A globalized world
Définition : The acceleration of human mobility and the increase in the volume of trade, financial and
information flows created a global market organized by the International Division of Labour (IDT).
Power is concentrated into impulse centers (the three megalopolises and the triad).
The traditional division of the world between a rich north and a poor south and the notion of state
inter-relationship has become unsatisfactory due to the emergence of other actors such as
multinational firms and non-governmental associations.
Exemples de problématiques: How is the world reshaped by the process of globalization? How does
globalization increase world inequalities? Does globalization widen the gap between richest and
poorest countries? What is the shape of the new globalized world?
Résumé des thèmes principaux (problématisés) :
I – How does the International Division of Labour and the globalization process increase the
interdependence of the actors of the world economy?
II – Who are the actors of globalization?
III – Does globalization favor inequalities of development?
IV – Is “another” globalization possible?
I – Globalization and interdependence
What are the main trade flows in the world?
What are the great impulse centers of the world oligopoly?
a) Migrations
They increased tremendously over the last thirty years. They were almost 200 million economic
migrants in 2011 and more than 1 billion tourists (2011 was an historical year for that and the WTO –
aka World Tourism Organisation, not to be mistaken with the WTO: World Trade Organisation –
estimates that they will be 1,8 billion of tourists in the world in 2020). Migrations reflect world
inequalities: they occur especially from south to north and from country to city. But the emergence
of new regional power tends to increase the local and regional flows of workers (from a country to
another, within a continent, ex. : the importance of the migrations from central Africa to the north
African countries).
b) International trade
Globalization refers mostly to the huge increase of international trade since the beginning of the
70’s. This explosion of the international trade (importance of sea routes which exists since the XVth
century for some of them!) explains also the multiplication of the transnational Firms or
multinational firms (a firm whose activities are developed in more than five countries all over the
world). The centers of impulse of the world economy are nowadays still located in the megalopolises
(the most important urban concentrations of the world: 1) The European megalopolises, 2) TokyoKyoto, 3) BosWash) which corresponds to the most important economic and trade hub and
members of the Triad: the USA and the coast of north-east America, Western Europe and the north
sea trail between London, Paris and Rotterdam, east-Asia with Japan and the east coast of China and
the hub of Singapore. This concentration of power in some particular places (which are the
command centers and capitals of the first industrialized areas) created a world oligopoly, better
known as the Triad (USA, Europe, Japan). But nowadays, the supremacy of the Triad is questioned
by the rise of emergent countries (countries with a significant economic growth) or emergent
powers (future world power or superpower such as the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, SouthAfrica).
II – The actors of globalization
a) The old state system: states and international organizations
A state is composed by: a government able to maintain its authority on a territory, which
boundaries are acknowledged by international organizations such as the UN, thanks to an army
and an administration. It possesses its own economy, money and currency and developed
relationships with other states. The most powerful states play a key role in the world economy and
into the world organizations and institutions such as the UN (United Nations Organization. Created
in 1945 at the conference of San Francisco), the G20, the IMF (International Monetary Fund,
established in 1945 after the Bretton Woods conference of 1944 in order to help the different
nations to stabilize and develop their economy), the NATO (a military organization assembling at
first western countries during the cold war created in 1949) or the WTO (created in 1995 after the
GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, disappeared. Its role is to favor the development of
free trade on a world scale).
b) A new transnational network
The process of globalization generated an increase of the flows of trade, persons and communication
which is harder and harder to control. States must also take into account the role of transnational
organizations (Non-governemental, such as Amnesty or Greenpeace) or the TNF and MNF. The huge
increase of mobility and migration all over the world also questions the relevancy of the concept of
borders. The development of illegal trade (mafia, drugs, arms illegal market…) is also more and more
difficult to control by the states.
III – The development of inequalities
a) Different tools to measure wealth and inequalities
The economic power and the production of wealth of a country is measured by the GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) of GNP (Gross National Product). Industrialized countries produce still 80% of the
world GNP. Wealth is also measured by the importance of the different economic sectors: farming is
more important in LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) and the tertiary sector is
dominant in postindustrial economies such as those of the MEDCS (Most Economically Developed
Countries). The gap between the poorest and the richest is wedining: 20% of the poorest people on
earth possess 1% of the income as they possess 2,3% of it 1960.
