IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION Essay Example

Globalising production and consumption

1. What is the ‘race to the bottom’ (p. 199), discussed by Oatley?

He argues that countries with strict policies on MNCs tend to suffer from fewer investments in their countries and as a result, low government revenues that they would otherwise enjoy from the MNCs. This would prevent economic development that would be brought by MNCs in the country.

2. What are two ways to regulate MNCs outlined by Oatley that minimize exploitation and maximize contribution to nation states?

i) Negotiate international rules that match other regulations worldwide. Generating common rules will avert regulatory arbitrage and also the race to the bottom.

ii) Restrict foreign direct investment and the activities of the MNCs. Such limitations will limit flexibility of the corporations hence allowing the governments to uphold separate national rules.

3. As described by Hills and Welford, in what ways does the state benefit from the manufacturing of Coca Cola in India? What are the consequences?

In the process of manufacturing coca cola, the company has managed to create job opportunities to locals in the country and creating government revenue through taxes that are generated from the company. In addition, India has improved its relations with other countries who are involved in business with coca cola as an international company.

4. In your view, do the positives outweigh the negatives?

Yes the positives outweigh the negatives. As much as MNCs such as coca cola bring about negative impacts in a country, with regulations the corporations bring about new investments in the country and also improve relations with other countries.

Global security and militarism

According to Vaso, L. (2016), globalization is the process through which a business develops international relations. Through globalization, a firm is able to engage in business with other firms in the same line of business from different nations around the world.

1. What does Feinstein mean by the term ‘opportunity costs’? In business, opportunity cost is the loss of possible achievement from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. In the case of Feinstein, it therefore implies the losses that one weapons manufacturer incurs in case a client decides to choose the alternative weapon.

2. What is the ‘revolving door’ he refers to and why does he see it as being problematic?

The revolving door refers to the movement of workers between roles as legislators and regulators and the industries that are affected by the legislation and regulation processes that they are involved in. this is problematic in that the legislators will only consider passing laws that are advantageous to them.

3. According Feinstein, how does the arms industry manage to avoid greater scrutiny and calls for transparency? Through its involvement in the government activities; by conducting business with the government, the arms dealers and suppliers avoid accountability and responsibility for their actions.

4. What is a ‘permanent war economy’ and do you believe that we are living in one? A permanent war economy is an economy that is stuck in some kind of war zone. Yes I believe we are living in one with the current occurrences in the world at large.

Financial markets and crises

1.In Inside Job, how do investment banks such as Goldman Sachs defend their actions? By referring to the bank manuals and regulations that favor their actions.

2. After viewing the film, who or what do you believe is most responsible for the 2008 global financial crisis? The government as a result of financial acts which were active at the time.

3. Why is the Trump administration seeking to roll back the Dodd-Frank Act? Because the act is unrealistic to some extent. It favors some category of people in the society and laws should treat people equally whether rich or poor.

4. In your view, should the finance industry be subject to more or less regulation and why? Yes it should be subjected to more regulations to ensure that the industry runs smoothly and also control the circulation of money in the economy.

Global labor migration

1. What is the difference between a ‘structural’ and a ‘reductionist’ account of migration (p. 84)? Why do Rupert and Solomon argue that we need a structural account? A structural account analyses the broader forces that can have an effect on migration while the reductionist account mainly focuses on individuals and the decisions they make about migration. Rupert and Solomon prefer the structural account because it focuses on the factors that leads to migration and its effects in a country.

2. What is ‘remittance income’? Why is it important for LDCs? This amount of money that foreign workers transfer to individuals in their home country. This amount competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to the less developed countries.

3. As shown in the Four Corners episode ‘Slaving away’, what conditions do migrant workers experience which make it difficult for them to speak out against exploitative work conditions? In most cases it is the contracts that the migrants sign when they are reporting to work in the foreign countries. Since many of them are over-excited, they sign the contract without reading what the contract says and as a result entrap themselves.

4. In what ways are women especially vulnerable in the context of labor migration? Most women travel abroad to work in the households as housemaids, in this state, they spend most of their time in the house hence easily exploited by their bosses.

Political economy of global media

1. According to Errington and Miragliotta, what is the role or purpose of the media in a democracy? Media is important in any economy since it pushes for a healthy democracy. It is through the media that we are aware of what is going on around the world hence it is important since it keeps us in the know-how.

2. In what ways do the profit-seeking motives of private media companies’ conflict with their role as the ‘fourth estate’? As the fourth estate, the media tends to misuse its powers in that they tend to be bias in their reports and do not report the truth.

3. What is the ‘politics of mutual patronage’ (p. 157) to which Tiffen refers? What does he mean by this term? In the politics of mutual patronage, if a leader won, he/ she had the power to choose who to hire in any position in the government.

4. Tiffen states: ‘Murdoch’s capacity to affect how regulations are enforced has probably been more important than his capacity to change policies through legislation’ (p. 186). Identify one example of this ‘capacity’ discussed in the reading. In page 157 he was the one with the power to publish any form of message but he chose to publish sports news instead of other factors affecting the economy such as economic growth and development matters.

Globalising public services

1. What is the ‘prison-industrial’ complex? This the overlapping interests of the government and industries that use surveillance, regulating and incarceration as solutions to economic, social and political problems.

2. In what ways has the privatisation of prison facilities in the US been counterproductive? Due to prison privatization, it is difficult to determine cases and also access of information especially by lawyers since they are considered private property.

3. Why hasn’t health care in Australia been entirely privatised, according to Boxall and Gillespie? Australia being a federation, it means it has two governments. With this form of governance there exists leadership differences hence it will be difficult for the privatization of the health care sector.

4. Should health care (in Australia) be wholly privatised? Do you think it will be in the future? NO. I do not think it will be privatised any time in in the future due to the form of governance that exists in the country.

Development and aid

1. Seitz and Hite outline a ‘market approach’, a ‘state approach’, and a ‘civil society approach’ to the alleviation of poverty. What is meant by each of these terms?

Market approach argues that a country acquires wealth through production, the markets where the production is sold and bought freely, trading activities nationally and internationally with existence of regulations in international transactions and existence of laws to ensure safe relations between trading parties.

State approach deal with the factors of production; land, capital and resources. According to this approach, prohibition of ownership of the factors of production leads to equal distribution of income since everyone and not a few in the society benefit from economic activities in the country.

Civil society approach emphasizes on the social development; how people react to one another for example the reaction of the Indian community in 1973 when a timber company tried to cut a tree in the nearby forest.

2. Which approach do you think has the potential to achieve poverty alleviation? The market approach.

3. What is the difference between ‘hard’ power and ‘soft’ power, discussed by Sheldrick? Hard power involves the use of martial and economic power to influence the behaviour of other states or political groups; this is mostly used by developed countries on the less developed countries while soft power is a persuasive tactic to global political relations that involves the use of a country’s cultural, historical and political influence

4. For Sheldrick, what does the example of South Korea demonstrate? This example shows that economic development is possible in any country given the best leadership and investment opportunities.

REFERENCES

Vaso, L. (2016). Globalization and Its Effects on the World Economy. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.