The Changing Global Context

The Changing Global Context 9

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The Changing Global Context

Overview

This chapter further describes the process of globalization and introduces the idea of a world-system in which all countries participate. This world-system is divided into core, semiperipheral, and peripheral regions based on each region’s place within the world-system. The chapter begins by looking at the state of the world before 1500, when the world-system did not yet exist. The middle part of the chapter explains how the world-system came into being, especially due to innovations in industrial production and in transportation and communications technology. The final part of the chapter describes the current situation and proposes a division of the world’s population into Fast and Slow worlds, based on contrasting lifestyles and levels of living.

Students should be aware of the existence of the world-system and the function of its core, semiperipheral, and peripheral components. The students should understand how the world system came into being, and why Europe was the initial core region, which later came to include the United States and Japan. Students should further realize that life in the United States—a core region—is very different from life in semiperipheral and peripheral countries.

Chapter Objectives

The objectives of this chapter are to illustrate:

1.  Geographic expansion, integration, and change

2.  Industrialization and geographic change

3.  Forces that organize the periphery

4.  The fast world and the slow world

Chapter Outline

The Premodern World (p. 42)

·  Hearth areas

·  Growth of early empires

·  Early geographic knowledge

·  Geography of the Premodern world

Mapping a New World Geography (p. 48)

·  Cartography and exploration

·  Core, semiperiphery, and periphery

·  Beginnings of modern geography

·  Industrialization in core regions

·  Internal development in core regions

·  International division of labor

·  Imperialism

·  The Third World and neocolonialism

Contemporary Globalization (p. 68)

·  Causes and consequences of globalization

·  Outcomes of globalization

·  Jihad vs. McWorld

·  Opposition to globalization

Conclusion (p. 78)

2.1 Geography Matters—Early Geographic Knowledge (p. 46)

Ancient Greek and Roman development of geographical knowledge

2.2 Geography Matters—Geography and Exploration (p. 50)

The European Age of Discovery and its global impacts

2.3 Geography Matters—The Foundations of Modern Geography (p. 54)

Immanuel Kant, Alexander von Humboldt, Karl Ritter, Friedrich Ratzel, and

other founders of modern geography

2.4 Geography Matters—World Leadership Cycles (p. 60)

The historical rise of Portuguese, Dutch, British, and American global hegemony

2.5 Geography Matters—Commodity Chains (p. 70)

How commodity production is organized, especially in the global

garment industry

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

1.  The world-system did not always exist. Why did it develop, and why did Europe emerge as the core of the world-system?

·  The world-system began in the 1400s, when Europeans started exploring and settling beyond their home regions. European expansion brought about the exchange of ideas, technologies, and resources between regions that previously had little to do with each other. Europe emerged as the core of the world-system because of its economic system of capitalism, its rapidly growing population, and its technological innovations. European expansion abroad and the exploitation of natural resources outside Europe were critical factors in Europe’s emergence as a core region. See pages 48–64 in the textbook for more information.

2.  Ask the students to give examples of core, semiperipheral, and peripheral states. Are there some countries that do not clearly fit in a single category?

·  Examples of core states would include the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and most of western and central Europe. Examples of semiperipheral states include Mexico, Brazil, India, and Taiwan. Examples of peripheral states include Ethiopia, Nepal, Bolivia, and Guatemala, among many others. Ambiguous examples might include Singapore and Korea (core–semiperipheral) and Iran and Vietnam (semiperipheral–peripheral), but these distinctions are partly a matter of opinion.

3.  Have the students compare two countries, one in the core and one in the periphery (for example, Switzerland and Bolivia). Why is one of these countries richer and more economically developed than the other? How does the world-system model help to explain these differences?

·  World-systems theory argues that it is the relationship between states that helps establish their place in the core–semiperiphery–periphery hierarchy. Much of the difference derives from the effectiveness of a state in insuring the international competitiveness of its products. Switzerland, for example, produces high-value goods—such as watches—and important services—such as banking—while Bolivia relies on low-value exports that are not processed locally—such things as tin ore and fruit.

4.  Discuss the differences and similarities among colonialism, imperialism, and neo-colonialism.

·  All are similar in that they are the means of domination by one state over another. Colonialism refers to the establishment and maintenance of political and legal domination, whereas neocolonialism is an indirect means whereby core states use political and economic strategies to wield their influence. Imperialism is largely a competitive form of colonialism that resulted in a scramble for territory as (mainly) European powers attempted to build colonial empires.

5.  Have the students describe the principal means of transportation and communication in the local region. When were these systems first introduced? What existed before them? What impacts did changes in transportation and communications technology have on the local area?

·  Data on local transportation and communication networks can be obtained from maps as well as from the companies and agencies that operate these networks.

6.  Have the students give examples of each of the four factors (described on pages 72–74 of the textbook) that have led to globalization in the past twenty-five years. What evidence for these factors exists in the local area?

·  The four factors are (1) a new international division of labor, (2) an internationalization of finance, (3) a new technology system, and (4) a homogenization of international consumer markets. See pages 72–74 in the textbook for more information.

7.  Why does it no longer seem appropriate to speak of the First, Second, and Third Worlds? What advantages does a division into Fast and Slow worlds offer? Ask the students to describe their own experiences (if they have had them) in traveling between these worlds.

·  Changes stemming from the four factors (see Question 6, above) have led to a Fast World, largely composed of the core regions, where people are involved, as producers and consumers, in transnational industry, modern telecommunications, materialistic consumption, and international news and entertainment. The Slow World refers to people, regions, and places where these things are limited. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the collapse of international communism generally have also made meaningless the concept of a Second World.

8.  What minisystems once existed in the local area? What happened to them?

·  Consult ethnographies of the indigenous population. The local museum or library may also hold information on the area’s original minisystems.

9.  The Geography Matters 2.5 boxed text discusses the nature and meaning of commodity chains. Have the students gather data about the three kinds of commodity chains and then sketch out the “links.”

·  The three kinds of commodity chains are 1) producer-driven, in which large, often transnational, corporations coordinate production networks; 2) consumer-driven, where large retailers, brand-name merchandisers, and trading companies influence decentralized production networks in a variety of exporting countries, often in the periphery; and 3) marketing-driven, which involves the production of inexpensive consumer goods that are global commodities and carry global brands yet are often manufactured in the periphery and semiperiphery for consumption in those regions.

·  The Internet will provide a starting point for gathering this data, and you might also want to contact the companies (such as Wal-Mart) directly.

10.  Figure 2.22 shows how North America is a key node in global telephonic communications flow, What accounts for the distribution shown in the figure?

·  The wealth of North America and its pioneering of much communications technology are in part responsible for this position.