER FOR ULRICH BECK, HE SAYS IT’S MORE THAN ECONOMICS WHICH IS CAUSING
GLOBALISATION HE ARGUES WE’RE ENTERING A GLOBAL RISK SOCIETY
• BY THIS HE MEANS GLOBAL RISKS ARE TRANSCENDING NATIONAL AND SOVEREIGN
BOUNDARIES
• WHAT BECK MEANT WAS NATION-STATES NO LONGER HAVE THE POWER TO DEAL WITH
GLOBAL ISSUES ON THEIR OWN AS THEY ARE TOO SMALL
• AIDS, GLOBAL WARMING, TERRORISM ARE ALL ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE DEALT WITH AS
COLLECTIVE RATHER THAN INDIVIDUAL NATIONS
• YET FOR GIDDENS, NATION-STATES HAVE BECOME TOO BIG TO DEAL WITH THE
CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBALISATION
• FOR GIDDENS GLOBALISATION MEANS PEOPLE ARE DRAWN TO CREATE NEW IDENTITIES AS A
CONSEQUENCE OF BEING IMMERSED IN LARGER STATES LIKE THE EU
• SO PEOPLE FOCUS ON ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN ORDER TO CREATE A NEW IDENTITY
• WHAT GIDDENS IDENTIFIES IS A TENSION BETWEEN NEW IDENTITIES AND OLD IDENTITIES;
CENTRALISATION AND DE-CENTRALISATION; INTEGRATION AND FRAGMENTATION,
HOMOGENISATION AND DIFFERENTIATION
• WHAT GIDDENS IS REFERRING TO IS THE WAY GLOBALISED STRUCTURES LIKE THE EU FORCES
PEOPLE TO ADOPT NEW IDENTITIES – AN EU CITIZEN RATHER THAN BEING ENGLISH – WHICH
GIVES THEM A SENSE OF LOSING POWER
• THIS FORCES PEOPLE TO REACT IN OPPOSITION TO WHAT THEY PERCEIVE AS LOSING THEIR
IDENTITY AND SO SEEK TO RETAIN THEIR POWER THROUGH DEVOLVED GOVERNMENT SUCH
AS WELSH ASSEMBLY AND SCOTTISH DEVOLUTION
• WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR NATION STATES?
• FOR GIDDENS THE ANSWER IS YES. THOUGH THE STATE’S POWERS HAVE BEEN REDUCED
THEY’VE NOT BE ELIMINATED INDEED STATE’S REMAIN THE MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL ENTITY
IN POLITICS TODAY
• WHEN YOU THINK OF IT THE NUMBER OF STATES IN THE WORLD HAVE GROWN WHILE MANY
POWER BLOCKS LIKE THE FORMER SOVIET UNION HAS GONE OR ARE UNDER PRESSURE TO
LOOSEN – LIKE THE EU
• IN SPITE OF THE GROWTH OF STATES, GIDDEN’S CALLS FOR A FORM OF GLOBAL
GOVERNANCE TO DEAL WITH GLOBAL ISSUES LIKE EBOLA; GLOBAL WARMING; REGULATION
OF FINANCIAL MARKETS
• HELD’S POSITION IS THERE’S AN INCREASING NEED FOR A NEW SYSTEM OF GLOBAL
DEMOCRACY AS MANY NATIONS STATES ARE AT THE MERCY OF TRANSNATIONAL
CORPORATIONS
• TNCS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY BY TAKING POWER AWAY FROM THE NATION STATE
• HELD ARGUES ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS THE UN OFFER A MODEL FOR THE FUTURE BUT THE
UN’S POWERS ARE OFTEN THWARTED BY NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
• THIS LEADS HELD TO ARGUE FOR THE FORMATION OF TRANSNATIONAL POLITICAL
ORGANISATIONS TO CREATE A WORLD PARLIAMENT
• IN CONTRAST THE PICTURE FOR NATION STATES FOR SKLAIR IS LESS ROSEY
• HE SEES THE FUTURE OF NATION STATES AS BEING INCREASINGLING OVERSHADOWED BY
TNCS AND THEIR TRANSNATIONAL CAPITAL STRUCTURES
• AS TNCS HAVE NO LOYALTY OTHER THAN TO SHAREHOLDERS AND THEIR OWNERS THE
NATION STATE REMAINS VULNERABLE TO THE POWER OF GLOBAL CAPITAL
• FOR SKLAIR THIS IS EVIDENT IN THE INCREASING GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR NATIONS;
THE GROWTH IN DEFORESTATION; OVERFISHING; GLOBAL WARMING ALONG WITH A RAFT
OF OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES