WHAT IS
GLOBALIZATION?
BY SAM CAREY
IB Core Topic – Global Issues
Before we start
our new unit on
the IB Core Topic –
Global Issues, let’s
take some time to
ponder about the
concept of
GLOBALIZATION.
(or ‘Globalisation’
if you’re British)…
BusinessDictionary.com
defines globalization as:
 The worldwide movement toward economic, financial,
trade, and communications integration.
 Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic
perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and
interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods,
and services across national frontiers. However, it does not
include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested
by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies
if applied indiscriminately.

Read more:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/globalization
.html#ixzz30lP6tf2z
After reading that
definition:
 What are the implications of globalization?
 Can you quickly come up with some possible
advantages and disadvantages connected to
globalization?
MORE DEFINITIONS…
 Below is a report prepared by The World Bank
on Globalization.
 We won’t bother reading ALL OF IT!! But we
can look at headings and skim for main ideas
 Globalization: The Concept, Causes, and
Consequences. By John Williamson, The
World Bank
CONFUSED YET?!!
BORED??!!
 Trust me, many scholars have written very long
and complex books about GLOBALIZATION, IT
IS NOT A TOPIC THAT YOU CAN EASILY
UNDERSTAND!!!
 So let’s look at some images instead, and try to
relate them to this concept of
GLOBALIZATION…
Typical ‘sweatshop’ manufacturing of
athletic shoes in Vietnam.
Ultra full container ship likely heading
towards lucrative western markets.
Extracting petroleum bitumen from the tar
sands of Fort McMurray, Northern Alberta,
Canada.
Miners working in ‘slave like’ conditions
search for diamonds in Sierra Leone,
Africa.
Starbucks in downtown Shanghai, China.
Traffic jam in Mumbai, India.
Deforestation in the Amazon, Brazil.
Landfill in England.
How big is your footprint?
What will be more important in
the future?
THE DOMESTIC
ECONOMY
THE GLOBAL
ECONOMY
JOKES…
Blog task
 Write a report (150 – 250 words) for a national
student magazine focusing on either one of

-
Chile’s main IMPORT products, or one of Chile’s
main EXPORT products.
You must include:
product use,
numbers and figures
and an overall, general analysis of the
advantages AND disadvantages (practical, social,
economic, environmental, etc.) of importing or
exporting this product.