During the 1980’s, the UNDP (United Nations Development Program whose role is to provide a
technical assistance in developing countries), created the HDI (Human Development Index) during
the 1990’s and the HPI (Human Poverty Index) in 1997, which include both more specific criteria like
quantifiable elements allowing to know the quality of life (life expectancy at birth, infant mortality
rate, literacy, access to food and medical care…).
b) A world no longer completely dominated by the north
“North” and “south” are economic notions and doesn’t correspond to a geographic reality. They are
not homogenous blocs. In the northern part of the world, we can oppose the success of the Triad to
the difficulties of the former soviet world. In the “south” bloc, we can also distinguish the poorest
countries (mostly located in Africa) and the emergent countries like Mexico, or the “Baby dragons”
(Indonesia, Philippine, Malaysia…) which have a significant economic growth since 20 years at least.
We can also ask ourselves if the supremacy of the Triad is not already contested by emergent powers
like China or Brazil. Also, we must keep in mind the absolute necessity to consider inequalities on
different scales: for example we can oppose the rich coastline and the poor hinterland of China and
Brazil, the richest part of the megalopolises and the fourth world in the industrialized countries (in
the USA, 15% of the inhabitants are now living under the poverty level).
Conclusion: is another organization of the world still possible?
Surely, the process of globalization contributes to increase the wealth of many areas throughout the
(megalopolises, post-industrial and emergent countries, fast growing economies…) but it as surely
contributes to widen the gap between the richest and the poorest. The role of the international
organizations (such as the WTO or the IMF, even the UNO) is more and more criticized as some
emergent countries criticize the lack of representation of the “south” in these institutions and as
some non-governemental organizations criticize the unquestionable free trade policy adopted by
these organizations (the IMF for example allow some financial help for some countries in exchange of
the assurance that the governments of developing countries will accept more widely foreign
investments and financial deregulation measures). Nevertheless, globalization doesn’t obliterate
completely the nations and civilizations spheres of influence (a zone wherein a nation or a
civilization is dominant or exercises its domination). A civilization reflects a cultural, economic,
linguistic and religious influence in a precise area of the world (or throughout the world). We can
distinguish the map of geopolitical influence (zones of influence of the great and stronger nations),
which more likely to change in a short period of time, and the map of the civilization, whose zones of
influence are more stable and durable in time. According to the American Samuel S. Huntington, the
world is divided in several civilization’s spheres of influence: the Indian area, the Confucian and
Buddhist area, the Muslim area, the West, the Latin-american area, the African area, the Slavonic
area (a list to which we could add the Oceanic culture). This map of civilization corresponds, more or
less, to the following geopolitical organization: Indian sphere of influence (India, Pakistan and the
shore of the Indian ocean), eastern Asia (competition between Asia and Japan), Muslim world
(fragmented which covers several parts of the previously named areas), African area (same remark),
Western world (US/Europe and also a global influence, the former western bloc during the cold war),
Latin and central America more and more dominated by Brazil, Mexico and Argentina (on a lesser
degree). But this division doesn’t take in account the regional and local logics of development and
confrontation which is why the Huntington model of civilization is irrelevant at a certain scale
(national and local). Some civilization are now global (European, Asian and Arabic) but they all
compete and interact on a religious and a cultural basis on different scales (European influence in
Latin America, Buddhism in Europe, Christians in Asia, Islam in Africa and Asia…etc).
The generalization of an economic model (free trade and liberalism) doesn’t mean that a global
citizenship exists. Populations don’t accept the dominant cultural models and the extent of
globalization provokes strong reactions and the rise of a strong identity complex in many areas
(religious traditionalism, nationalism, regionalists and autonomous movements…).
Moreover, many non-gouvernemental organizations criticize the process of globalization and the
role of the major world institutions. Antiglobalization groups arouse during the WTO negociations
at Seattle in 1999 which provoked important antiglobalist demonstrations. But more and more, the
antiglobalist movement involved into an alterglobalist movement, asking for a “different
globalization” pleading for a better, and a fairer organization of the world. They defend fair trade
(as a way of defending poorest countries and little producers against the economic powers they
could not compete with). Nowadays, “fair trade” had become a new kind of brand, such as Max
Havelaar, and…a new market.